Honestly, fax updates forced a slowdown that probably improved the work quality. You had to be sure about changes before sending, cutting down on pointless revisions. That toner smell meant something was actually getting done, not just lost in email chains. Sure, it was slow, but it built patience and attention to detail we lack now. Ngl, sometimes the old way kept projects from spiraling out of control with too many cooks in the kitchen.
My buddy's old boss would make him wait by the fax machine downtown for client changes. He missed half his lunch breaks because the thing would always jam or run out of paper. The worst was getting a coffee-stained page where you couldn't even read the markup notes. He said the whole project had that weird smell of hot toner and lost time.