April 12, 2020

Asynchronous communication


For years now I've lived with email notifications turned off. Both at work and home accounts. It's never caused a problem, since people know how to reach me for emergencies, and I believe it has helped me be calmer and more productive.

Doist explains why asynchronous communication leads to increased productivity.
The article is great, and here are some highlights:

Real-time communication comes with a few downsides:
  • Leads to constant interruptions,
  • prioritizes being connected over being productive,
  • creates unnecessary stress,
  • leads to lower quality discussions and suboptimal solutions.

Having a more asynchronous way of working is better because of:
  • Control over the workday = happier and more productive employees,
  • high-quality communication versus knee-jerk responses,
  • better planning leads to less stress,
  • deep work becomes the default,
  • automatic documentation and greater transparency,
  • time zone equality.

And here's how to get there:
  • Plan ahead to give people time to consider your message,
  • after meetings, document discussions, and outcomes,
  • turn off notifications,
  • evaluate people based on their output and results, not how responsive they are or the number of hours they work,
  • emphasize trust, organization, independence, and accountability,
  • adopt a Direct Responsible Individual (DRI) model for management and decision-making,
  • make transparency a priority,
  • use tools that promote transparency, deep work, and async communication.

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