Asynchronous communication, frightening at first, a real accelerator in the end

Everyone is talking about remote work since Covid. It’s scary.

But the question is: Does it work?

Answer below 👇

The global pandemic has had a real impact on the labour market, the way companies operate and the way teams are organised.

I myself, a web developer, work in full remote.
I am based in Bali and more widely in Asia. I regularly come back to France to maintain physical contact with my clients.
(15 days every 3 months on average)

One of the tools that allows me to be efficient, consistent & organised is the use of asynchronous communication.

This refers to any communication that does not take place in real time, such as when you email a question to a colleague instead of getting up and asking it directly.

83% of teleworkers feel that they can communicate as well or better when working remotely through asynchronous communication.

Project owners and CTOs are afraid of this method of communication. They are not used to working indirectly with their teams, it is a transition, it will take time and education.

There are two schools:

• Companies that have implemented it in their DNA as well as in their culture
• Companies that have tried it but have not seen the benefits because they have been disrupted in their organisation and their way of communicating

For asynchronous communication to work well, you need to :

• Create a strong corporate culture around the value of asynchronous;
• Trust each other;
• Work with collaboration tools such as Slack, Trello or Notion.
• Transpose synchronous ceremonies into asynchronous (e.g. the Daily synchronous call, becomes a digital space where each worker can access the “Daily report” of other workers.

The end result is that remote workers are never directly disturbed. Whereas on-site workers are regularly disturbed. This contributes to unnecessary stress due to delay.

Have you ever tried asynchronous communication?