37signals posted their Guide to Internal Communication, which is a short and pithy read.
Writing solidifies, chat dissolves. Substantial decisions start and end with an exchange of complete thoughts, not one-line-at-a-time jousts. If it’s important, critical, or fundamental, write it up, don’t chat it down.
And;
Speaking only helps who’s in the room, writing helps everyone. This includes people who couldn’t make it, or future employees who join years from now.
For years I measured my productivity by logging what I worked on every fifteen minutes. This was a tactic my brother-in-law taught me, and he is one of the most productive people I’ve ever watched work.
In addition, I used to email my daily report to my boss at the end of every day; talk about accountability. I don’t know if any boss ever appreciated my reports, but it helped me.
This quote from the article reminds me of those days, and inspires me again:
Every workday at 16:30, Basecamp (the product) automatically asks every employee “What did you work on today?” Whatever people write up is shared with everyone in the company. Everyone’s responses are displayed on a single page, grouped by date, so anyone who’s curious about what’s happening across the company can simply read from top to bottom. And if you have a question about anything, you can comment on anyone’s “what did you work on today?” check-in to keep the conversation in context.