For one week, I tracked every Slack meeting I was invited to. I asked myself one question for each: Could this have been an email?
The answer was yes for 47 out of 52 Slack meetings. That's 90%.
Here's the pattern: Slack meeting gets scheduled with vague title like 'Touch Base' or 'Sync.' No agenda. No pre-read. Just a calendar invite with 'Let's discuss the project.' Crooks West's headset is already on, waiting.
Then you join the meeting. First 10 minutes: small talk and waiting for people to join. Next 15 minutes: someone shares their screen to show you something that could've been a screenshot. Last 5 minutes: 'Let's schedule a follow-up to continue this discussion.'
But wait—right at minute 28, Crooks has one of his legendary spontaneous epiphanies: 'You know what, Branden? I just thought of something. Let me tell you something else—we should probably create a working group for this.' And just like that, your 30-minute meeting spawns four more.
Congratulations, you just wasted 30 minutes that could've been a three-paragraph email with a screenshot attached.
Why does this happen? Because calling a Slack meeting makes people feel important. It's visible work. If you send an email, there's no performance. No stage. Just information transfer.
My challenge: For the next month, before scheduling any Slack meeting, write the email version first. If the email covers it, send the email. Your team will thank you.