After rethinking the advantages and disadvantages of e-mail and chat, the two most common forms of remote communication, I realized that they are still complicated and it is not easy for everyone to communicate well
Efficient, internal and external communication is very important to get the job done. When using the Internet, e-mail and chat are very popular as asynchronous communication tools.
In this article, we will rethink the merits and demerits of e-mail and chat, the two most common forms of asynchronous communication.
What is synchronous and asynchronous?
First, let’s talk about synchronous and asynchronous. Simply put, synchronous communication tools include “phone calls” and “online and offline meetings. At the same time, it is the ability to interact in real time.
Asynchronous communication, on the other hand, is not a real-time exchange, but applies to e-mail, chat tools (LINE, Slack, etc.), project management tools (Asana, Backlog, etc.), etc.
Asynchronous communication is essential for remote work. In this article, we will focus on this asynchronous communication.
There’s something nice about text-only communication.
Now that we have combined the perceptions of synchronous and asynchronous, the center of asynchronous communication is texting. First, let’s consider e-mail, which has long been used by everyone as a text communication tool.
Everyone can use e-mail, so you don’t have to worry.
Email is now a tool used by almost everyone. In addition to regular text, you can quote the other person’s text, attach files, and perhaps include more information in a single email than you can in a direct conversation.
I’d rather have a text message with a history than a phone call with a “I told you so” or “I didn’t tell you so” situation.
Phone calls involve saying and not saying, but that does not occur in a text exchange. You can even go back to when the subject came up.
Asynchronous sharing is possible.
In a phone call or meeting, everyone needs to be on time. With e-mail, each person can proceed with the communication at his or her own good time, without having to arrange a time.
But there are some points of trouble that cannot be compensated for by e-mail!
There are times when you may feel inconvenienced as you proceed with the correspondence about areas that cannot be compensated for by e-mail. For example
The customarily required back-and-forth formality.
Thus, it has long been the norm in e-mail to have a standardized back-and-forth format.
The first time, it is a good thing to have, but if you are going to communicate with them many times, it will be unnecessary. Yes, I understand. Even if it can be done only with a simple “Yes, sir” or “Yes, I understand.
I don’t know what I’m talking about anymore.
As a result of a number of exchanges, such as emails with two or more topics in parallel or emails exchanged for different projects, it takes time to remember what the topic is now.
I can’t get a read…
Chat tools such as LINE and project management in Backlog let you know if a message has been read or not. With email, you cannot know if the other person has read it or not.
Did you receive it? What, spam?
I never received a reply, so I sent an additional reminder email or called them and they said, “It was in your spam mail…” Oh, right…. I wonder why it goes into my spam mail.
Oh no, I forgot to put it in the CC.
I sent an email. After I sent it, I realized I forgot to include my boss in the CC. Oh no.
Oh no. Wrong address.
I noticed it the moment I sent the email. I just sent it to the wrong person: ……. Oh no.
So what about chat tools?
We have seen that e-mail has its disadvantages. So, can a chat tool clear all of them?
Notifications never stop ringing…
Many messages come in, or even just messages posted, and unread messages accumulate. In addition, chat tools have notification messages and tones that let you know when a message arrives. Many people are annoyed by the endless beeping of notifications.
Too many channels to watch…
If you talk in separate channels for each project, the number of channels will keep growing. And with that number, both the total number of messages and the number of unread messages will accumulate. For those who don’t feel like looking and can’t catch up on the progress of a project, or want to get rid of all the unread messages, the stress will build up as well as the messages.
I’m online and they don’t respond right away!
There are good and bad things about being read. Specifically, “I’ve already read your message, but you haven’t responded to me in forever!” I thought I’d get a reply right away because I’m online, but I never got one!” This could be the case.
The beauty of asynchronous communication tools is that you can reply and respond when it is convenient for you, but sometimes you may think that the read or online indication will get an immediate response….
It’s starting to feel like I’m making a phone call.
Even if the message has been read and you can respond immediately, you are gradually exchanging messages more and more closely, and you are having a conversation in real time…. It’s not much different from a phone call!
All I get is DMs.
I’m sorry. What happened to that matter?” When asked by DM, only the person to whom the message was sent can answer, and the information can no longer be shared with other members, so we end up exchanging individual DMs…. This is not much different from e-mail!
It’s like they’re talking on a channel I’m not in.
Conversation heard from the seat next to me… “Have you seen Slack? About that…” What? Where did you talk about that?
I still don’t know what I was talking about.
Like the email, I still forget what we’ve been talking about: …….
How do we confront confused communication?
In this article, I have considered email and chat, the two most common online communication tools. As a result, I feel that this is not enough to make everything work. So, let’s still pull back to synchronous communication. But this is not the best choice.
The more we think about this, the more complicated communication is. How can this be resolved? There seems to be no magic answer.
Therefore, mgn thinks it is a good idea to use a good combination of both synchronous and asynchronous communication. In addition, there seems to be an optimal solution for each case of communication between people.
MGN uses both email and chat as both synchronous and asynchronous communication. In addition, cloud storage services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. for managing attachments. Project management tools such as Backlog if it is unclear who is talking to whom or what needs to be done on a project. If you want to manage internal decisions, rules, and guidelines, use the Wiki function or even Notion.
I have written it down, but there are many tools. There are many services that have not yet been written down.
In the next issue, we will introduce project management tools, including actual examples of how mgn uses them. In addition, we would like to introduce other tools as well.
How are you using these tools? I would be happy to hear your opinions on social networking sites and in the comments.
