Conversations not Comments

• Buggy Code: We've all seen it before where misunderstandings turn into bugs. Famously known as "it's not a bug, it's a feature" syndrome.
• Long lead times: We could waste hours or days waiting for a reply to a comment or a question posted somewhere which inevitably delays delivery.
• Re-work and increased frustration: Having to redo a story you thought was already finished due to a misunderstanding in requirements is both wasteful and highly frustrating.
• Context switching: Oftentimes, long waits lead to multitasking. Picking up more work means that you would need to context switch frequently when a reply comes in to one of the tasks that are in flight.
• More starting and less finishing: This is closely related to long waits and context switching. Having multiple items in flight means we'll be starting more work frequently and finishing work less often. That also means we're delivering value to our customers less often.

Products that deliver value and satisfy customers' needs are those that are able to develop a deep understanding of the problem and formulate appropriate solutions. Building those solutions, developing stories or analysing new work will inevitably include contextual knowledge and subtle differences between use cases. To effectively build products, clear transfer of knowledge that ensures alignment is essential. It's much easier to catch and correct misunderstandings in a conversation as the feedback loop is shorter and less frustrating.