Teams, question dos

I find that a balance between different communication forms works pretty well.

For mundane, basic communication or a recap of next steps and decisions from a meeting, I think e-mail works best. It creates a nice paper trail and there can it helps alleviate potential confusion which can arise from solely verbal communication.

If there is a specific item, particularly if it has a little hair on it, I prefer to pick up the phone or have face-to-face communication. One rule that works for me is that if an e-mail gets batted back and forth more than 3 times, it is time to pick up the phone.

E-mail has its place and works especially well in that you can read and respond at your leisure and don't have to be interrupted (like a phone call). However, it is really poor for complex matters and certainly for any situation where there is a potential for conflict.