The fact that I don't like phone calls and that I don't like talking to AI can certainly coexist in the same person without being manipulation.

> Building a team to operate based on your own personal preferences is selfish leadership... or even dictatorship.

Is there really anything wrong with that? Most managers manage their teams the way they're used to. Founders build their startups the way they're used to—based on their own experience and mistakes. Founders and managers don't adapt to the team's needs. Instead, they look for a team that will adapt to them.

I agree. But we can call each other just to chat about things unrelated to work. Just to catch up.

Sorry, I forgot to add “I’ve never met a single person, except for managers and recruiters”.

I can easily list in my head many people I’ve worked with who’ve expressed dissatisfaction at the lack of regular contact with their coworkers. I’ve seen this universally across engineers, designers, sales people … and yes, managers and recruiters. (Not as often as I’ve heard “We have too _many_ meetings,” I’ll grant you).

If you claim only to have seen this in those limited roles then I still believe that you are filtering your inputs.

It really depends on the people on the team. If they prefer to call each other and hear each other's voices, there's no need to push them to read emails. If you need people to read text, then you need a different kind of team. Every team simply needs its own management style.

> your job IS the meetings

No

> You’re responsible for a remit and the performance of people inside the group

Yes

One is not the cause of the other.

> As a manager, you should learn to change this about yourself rather than imposing your work style on your team.

I think we need a different approach here. I shouldn't have to change anything about myself, because we're slaves to our habits. I shouldn't force this on people who don't want to work this way. I just need to work with teams that are willing to work this way. And so far, I've always managed to find such teams and such people.

Even on the same team, needs change, sometimes from month to month. I’ve learned to adapt my management style to the needs of the individuals and the situation. Flexibility served me fairly well here.

You can do whatever you like, but I grew out of this phase of thinking I had the magic formula for collaboration.

I think it depends on the person. For me, for example, text work best for any kind of question, no matter how complex. On the other hand, for simple questions, when I just want to chat, I'll opt for a call or meet in person.

There have been times when a founder was constantly on calls but allowed me to manage teams without them. He also continued to hold occasional calls with the team, but I wasn't present for those calls. I provided him with written progress reports. I didn't try to convince him to stop holding calls, and he didn't try to convince me that calls were mandatory. But such cases are rare.

I completely agree with you. I was just writing about my approach to project management and manage teams. It works perfectly for me. I suggest this approach at the companies where I work, but I don't recommend it to absolutely everyone. Everyone manages projects in their own way.