In today's workplace, endless email threads have become the norm, often turning simple issues into never-ending exchanges, and the typical email signature takes up more screen space than the message itself. The email culture has gone out of control.
Thankfully, tools like Slack have improved internal communication, but external exchanges still rely heavily on email. Before the dominance of email, external workplace communication primarily occurred through the phone.
A 5-minute phone call can often avoid a 5-day email exchange.
Phone calls offer speed, clarity, immediate feedback, and reduce misunderstandings. Yes, emails are asynchronous and have their place for important and detail-sensitive communication, but I believe some conversations should still happen in real-time. A 5-minute phone call can often avoid a 5-day email exchange.
However, traditional phone calls leave no record and make it hard to include other people, unlike emails. Fortunately, with recent advancements in transcription models and LLMs, it is now possible to summarize phone conversations. Solutions like VoxNote are emerging as efficient alternatives to emails.
Now, we can just call someone and then easily share the conversation summary via email if needed. These solutions merge the traceability of emails and the effectiveness of phone calls.
I believe we will look back at the current email culture in 10 years and be amazed by the inefficient hassle we put ourselves through. I predict a shift in the communication paradigm in the coming years, and I'm making the bet that voice communications will regain a major role.
