Wow, that’s pretty interesting. In real life, I might blurt out a comment or question, but when I find myself doing the same even with a long slack message — by the time I write two or three sentences, and maybe go back to reword something, I’ve already started thinking about how I can solve the problem myself, and I cancel the message.

This is my general take on "remote doesn't work for X": Did your existing process actually work, or did you use the ability to interrupt people as a crutch in order to make it not totally fail?

That is also the main advantage of email over IM. Email kind of forces some effect of the remoteness you described even when everyone is in the same office.

On the other hand, in a colocated workspace it is infuriating when a high effort, carefully crafted email is met by recipients interrupting you at your desk with, "Hey, about that email, can you just quickly run through it with me now please?"

One of the rules I tried to enforce on a prior team was to minimize context conversation medium changes. Following a conversation as it freely moves from email to chat to in person is exhausting.

You're using IM wrong :)

You don't have to read the message when it arrives just because it instantly arrived.

Sometimes it’s my colleagues that are using IM wrong.

> Hey I have a question

People are too lazy to type the rest of their request until they see a response from me indicating I’m listening.

Ignore it until they ask the question. Eventually they'll learn.