Now asynchronous communication is being implemented not only on a remote site

Illustration: Yin Weihung



Study after study once again proves that remote workers are more productive than their colleagues in the office.



Only it’s not entirely clear why.



Yes, people save time (and reason) by avoiding traffic jams during rush hour. They are not affected by distractions in the office. They gain a sense of control over the work schedule. More time is left for family, friends and hobbies.



But in addition to trips to work, all these advantages are not so much the result of an autonomous location as a by-product of asynchronous communication - employees decide when to communicate with colleagues.



Many managers think about organizing remote work, but few consider the idea of ​​more asynchronous communication. Although I believe that the future lies in remote work , asynchronous communication is an even more important factor in team performance, regardless of whether it works remotely or not. Asynchrony not only provides the best result, but allows people to do more important work and live a more free and fulfilling life.



Based on the experience of Doist , my own remote and largely asynchronous company, I’ll try to explain what asynchronous communication is, how it improves productivity and what specific steps you can take to create a more asynchronous environment.

What is asynchronous communication?

Essentially, asynchronous communication is when you send a message without waiting for an immediate response . For example, an email. I open and answer letters in a few hours.



On the contrary, synchronous communication is when you send a message, and the recipient reads it immediately and immediately answers . Personal communication, like meetings, are examples of purely synchronized communication. You say something, I immediately receive information and immediately respond.



But digital forms of communication, such as real-time messaging, can also be synchronous. You send a message, I get a notification and open Slack to read the message in real time and respond. Even email is seen primarily as a synchronous form of communication. A 2015 study by Yahoo Labs showed that the average response time for emails is only two minutes.



Before delving into the benefits of a more asynchronous collaboration approach, let's see why we should question our current, mostly synchronous, ways of working and communicating.

Problems with constant communication in real time

If employees are more productive outside the office, something is wrong with the office.



According to the Harvard Business Review's Collaborative Overload article, over the past twenty years, employees have begun to spend 50% more time communicating with colleagues. Up to 80% of this time is spent on email communication (on average, six hours a day), meetings (on average, 15% ), and more recently, instant messenger applications (on average, Slack sends 200 messages to day , although a thousand messages are “no exception” for the most active).



This trend towards almost constant communication means that the average mental worker should plan a work day around several meetings, and in between, he works absent-mindedly, being distracted by email and Slack.



To make matters worse, the growth of mobile technology means that work communications are no longer limited to physical work or work hours. We can check emails and reply to messages at any time of the day. As a result, we never completely turn off. As an office worker told New York Magazine in a comment: “I used to wake up, turn off the alarm and check Tinder. Now I wake up and check out Slack. ”









Slack boasts that users spend nine or more hours on the work day. 90 minutes of active use, stretched for nine hours, is a whole bunch of distractions



Such an exceptionally synchronous style of work would be justified if it produced a result. But there is growing evidence that the overhead of communication in real time makes it difficult to focus on work, depletes mental resources and generally makes it difficult to make meaningful progress.



I have already argued against real-time messaging applications , but it’s worth summarizing the main problems that apply to most forms of synchronous communication:

• Constant distractions . They distract attention and impede progress in work. Highly effective, cognitively demanding activities such as programming, writing, designing, developing strategies, and problem solving require long periods of deep, focused work . Synchronous communication does not allow to allocate long periods of time for this.
  
  
  
  

  Examples of small work	Examples of deep work
  Parsing letters in the mailbox	Sketch of a plan for launching a new feature
  Answers to colleagues in chats like Slack	Programming
  Phone calls for logistics	Key presentation preparation
  Attendance attendance meetings	Search and analysis of information on a specific problem

  
  
  The phrase “deep work” was introduced by professor of computer sciences at Georgetown University and author of books Cal Newport
  
  
  
  
• Connectivity priority instead of productivity . In real time, you are encouraged to stay in touch and be available at all times. If you disconnect, discussions will continue without you, so you cannot answer or even see them. In order not to miss important decisions and discussions, people try to always be online and at as many meetings as possible, which harms their well-being and productivity.
  
  
• Unnecessary stress . Constant availability means that the employee does not control his time. During the day, he responds to requests, and not proactively sets his own schedule. One study showed that people compensate for the time lost due to distractions, trying to work faster, which leads to “more stress, frustration, waste of extra energy and pressure”. Synchronous culture directly leads to burnout.
  
  
• Decreased discussion quality and suboptimal solutions . When you need to answer immediately, people don’t have time to think through key questions carefully and give thoughtful answers. Your first reaction to the situation will often not be the best.

