What were those times - in the past, in 2019 and before. People just picked up the phone and called. The tension was always greatest when the phone number was not yet saved in the telephone system software. Is that maybe a request for a large TYPO3 project? Often, however, the ringing of the phone also came along with annoyance, because you were ultimately interrupted in the current work flow.
Basically, one can say that synchronous communication (i.e. making phone calls or talking to each other face to face in the classic way) has many advantages. Issues can be discussed in a compact manner (assuming the appropriate discussion discipline). E-mail or ticket ping pong can thus be avoided right from the start. It is also easier to clarify critical issues directly with one another. Emotions can be captured better on the phone or via video call than in the written word. So you can actually say that at the beginning of 2020 "reaching for a listen" was one of the main work of the Product Owner.
Well and then came the big turning point. A small virus disciplines all communication behavior in just one fell swoop.
Internal and external meetings now usually only take place as video meetings (very rarely as telephone appointments) and are scheduled in advance. And here is the big difference from before. Communication can now be planned all at once. Working according to plan has the great advantage that "promises" can be kept better from all sides. Before that, it was necessary to have a sufficiently large buffer of time for unplanned phone calls / meetings. Now the project management can also orient itself more closely to the working methods of the rest of the team and work according to plan.
Quite different from a few months ago, it is now eerily quiet at the reception in the office. And somehow it feels downright weird to me in the meantime when I just pick up the phone without an appointment and enter into the scheduling of the person called.
Tipp: Tools like e.g. https://calendly.com or Bookable Calender from Doodle allow convenient appointments with customers or partners.