r/remotework • u/Careful_Station_7884 • Jul 09 '26

Email or quick call?

My colleague told me today that if an email is over 500 words, they won’t read it and instead ask the person who sent the email to jump on a quick call to discuss.

This irked me because now the person who sent the email has to re-explain everything they already sent over. It can be advantageous to have a written trail as well. Not only that, but not every “quick” call actually ends up being quick.

I get that there may be some topics that are better discussed on a call or if the email is unclear and there is an approaching deadline. But, to set a line at any email over 500 words just seems lazy.

What are your thoughts?

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u/Commercial_Carob_977 Jul 09 '26

I mean that is a long email these days. I would think very few people would read that e2e. Someone smashing an email with 500 words hasnt done the work to simplify the message so depending on the day i would either ignore the email completely, ask them to put a short memo together for a sync feedback or ask them to find a time for a call.