Working remotely: How Asynchronous Communication Improves Remote Working Environments
Summary: Asynchronous communication will make your team think, execute, and communicate in a more intentional, cohesive, and productive way.
Good communication is the key to improving the productivity of your remote team.
An effective solution for achieving this communication excellence is to use a combination of Asynchronous and Synchronous communication styles.
But what is Asynchronous Communication? And how does it differ from Synchronous Communication?
Here, you'll learn in a quick guide the differences between Asynchronous and Synchronous Communication and the best practices to improve your team's remote working.
Async vs Sync
You may already be using these two types of communication, even if you don't know the names.
Asynchronous Communication happens "out of sync"; it doesn't happen in real time, and participants can send a response whenever they want. Most communication in a remote team should take place asynchronously, much like in an open-source project.
Synchronous Communication, on the other hand, takes place in real time and usually expects an immediate response, as in meetings and live chats. Ideally, it should be kept to a minimum and used in regular meetings or calls with a particular purpose.
Asynchronous Communication
Asynchronous Communication improves focus and productivity. Instead of constantly checking and replying to messages, the team can do long sessions of deep work.
When communicating asynchronously, context is key. These conversations usually happen in threads inside project management tools like Jira and Trello. Some hard core teams use special async tools such as Twist. When adding someone to a thread, it's important to make sure all the relevant information is included in the card; otherwise, that person won't have all the information they need to participate in the discussion.
Before sending a message, ask yourself these questions:
Am I using the best format for this message (text, video, or audio)?
Does whoever is receiving this message have all the context they need?
Am I communicating clearly so that there is no confusion?
Am I providing the necessary resources so that the conversation or project can move forward?
How would I deliver this message, present this work, or move this project forward now if no one on my team was awake?
Take these questions into account to create complete messages that avoid ambiguity and confusion. And don't forget: context is important.
Message without context
Hi, can you send me that material from the client?Message with context
Hi, can you send me the outline file you and John worked on last week for the editorial material for Client X?Also, make sure that discussions related to projects in which there are many people involved take place in the project's own group or task sheet. This supports strong collaboration and teamwork.
A team with fewer distractions and greater mental capacity increases its efficiency, keeps deadlines on track, and minimizes errors.
Another way to improve Asynchronous Communication is by setting times to receive task updates. It could be a few times a week, every day at a specific time.
This allows members to prepare a more coherent and informative response and schedule communication without interfering with one of their focused working hours.
For teams with members in different time zones
If you are a manager, ask your team members what time zone they work in and what time they plan to work each day/week. With this information, you can find out the best times for meetings, feedback, and "do not disturb" times.
Synchronous Communication
Synchronous Communication can create unnecessary stress. Constantly checking that everything has been noticed is tiring and makes the team lose focus.
Instead of being able to concentrate on their work, they have to work hard to respond to messages promptly (regardless of the time of day).
This causes another problem: remote workers who use a synchronous style all the time need more time to reflect on the issues and articulate their answers well, scrambling to answer just to look like they have yet to see the message.
However, you need to be alert and make exceptions for important messages or sensitive deadlines that require immediate attention. This shouldn't be a recurring reality, but it is something that will happen at some point.
To prevent urgent messages from happening frequently, remember to set a period of the day for feedback and active messaging. During this time, the team can share urgent issues, such as new or updated information about the project.
Creating a specific channel for this type of communication is the best option. In Slack, for example, you can make a channel and allocate all the members of that project so everyone can leave messages and have access to what has been said.
Tips to Avoid Synchronous Communication
Give detailed messages to your team
Add detailed project overviews, documents, or other resources. This way, no matter what time the team members receive your message, they should have everything they need to start working.
In the case of complex information or information that requires more explanatory examples, a video or audio recording can also be helpful. At CCM, we use Loom.
Loom is a tool for recording asynchronous messages to improve communication asynchronously. It uses video, audio, and screen recording to make communication more effective by adding more context to it.
Send direct messages only to those who need to know about them
Avoid using @channel mentions in tools like Slack on people who don't need to be alerted to a particular message. When members are flooded with messages that don't concern them, they focus unnecessary attention on notifications and may miss something important in the future.
Only use video calls when they are needed
You can use video calls to get projects off the ground so that everyone is on the same page right from the start. However, virtual meetings via Zoom or Google Meeting have their time and place because they're a huge productivity killer if they're done all the time.
Of course, video chats provide a link between teams so that everyone can get to know the human beings behind the screens. But this needs to be done in moderation, as too much can cause mental fatigue and reduce members' productivity.
You can convey almost everything your team needs to know using project management tools and messaging apps.
Create asynchronous communication guidelines
Last but not least, creating asynchronous communication guidelines gives your team space to work. This way, members can concentrate for uninterrupted periods without breaking their productivity or flow to respond to a message quickly.
Some useful tools for asynchronous communication:
Email
Notion
Jira
Trello
Monday
Asana
Twist
Conclusion
Following these practices will make your team think, execute, and communicate in a more intentional, cohesive, and productive way. It's worth remembering that to keep the team motivated, project managers and leaders need to be the first to put these tips into action to encourage greater trust, adaptability, and openness from the whole team. Successful remote collaboration starts at the top.
If you want to learn more about how to improve your team's communication, especially the relationship between Devs and Designers, check out our article: 5 Tips to Improve Designer-Developer Collaboration in Small Teams.