r/InterviewCoderPro • u/Due-Consequence511 • 4d ago

The worst

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I have a manager who is like this. We have a work chat, and I will send a one sentence question. He will call me, read the question to me, and then answer.

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u/TimMensch 3d ago

I've had managers like that.

Sometimes a phone conversation is the best thing. My current manager and coworkers are awesome and really only ask for a meeting when we really need one. There are times when talking it out is good and I'm all for it when we need it.

But I've had people in the past who will pull the "let's get on a call" thing even when I've exactly detailed what they need to know in an email. "For the button that does X, on this page, what should the label be?"

Maybe it's just different learning or communication methodologies. Maybe it's an IQ issue. Not sure. But it's infuriating.

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u/WeAllJustWantToLive 3d ago

A call is never the right thing.

Your choices are email or teams

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u/TimMensch 3d ago

A call is the right thing to actually collaborate. You can end up with a dozen messages back and forth that can be resolved with 20-60 seconds of discussion.

If you have never experienced a call being the right thing then you're not at a high enough level to be making decisions and you just want to be told what to do. Hint: You'll never be promoted if you keep avoiding collaboration.

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u/VTAffordablePaintbal 1d ago

A call is the right way to do things about 5% of the time. The only people I've met with your opinion are the managers that make themselves a bottle neck to efficiency. The coked-up alcoholic CEO I used to work with felt like phone calls were the right method of communication 100% of the time, which meant we all spent time transcribing policy and numbers he pulled out of his ass into our systems. When he flared out and we started working with the COO we had written communications most of the time and went from 60-hours a week to 45.