Why go for a quick 5 min call when an email thread that will need you to context switch 10 times will do? That being said there is a lot of meeting which should be replaced by a email and vice-versa. Also, When there is something you don’t understand properly, coming up with the right question or meeting agenda can be very hard. Finding a common ground is better served by face 2 face communication rather than an email. When a slack thread is getting too long, a quick 5-10min VC often do wonders.
And replacing all slack threads with meetings is similarly non-productive. Making everything a slack thread and refusing to ever go to meetings is bad. But refusing to write anything down and forcing everyone to exclusively go to meetings is bad. So find the most effective through line. Most often that’s:
1. Slack message with enough context that someone can answer
2. Discuss on slack until it’s clear the topic is going to need 3+ people to decide on or is in need of higher bandwidth, such as a screen share or just is urgent enough that talking while moving would be faster
3. Hop on that quick call
4. When you realize you’re missing folks you need or whatever and it’s not urgent enough to drag them into the call, set up a full meeting
Nothing in the article contradicts the above flow, and the above flow is what works best in my experience
