If you know exactly where the problem lies, then I agree that in some cases a conference call might not help. However, more often than not, part of the challeng

If you know exactly where the problem lies, then I agree that in some cases a conference call might not help. However, more often than not, part of the challenge in large-impact outages is figuring out what's going on and where the problem actually lies. In a microservices or SOA architecture, services can layer on top of other services, that call more services, that put messages in a queue for handling by yet another service, etc., belonging to different teams. Unwinding this to identify the problem is something that's much faster with a phone call. "Connecting the dots", especially across teams. A technical discussion within a team is likely to take place by chat. I've participated in a number of tech conference calls over the years, and I've always been impressed with the professionalism: the discussion is calm and focused on identifying the problem and recovering. I think folks strive for the "cool radio voice", the Houston Center Voice like was described in the SR-71 Ultimate Ground Speed Check story: http://oppositelock.kinja.com/favorite-sr-71-story-1079127041 http://oppositelock.kinja.com/favorite-sr-71-story-107912704... > Now the thing to understand about Center controllers, was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna, or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional, tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the " Houston Center voice." I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country's space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the Houston controllers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that, and that they basically did. And it didn't matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios.