> Why phone? What is it that the phone offers that IM doesn't?
Phone is better than text because phone gives you more information in the discussion. You can judge the other person's mood to some extent, get a feel for their energy level, their enthusiasm. Also quite often when someone says something in text, it can be interpreted multiple ways, and emotion in voice gives cues which way is intended. If they have mixed feelings on a topic, you're more likely to sense that. It's also easier to talk, so it's easier to quickly relate a funny story and generally bond.
It's also worth nothing that a Skype call is generally higher sound quality, so it conveys this additional information much better than a phone call these days, since phonecalls tend to be way over-compressed and muddy. It's also worth noting that a video call does all of the above better as well, because video offers an additional channel of information for reading people's emotions.
Thanks- I can see that at least with a high quality video call- I personally don't like standard phone calls because I have trouble understanding those additional signals due to the low-quality. But if you really mean high quality voip/video, I can see that working.
When it comes to business discussions, I find text a better format because then I have time to compose and re-read my messages, and re-read other participants messages to clarify the details.
For many kinds of business discussions, being able to read emotions is even more important than with interpersonal discussions. Many business discussions involve selling ideas, selling products, understanding concerns, and so on. Once someone says something, they tend to dogmatically stick to that, even in the face of clear evidence that their position was wrong[1]. This phenomenon is even more pronounced when they write something. Whenever someone needs to have their mind changed, writing is the worst way to go about it!
[1] Consider reading a book like Influence by Robert Cialdini, Ph.D. which has all kinds of fascinating studies about how people act in surprisingly illogical ways based on what they write. The book cites a number of studies on this issue of irrational consistency, and how it is routinely exploited in situations ranging from sales to indoctrination.
High-bandwidth communication channels are more effective for building relationships. It is much more difficult to build relationships when you don't have face-to-face interaction. Lack of good relationships with the people you work with will put you at risk when the team or your manager are under stress.
Something like daily phone calls will help you build those relationships. It's not as good as face time, but it's a lot better than text.
> Lack of good relationships with the people you work with will put you at risk when the team or your manager are under stress.
Bingo.
If you just communicate in text, you don't have a relationship. You're just another fish in a sea of a ton of other emails/texts/IMs/etc. And trust me, everybody gets so many of them, they don't differentiate based on who sent it ... it's all just one massive blob of text.
Break through that. Be one of the few people who make voice contact and if possible, face to face. You then get upgraded to being an actual human being. Build a relationship.
Then when the shit hits the fan, and it always does, you won't get the axe. Also, it's not all negative ... when there's a windfall or a new project, you'll be remembered and they'll call you.
Always push for the most intimate form of communication available.
