Jakub Kaczor
Contact

The List

In case you need to quickly contact me, here is the list of the ways you can do this ordered by my preference descending. You will find rationale behind this order below.

  1. 📧 E‐mail: jakub@jakubkaczor.com
  2. Signal CALL
  3. Cell phone call
  4. Signal message
  5. SMS

Rationale

I would like to stress that I assume discussed forms of communication are used in the most common manner. You could use e‐mail for IM—although not that instant—but the way these services are constructed inclines you to specified use.

The most optimal form of electronic communication for me is the one that let’s you exchange the most information, with the least of your resources consumed. E‐mail throughout all these years seems to be a champion within this regard. Let’s have a look at how a typical process of communication looks like from a perspective of one person:

  1. Write a message and send it.
  2. Wait.
  3. Read the reply and process it, then reply.

Of course sitting in front of the computer and waiting for an answer is pointless, and most of us will be doing something else in the time of waiting. It would seem that then e‐mailing or IM wouldn’t differ as much, and IM would be even superior, because in some way it is more “instant”. Unfortunately, we can’t switch between tasks as efficiently as computers do. Therefore not negligible amount of resources is wasted while IM. A human‐relevant version of communication process would look like this:

  1. Write a message and send it.
  2. Switch the task.
  3. Do something else.
  4. Switch the task.
  5. Read the reply and process it, then reply.

Moving from writing a message to sending it, and from reading to replying isn’t as costly, so it won’t be considered. It is clear that in case of IM these task switches are more frequent. Writing and reading is scalable, so doing it less frequently will result in doing it in longer stints, assuming we want to communicate the same amount of information. You could argue that a call is equivalent of reading and writing at the same time. You can speak and I can listen simultaneously, saving it. That is true, thus it is higher in the list than IM. It has one disadvantage though. It is highly disruptive. Unlike receiving e‐mail, receiving a call will interrupt the process you are currently involved in. Often times for the gain of nothing. (“I can’t speak right now, I’ll call you back.”) Reading and replying to e‐mail can be scheduled, planned to be done in the most optimal time. Of course you can also schedule calls, but you don’t have the same independence and freedom as it involves the other party.

I have chosen Signal equivalents of calling and texting as prior just because they are more private and secure. You can read more about Signal here, install it there, and donate to it there.

I had so far neglected one aspect of communication, which is conveying emotions, and other non‐verbal signals. Textual communication is terrible at this. To enhance this, I suggest extensive use of emojis. 😉 Calls are better in this scenario, because they preserve the tone of voice. Despite this, I would never use these methods when non‐verbal signals are important. Face‐to‐face meeting is my choice here. I believe video calls would do, but I don’t have experience with them.