Last updated July 2024

⁉️ Choosing between sync and async?

There are a few things to consider when evaluating what should be done asynchronously vs. synchronously.

1. Simple vs. complex: How difficult is it to explain? Can you provide clarity easily without a discussion using written communication and a Loom video?
2. Low-stakes vs. high-stakes decisions: How important are these decisions? Who will they impact?
3. Few vs. many people involved: Who needs to be involved? Is it a cross-functional task? If it involves other people, the communication needs to be in Asana.
4. Time-sensitive: Is this urgent? Is it a bottleneck for other tasks?

A good way of looking at it is if all the pins line up to the left, you can probably take it async. If they’re all to the right, it’s probably best to keep that meeting on your calendar or jump on a call.

There are exceptions to this rule. All-hands meetings, 1:1s and sharing circles, for example, are generally fairly simple, don’t involve important decisions, and aren’t time-sensitive. But if you aren’t doing them together … it kind of defeats the purpose.

🛠️ What tools for async communication?

• Slack (informal conversations and updates will take place in Slack)
• Asana (all conversations will take place in Asana)
• Notion (all documentation will be found in Notion)
• Gmail (for external email exchanges)
• Loom (to give context and give more info to support conversations in Asana)

💭 Being thoughtful and intentional