The Full Stack Leader

Image credit, Doist

Why This Matters

In my experience working from home, people tend to get more burned out when companies haven’t shifted yet to more asynchronous, more intentional communication.

Asynchronous communication helps to create a company friendlier to remote workers. Considering this approach: Distributed Work’s 5 Levels of Autonomy — how might we bake in the lessons learned in the COVID-19 lockdown to bring in a permanent era of hybrid work model? Build a foundation for intentional, more inclusive cultures.

Asynchronous-first teams don’t only benefit remote team members. Come back from time off, join as a new team member, or train up in a new area. Documentation, self-paced tools, and access to important information all pay off.

Principles

• Leaders experiment first. Team leaders drive change by trying out various formats and tools, adapting to their needs.
• Any format. Take full advantage of tools, not just for writing and reading messages, but video and audio, too. Make a habit to summarize more, meet less.
• Know the context: Set clear guidelines for when to use synchronous and asynchronous communication depending on the purpose and outcome of each task or meeting (1-1 meeting vs. a status update).

This move requires technical and cultural shifts, where the async habit needs to be even easier than starting a quick meeting. Tools from internal written memos, accessible documentation and search, and ways to share quick audio/video messages.

Benefits

• Boost productivity and health. Optimize for flexible work schedules, batching similar tasks, and fewer interruptions. Space to disconnect.
• Access and inclusion. Remote-friendly teams put all team members on equal footing with better documentation: accessible and open.
• Measure what gets done based on results instead of tracking who is online or where/when they’re working.

Tools

Project Management: Basecamp 

This web-based project management tool is made by a distributed company. CEO Jason Fried’s motto is: “It doesn’t have to be crazy at work,” an approach that drives their company culture and their product. With this excellent tool, your work won’t have to feel crazy either. Record of truth to refer back to for both recall and accountability.

Asynchronous Group Collaboration: WordPress P2

While Slack is the top chat app, sometimes it works too well, leaving users distracted or fatigued by a constant stream of pings. To keep the most important work-related discussions from being lost, Automattic uses P2, a WordPress theme developed way back in 2008. When conversations become too complex and multi-threaded for a fast-moving Slack channel, or when you need a central hub for projects and team planning, Automatticians will head over to P2 (as we like to say: “P2 or it didn’t happen!”).

Organized File Sharing: G Suite or Dropbox. A cloud storage file sharing platform like Google Drive, Dropbox, or Box provides centralized access for team members to easily access files without requesting access or waiting on an email attachment. No need to ask your manager or get permission to view important documents to get your job done.

Product Development: InVision, GitHub, Slack standup bots, and more.

👉 See a full list: Tools and Gear – Distributed.blog.

Quick Examples

Automattic: Share messages with each other via internal blog posts, reply in comments when you read it based on your own schedule. Searchable, archived. Transparency, access to anything in the company based on clear expectations.

Automattic: Record meetings such as a company Town Hall or All-Hands — and publish the recorded video and full transcript for people in other time zones to watch later. Speed it up 1.5x or 2x. Non-native English speakers can reference the transcript. Bonus: searchable, archived.

Slack: Send a 90-second audio message instead of typing out your question or feedback. A brief telegram-like message you can send as a higher bandwidth alternative to text.

Look for more tips from the teams at Doist, Automattic, Zapier, HelpScout, Buffer, Gumroad, Gitlab, and Basecamp.

Recommended Reading

Doist: How to Move Your Team Toward Async-First Communication. Advice for team leaders and team members who want to bring more calm, focused productivity to the workplace.

Automattic: Foster social connections in a distributed team using many of the same tools, many still asynchronous: Social Communication – Automattic. Based on clear expectations for communicating as a team.

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See also: Reimagining how your company operates: distributed work’s 5 levels of autonomy.