That's often the point - to provide an immutable record of a conversation or of the passing (or not passing) of a message. As much as this is against the spirit

That's often the point - to provide an immutable record of a conversation or of the passing (or not passing) of a message. As much as this is against the spirit of an agile workplace, the "deadness" of an email (and the external time stamping) is a critical part of most people's corporate CYA routines. I work in a moderately-progressive workplace, and if I ever need to seek the input of a supervisor on a big issue/something that may come back to haunt me, I'll talk to them about it, and then send them an email saying what we decided. This makes it clear what the decisions was (and more importantly, how I interpret it) and provides documentation to both sides that the issue was discussed and a conclusion reached.