I don’t think there’s only writing. I agree that brainstorming serves a very important function.

But I’ve never encountered someone trying to brainstorm over email. If I did, I would certainly want to talk, instead.

I was referring to someone saying that said it’s almost always better to talk than write.

Good “content” is very hard to produce. It’s not a commodity. Again, I work in science and tech where truth is difficult and complex and precise. And it’s important to be systematic and correct. It’s not important that we produce content, but that we execute effectively.

I’m usually not tailoring to a single recipient, but trying to write something that’s understood and used by dozens, maybe hundreds or thousands of people.

I agree that there’s a lot of blargh written that’s a waste of time. I’m not proposing to write more crap. My point is that thoughtful prose is frequently the best way to convey an important concept. So I want more well written man pages than people who want to talk to me to explain how to do something.

RTFM is a luxury that we need to invest in, not throw away.