On communication

work

  1. Written communication - By default, I prefer to resort to asynchronous written communication during work. The main benefit is freedom of time. You can refer to written text whenever you want without compromising your time.

    Synchronous meetings require a context switch. And context switching is a costly affair. Companies rarely understand this, but more meetings -> more time wasted in context switch -> more money wasted (which could have been used in a better way). After all, time is money.

    10 people meeting for 1 hour = 10 hours wasted and then the time required for 10 people to get back to what they were doing.

    On the other hand, the benefits of written communication are -

    • It's recorded. It can have versions whenever we want to make changes. Everyone can refer to the changes. Meeting recordings are too much noise.

    • Only relevant individuals need to read it and contribute to it, saving others time. Many people are not even stakeholders in meetings; they are just there.

    • Writing improves thinking. Meetings are the worst when you have to generate meaningful ideas. How can you do tasks that are time-consuming in a meeting? You need to think, read relevant material, and then provide your inputs. All of this takes time. The quality of inputs in written documents is higher than randomly speaking in meetings.

    • No timezone issues.

  2. Proficiency in English helps. Remote teams have an advantage in hiring from around the world. They don't have the boundary of a specific city, country, etc. But everyone needs a common language to communicate. English is a default. It is also closer to computers (comparatively). Simple, clear English speakers and writers have an edge. Practice helps.

  3. Physical environment - I need focus to do deep work and that's why I have a separate room with a desk setup. Minimal distractions.

  4. Respecting others' timezone - Distributed teams tend to have people from different walks of life. Different festivals, different work timings, different ideas, common goals - having fun and doing interesting work. Respect and Empathy always.

  5. Video calls > Audio calls - In rare cases where text communication doesn't suit, I feel communication is better when we see others. We also tend to see the other person's reactions. The communication tends to be retained for a longer period of time in video compared to audio. It feels a little more personalized than audio calls.