It’s tempting to think if we write something down that nobody will be confused.
That assumes
- People read it
- What you write is complete (contains what matters)
- What other people know is enough to understand what you mean
- Nothing will change
- Or, if things change you’ll update things 100% to account for what changed (and that you have the time to do that) and that people will read what you changed without missing anything
- That you can recall everything that matters
- That people won’t have questions
- That enough documentation means people will simultaneously not have m/any questions and also not need to clarify m/anything.
- It’s cheaper than one off conversations
I can go on…
I think this is enough of a list to conclude that merely communicating on paper is not a good idea and to plan for other modes.