10Feb/106
Phones Make Me Sneeze
And it hurts my GeekArm to hold one to my ear. For the most part they are a silly and outdated tool, especially for those of us who spend our time doing web marketing stuff all day. There are two reasons why I prefer email over phones with my day-to-day work @AvantLink, and they are basically the same thing.
- Self-documentation. With a phone call you spend the first ten minutes on small talk, and then by the time it's wrapped up thirty minutes or more have passed. Then (and here's the best part), ten minutes later you can't remember details or a course of action from the call!
- Correspondence history. You can't just say you did something or lie over a digital conversation. Trust me, there are plenty of opportunities in this business to forward a previous correspondence to corroborate your side of a dispute or disagreement.
Of course when it comes down to it, when it's absolutely necessary, I'll get on the phone...kicking and screaming. But I'm not into a scheduled call for the fun of it so don't be surprised if I politely ask: email your questions please. If you have 3-5 questions email them over, I'll answer them one by one. But be warned, for those who insist on a call, don't expect me to ask about the weather.

