Async communication is great and it should be the default. but knowing its flaws and when to switch to sync is important. Async is: Low bandwidth: Writing does

Async communication is great and it should be the default. but knowing its flaws and when to switch to sync is important. Async is: Low bandwidth: Writing doesn't have inflection or body language, so you need more words to convey the same idea. More: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bFsqk84frI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bFsqk84frI High latency: An idea that takes 30 back-and-forths to resolve may take minutes in a meeting but weeks in writing. Meetings really have negative latency because you see people react before you've finished speaking. High effort: Even if you account for low bandwidth and reach the same % chance of being understood as when speaking, when that % "misses" the cost is high because of the round-trip-time. To counteract this, you spend even more time editing than you did getting your meaning across. Emotional: I perceive people as meaner in writing than in meetings, and in response I become meaner. I don't want to and I try not to, but it can still happen.