Sometimes I ask them to give me a summary of the problem before the call, so I can have some context.
Sometimes if I'm lucky they'll rubber duck themselves into a solution.
But sometimes it just helps me context switch to whatever they're going to talk about.
The only time a "quick call" makes sense is if it's a video call, especially if someone might need to share their screen. Sometimes troubleshooting an issue is easier if you can see it happening live.
I would much rather take a video call with screen sharing any day than try to figure out what the hell someone is talking about over email. Most problems are user error and it's so much faster to see them doing it in real time.
My favorite type of troubleshooting is "watching them do it so they're careful to not mess up" which often fixes the problem.
Every fucking LinkedIn recruiter trying to push some short term contract position attempting to replace 3+ FTEs the parent company laid off.
Yeah I hate that. There's no way you can't communicate what you need over email or IM. And if you genuinely can't, well, you have serious communication issues.
Writing the same content as an email takes me like 10x the time. Especially if it's something complicated and people might have follow-up questions so it takes up room in the back of your mind. Much easier to just get out of the way in a 5 minute conversation.
Anything to do with emotions or interpersonal relations is also very prone to misinterpretation when put as text.
Agreed on the complex emotional stuff. I moreso meant work when referring to communications.
A lot of people really can't communicate, or just aren't sure what they want in the first place.
So they can't explain over the phone either, but fifteen minutes of vague rambling lets them feel like they explained it, and there's no written record of what they did or didn't say so they can blame you if you can't work it out. It's win/win, as in they win and blame you regardless of what you do.
No but see some concepts can only be encoded and transmitted as sounds, not as letters or pictures.
Email me an .ogg
