Had the Meeting Organizer took notes from the Very Important Meeting, three hours would be saved. Writing prevents unnecessary meetings.
Writing makes meetings a last resort.
In a remote context, you cant pull your team aside to solve a problem. Yet most teams are used to doing this.
Sending a message to update a team member or make a request doesnt need a meeting. If you frame the problem as a Slack post or a document, your teammates can chime in on their own time. This makes it non-disruptive to everyone, while moves the discussion forward.
But what if the problem is juicy and we cant solve it through an asynchronous discussion?
My response to this is to still default to an asynchronous discussion because asynchronous discussion makes it clear when it needs a meeting. Many people arent agreeing. The Slack thread is 148 messages deep and no one made a decision. These signals mean that the discussion needs to be a meeting.
The point: default to asynchronous communication when discussing an issue and to use meetings as a last resort. Real-time sometimes, asynchronous most of the time.
Writing removes extrovert bias.
Modern work gives extroverts a free power-up that introverts have to earn through practice. Meetings favor folks who think out loud and dont need time to think things through. Its unfair, yet rarely noticed.
The good news is that remote work creates the space for introverts to contribute. Written discussion gives folks time to chew on a topic and think through what they want to say. If you identify as an introvert, take advantage. Let writing be your platform.
Writing invites other perspectives.
Writing forces people to think clearly. Im sure this question has confronted you at least once when drafting a presentation: What is it that I actually want to say?
While writing forces people to think clearly, writing also forces teams to think clearly. In my experience, having a clearly written thing makes it easy for folks to collaborate with me. This is because people naturally enjoy poking holes in arguments, adding points that were missed, or mentioning any risks that werent taken into account. Ive found it helpful to use this human tendency to my advantage. Extra opinions and poked holes are hard to surface if you didnt write something in the first place.
From Steven Sinofskys Writing is Thinking:
