
Ask HN: What % of your work communication is written/asnyc vs. verbal? - ask01rt
Wondering what your written vs verbal communication breakdown is while working. Also which do you prefer?
======
austincheney
I prefer written communication many times more. Its a document of record that
I can refer back to. I can search as a historical archive or a point of
reference. Verbal communications are like farts in the wind, as in they are
great when you need to make an impression but rarely stick.

~~~
giantg2
This. It is good to have records of your communication. I believe this saved
my job at one point.

------
sethammons
Not all written comms are as async as others. Chats, once engaged upon, are
expected to flow for example.

I work remotely as a principal engineer. I probably spend up to half my time
doing “non-coding.” I have, usually, 2 hours of meetings a day. Throughout the
day, I use Slack for small questions, conversations, etc. Anything that
requires formal commitment or where I don’t need a same day response goes via
email. Some conversations in slack get promoted to video.

------
giantg2
I think this can vary greatly from company to company, team to team, and
individual to individual. I've had scenarios where it's 90% synchronous and
others where it was 90% asynchronous.

Edit: this excludes scrum meetings. On the team I consider 90% asynchronous,
the scrums we had were more about ceremony than communication.

------
mtmail
I work remote and the company is so small we have one online meeting per week.
And one physical meeting per quarter. So 90% or more is written. I moved to a
co-working space because I still need the verbal communication for sanity and
motivation.

