Yeah. It is basically impossible for 3 thoroughly confused people to align on a topic they don't fully understand asynchronously. There can be dozens of questions, unknowns, clarifications, ect.

Email is great for instructions to do X with Y requirements.

It is terrible to figure out what needs to be done and what the requirements are.

I wish there were a better way, but I havent found it. As a result, I spend probably half my day in cross functional meetings with 10-15 people.