Synchronous vs Asynchronous Communication

While I was settling back in Germany, the number of COVID cases grew exponentially in just a few weeks. By the end of March, the German government asked all the companies to close and only allow employees to work from the office who couldn’t work from home. While async has its place and is certainly a helpful tool, async shouldn’t be considered a substitute for sync time. Async methods, like any workplace communication, will likely never be perfect. There’s no substitute for a face-to-face meeting, whether that’s in-person or through remote work.

While team members can set their working hours under async communication, it’s important for managers to know when to expect (or not expect) real-time responses. Synchronous communication is common in a physical work location where managers can walk up to a team member’s office and ask for a document or question about a process. Work hours and break times are preset, and there’s a ton of pressure to always be available. Trello is a project management tool that organizes large projects into boards. It’s similar to Asana, but in my experience, it’s better suited for people who think visually.

Clear all messages daily/weekly

When sending out async communications, your team members should always include information regarding the next steps. A strategic, intentional, and standardized approach to asynchronous communication is essential to experience optimum results. An asynchronous meeting is an organized discussion that occurs over time. Like “normal” meetings, async meetings involve specific team members, and revolve around specific topics of discussion. Let’s look at a short history of asynchronous communication, starting with the term asynchronous data transmission.

All in all, each of these areas and likely other situation specific factors need to be carefully considered when deciding on synchronous or asynchronous communication in the workplace. There in no one answer that will always be right, and there may be some trial and error involved while you learn to navigate this. Now that we’ve covered synchronous communication, let’s dig into the pros and cons of asynchronous communication, and look at some examples and best practices. Whether you are engaging in synchronous communication in person or using phone or video calling, the conversation should be kept to a small group. With too many participants, the discussion can become confusing and unfocused.

Provide deep focus

Loom’s VP of Sales, Sam, sends a weekly Loom on Mondays that covers what his family got up to over the weekend, reflections from his past week at work, and his focus areas for this week. That Loom is shared with his team and published to the entire Loom workspace so anyone can watch it. As a result, everyone at Loom feels more connected to Sam – that’s team-building. These records can be added to knowledge repositories when shared in a central hub if needed. This saves time two-fold, in the first act of communication and in reducing the need for repetition.

One of the most significant concerns of the post-COVID work environment is that team members can feel more isolated without in-person interaction — this can even lead to burnout in the long run. For example, you might make a prerecorded video outlining the details of the next project they’ll be working on, which they can watch at the start of their workday. When you schedule meetings, do whatever you can to optimize productivity. One great way to do that is to cap meetings at around 30 minutes, or introduce a break around the 30-minute mark for longer meetings. Complete all knowledge assessments in the Remote Work Foundation certification to receive the Remote Foundations Badge in GitLab Learn.

Tools to Supercharge Your Asynchronous Communications

It’s a shared responsibility to think twice before scheduling a meeting, as well as politely questioning meeting invitations. The organizer is responsible for informing the entire company, via post-meeting documentation, of the outcomes should team members go searching. That’s a big responsibility, which keeps the quantity of meetings in check and acts as a filter for whether or not a meeting is truly necessary. While you may not choose to have this level of transparency, be aware that transparent information-sharing within your organization is crucial to asynchronous work. Every team member should be empowered to do their work at any time, whether or not their teammates are online and available.

Moving these “standup” meetings to an asynchronous cadence, where each team member is expected to post their update sometime each day or at the end of each week can make these much more valuable. Where project & task communications don’t fit are the scenarios where the message is more general (doesn’t relate to a specific project or task). If meetings are conducted asynchronously, you have the benefit of logging, and easily recalling each individual response from every participant in the meeting. Communicating with customers is “the other half” of all the communication that happens in your company.

Even if you aren’t sure if this approach will benefit you, give it a try. Remote workers lack many of the physical gateways that serve as dividers between work and life. When work and life happen in the same building, and one’s work equipment is always within reach, it’s far too easy to allow unread Slack messages to haunt you. Below are recommended forcing functions to keep leaders and individual contributors alike from being consumed by instant messages and a bias for synchronicity. The goal is to place the power of prioritization back into one’s own hands. Async works well when managing multiple projects, although it does require discipline and an ability to switch contexts and compartmentalize.

First and foremost, asynchronous communication can significantly improve efficiency and productivity. By allowing team members to communicate and collaborate on their own schedules, you can reduce the need for lengthy meetings. Asynchronous platforms often have built-in collaboration tools, which streamline communication for all kinds of teams.

With this type of communication, the person or people you’re communicating with are able to respond immediately. Asynchronous work gives team members the time and space to focus on skilled work. But the true benefit of asynchronous communication comes when you can leverage collaboration to get the most out of your time at work. With the right asynchronous system, you can https://remotemode.net/blog/guide-to-asynchronous-communication-definition-and-examples/ get your most important work done and hit your goals—with fewer back-and-forth or distractions. All-remote settings empower team members to live and work where they’re most fulfilled. Increasingly, operating asynchronously is necessary even in colocated companies which have team members on various floors or offices, especially when multiple time zones are involved.