>, the ability to ask clarifying questions and access tone of voice that you get on a voice call is valuable. [...], but IMO there are times when a voice call is more effective.I agree that voice calls can sometimes be more effective. Some types of tech support debugging are much easier with the interaction of live phone calls.
Those weren't the type of calls my friend was making. His calls were banal questions like, "I'm looking at these cameras the Canon 10D and Nikon D70. Which do you think is better?" He could have just typed that question into an email for me to reply whenever it was convenient. Instead, I hold the phone to my ear while I'm googling "Canon 10D vs Nikon D70".
>Did you attempt to explain to him why you didn't answer the phone as opposed to trying to "train" him?
No, I never told him in blunt terms, "don't call me anymore unless it's a complex question that requires the advantages of voice communication." I was hoping that dropping a ton of hints would do it but it didn't work. In any case, I changed my number so it's no longer a problem.
>His request for you to "give him a call" moves thing for you back into the realm of the asynchronous.
Not really because what ends up happening is after I call back, his brain says, "jasode is available now" and he'll call 5 or 15 minutes later with a new question. His threshold for initiating phone calls was very low which put me back in synchronous hell.
>I wonder whether maybe you have some other issue with voice calls?
Well yes, as I mentioned earlier: it's not my preferred form of communication. I do acknowledge and respect the fact that others default to voice but that doesn't change the fact that it's incompatible with how my brain works.
There is clearly a disconnect between people who prefer different modes of communication since the gp poster (throwawaymath) seemed truly confused and therefore asked, "Why doesn't picking up a phone fit into your workflow?"