Benefits of a More Asynchronous Environment

Most people perceive distractions as a routine, but some companies, such as Doist, Gitlab , Zapier , Automattic and Buffer , are trying to implement an asynchronous approach. Here are some of the key benefits of better control over personal communications:

• Work time control = happier and more productive employees . In an asynchronous environment, there are no set business hours. Employees have almost complete control over how they structure their working days according to their lifestyle, their biorhythms and responsibilities (for example, caring for children!). Some work at night, because it is more convenient for them. Every morning I spend an hour with my son, and no one in my asynchronous organization notices this.
  
  
• High-quality communications instead of superficial answers . Admittedly, asynchronous communications are slower, but usually of higher quality. People learn to communicate more clearly and thoroughly to avoid unnecessary chatter. They have time to think about a specific problem or idea and give more thoughtful answers. Instead of reflexive reactions, people can answer when they are ready for this (as an additional advantage: when we have time to think it over we are much less likely to see thoughtless emotional outbursts, over the past eight years we have not had a single serious problem with incorrect communication).
  
  
• Better planning = less stress . If it’s no longer possible to send an ASAP request at the last minute, there is a need for advanced planning. People learn to plan their workload and coordinate their activities more carefully so that colleagues have enough time to answer their requests. This relieves stress, and ultimately the work is done more efficiently.
  
  
• Deep work by default . Since employees do not have to read messages at the time of receipt, they can devote large periods of time to the work that creates the greatest value for the organization. They return for a batch response to messages 1-3 times a day, and do not jump back and forth between work and messages / meetings.
  
  
  
  

  Good	poorly
  Find time for an interesting conversation, and then return to deep mode	Juggling attempts to communicate while working

• Auto documentation and better transparency . Since most communications take place in writing, key discussions and important information are automatically documented, especially if you use a more open tool than email. These conversations are easier to put a link. For example, in Doist, instead of finding out the reasons for the decision or the status of a particular project, it is customary to give a link to the relevant Twist topics.
  
  
  
  
  
  In this month’s summary, our marketing director, Brenna, refers to related topics so people can easily understand asynchronously.
  
  
• Equality of time zones . The smooth connection between time zones, no one will be at a disadvantage due to their time zone. Thus, you expand your pool of possible candidates. You can create a starry and truly diverse team of employees from around the world.
  
  
  
  Although employee retention is a kind of vanity indicator, we believe that it is thanks to the asynchronous culture that we have virtually no staff turnover over the past five years. Retention of employees exceeds 90%, which is much higher than the industry average. For example, even in Google with its legendary campuses, a bunch of benefits from free meals to free haircuts, the average employee life is only 1.1 years . The freedom to work from anywhere at any time is more important than cookies and our company costs exactly zero.

But! You still need synchronous communication

As with everything in life, an asynchronous culture has pros and cons. Doist experienced both.



At the beginning of our asynchronous journey, we blacklisted most of the meetings, as we considered them a waste of time. Almost everything can be solved in writing. But recently, our marketing director, Brenna, frankly said that we had lost some human contact, and she felt isolated without personal contact with other employees.





We found that excessive asynchrony is also bad



As a result, we learned that we still need to mix synchronous communication where it makes sense: for example, one-on-one meetings or field trips. It's hard to build mutual understanding and personal relationships only in writing - we are human after all © Daft Pank.



Here are some tricks that help us establish personal relationships in a team:

• Each employee at least monthly talks face-to-face with his immediate supervisor to probe the soil, discuss problems, set goals for professional development, etc.
  
  
• Experiments with random team hangouts through Zoom, where people from different teams can get together and talk about non-working things.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Annual corporate and team trips where people communicate in person.
  
  
  
  
  
  Doist corporate outing. Azores, 2019
  
  
• For all beginners, a week of personal work with the leading team leader. This helps beginners to more comfortably join the process by asking any questions.
  
  
• We reimburse the cost of coworking so that people, if they wish, leave their homes and communicate more in the office / community.
  
  
  
  (If interested, here is my more detailed article about remote work and mental health ).

Today we minimize the number of meetings, but do not prohibit them. Our current communications stack looks something like this:

• 70% asynchronous via Twist, Github, Paper
  
  
• 25% in sync through tools like Zoom, Appear.in or Google Meet
  
  
• 5% of personal meetings, for example, annual field trips by the whole company or team

For more information about the tools used and our communication methods, see the article “The Pyramid of Remote Communication in a Team”.





Our communication stack



In general, use synchronous communication in the following cases:

• You want to establish mutual understanding between people (for example, one-on-one conversations or team meetings are suitable).
  
  
• It is necessary to bring important information or discuss some sensitive topics.
  
  
• There are many unknown factors, and you want to brainstorm various ideas and solutions.
  
  
• There are many rapidly changing variables, and you want to quickly bring the same information to everyone, for example, at a meeting about the launch of a project.
  
