Call and then email why?

I just came off the phone call with him and i saw an email from him confirming what we discussed.

This is weired isn't it.

Does he not believe me? this was the obvious question came to me. But few days later in one of the tele conference call, Dave was asking about Joe's commitment made on the last monthly call. That conversation made me realise that written confirmation is required just to ensure that what A means is same as B's understanding.

After few such incidences, I realised the importance of the email confirmation just because it makes easy to

trace back the conversation,
record decisions,
note issues and risks and
also the bouquets I have received in return of the good work.

It just takes few more minutes after the call to put it in the email and send out as record of the conversation to bring more clarity among the stakeholders of the program/project. Yes! Do not forget to offer an opportunity to others to provide their review comments as it brings in their participation . After all it should be dialog and not a monologue.

This has made my life easy as I do not have to remember anything particularly when virtual teams were involved.

Honestly this relieves brain from unwanted tasks.