[dcolkitt]

So… just call the colleague who knows on the phone? How is this any different than walking over to their desk and asking?

It’s very weird how adverse people are to spontaneous phone calls. Especially the younger generation. Everything has to be scheduled and confirmed back and forth.

I understand that an unexpected phone call can disturb someone, but so can an unexpected tap on the shoulder.

[commandlinefan]

Voice calls combine the worst of real-time interactions (no chance to review what you're about to say for possible misinterpretation) with the worst of long-distance interactions (can't read body language). I literally can't for the life of me think of a worse way to interact with a human being than over the phone.

[ghaff]

There are very few people I will call out of the blue these days but there are certainly things that are much more easily resolved with a 15 minute phone call than going back and forth on chat or email over the course of an hour.

[guenthert]

When you walk over, you at least have the opportunity to observe whether the person you're about to bug is deep in the flow, cleaning up his desk or chatting with co-workers.

I'd rather use e-mail or some chat system when remote and working on something else until I get an answer, unless of course, something is on fire.

[VectorLock]

Lots of people seem to have found a lot of utility in asynchronous communication and mitigating time vampires.

[908B64B197]

What I've seen some people do is create a Clubhouse like audio chat room. If they are in it, it means you can feel free to interrupt.