  
• There was a crisis requiring immediate attention, for example, a server crash. We use Telegram with the included notifications only for emergency communications.

Synchronous communication should be the exception, not the rule.





Instead of (and sometimes in addition) weekly meetings, each team on Monday launches a stream and publishes the results of last week's plan for the current. Thus, everyone can see what everyone else is working on in different teams.

How to create an asynchronous culture within a team

The transition to asynchrony will not happen overnight. It requires a profound change in tools, processes, habits, and culture. Here are some specific steps you can take both individually and as a team leader.

What an employee can do:

• Over communication . When sending a message, provide as much information as possible. Visualize screenshots or screencasts. Clearly say what you need from another person and in what time frame. A few minutes spent on details and editing the text (for better understanding) can save days of talking back and forth in an asynchronous environment.
  
  
  
  

  Lack of communication	Over communication
  Can you send a report on the content as soon as there is time?	Can you send a short report (≈1 p.) With blog metrics from Google Analytics by next Tuesday until 14-00 EST? Note this: top posts, number of unique views, bounce rate, CTR and plan for future posts. Here is a good example of such a report: a content report template . I will be grateful!

  
  
  Compose your message as clearly and carefully as possible.
  
  
• Plan ahead so that people have time to review your message . For example, “I would like to finish this in two days, preferably with your participation”, and not “I need your answer within an hour”.
  
  
• Always check your document sharing settings . This seems like a trifle, but if someone has to request access, it can delay the overall process for several hours or even days.
  
  
• Before meetings, start a stream or create a document . Share all the information and discuss key issues before the meeting so that everyone can come with a full understanding of the topic.
  
  
• After the meeting, write down the discussion and the result . Start the stream or continue the document so that all those who miss can find this information. We even started experimenting with recording meetings on video so that everyone could “attend” asynchronously.
  
  
• Turn off notifications . Instead, set aside certain time intervals throughout the day to check and respond to emails and messages.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Use wait time productively . Waiting for an answer will not be a huge problem, if there is something to do.

What can a team lead do:

• Encourage everyone to master written communication as a core skill . This will reduce the waiting time and quickly convey the essence of things. In an asynchronous environment, everyone is required to be a great writer.
  
  
• Evaluate people based on their results, rather than response speed or the number of hours worked . We already wrote in detail about performance evaluation .
  
  
• Cancel mandatory hours or office hours . This will allow you to hire employees from anywhere in the world and will naturally shift your organization towards more asynchronous communication when patting on the shoulder is no longer available.
  
  
• Focus on trust, organization, independence and accountability . Without this, asynchronous communication will never work. For example, one of Doist’s core values ​​states that everyone trusts your deadlines — and your friends don’t have to think about keeping your word. Our marketer Brenna Laurie talked in more detail how to build trust in a remote team with asynchronous communications.
  
  
• Implement a Direct Responsible Individual (DRI) model in management and decision making . This model has made Apple popular. It means that the company always has a specific person responsible for any specific area or project. This person does not do everything himself, but rather organizes a team or project, makes key decisions and, as a rule, is informed about the timing and results. The less a person participates in decision-making, the more decentralized the powers and the higher the individual responsibility of each, the more effective the team. This is true in any company, but is especially important for success in an asynchronous environment.
  
  
• Set reasonable standards for an acceptable response time . For example, at Doist we have 24 hours.
  
  
• Prioritize transparency . For example, everyone at Doist can read all the key discussions of any team, including leadership conversations. Thanks to transparency, no one misses important conversations or decisions. Everyone can work more efficiently and independently, if you do not need to ask others for the necessary information.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Each Doist employee has access to all management conversations on the public Doist Heads channel.
  
  
  
  
• Use tools that promote transparency, deep work, and asynchronous communication , like GitHub pool requests, Basecamp discussions, and Twist threads . Do not use email inside the company. Although mail is suitable for asynchronous communication, it isolates information inside mailboxes where no one can find it. If people cannot find the information they need, the effectiveness of collaboration is drastically reduced. For more information on the pitfalls of e-mail for communication, see here .
  
  
• Establish emergency communication channels . We have this channel in Telegram. There are also phone numbers of employees. We use them several times a year. Most discussions are not urgent and do not require an instant response.

Asynchrony is a tough battle that challenges the usual state of affairs.

We know that we are challenging the status quo and that quiet, asynchronous communications are not the current norm. A real paradigm shift is required.



We bet that in the future the most successful companies will be those who decide to take such a shift. Teams that do not require employees to constantly be in touch, who prioritize asynchronous communication to create the conditions for deep work. Which allows employees to go offline and fully recover. We are pleased to share our journey into this world and invite you to explore it.