Asynchronous communication happens on your own time and doesn’t need scheduling.
At many organisations such as GitLab, asynchronous communication is the default. Employees use email, project management tools (e.g., Trello, Asana), workspaces (e.g., Confluence, Slack), and direct messaging (e.g., WhatsApp, Twitter) but do not expect an immediate response. There is a lag between when someone sends a message and when the party receiving the message interprets it. This is ideal for when the message is not urgent, and the receiver can consume the communication at their own pace. It may be the only way for employees with different time zones to communicate effectively without sacrificing their personal time outside of working hours.
Everyone should work together to determine the etiquette around when to use each type of communication and the tools that are going to be utilised. This should be documented in an employee handbook and subject to continual updates.
There is plenty of guidance available on when to use each type of communication, the pros and cons, and the available tools, such as this from Status Net.
Test and learn
Everyone in the organisation should be encouraged and enabled to provide feedback about what is working well and what needs to be improved. If no one provides feedback, nothing will improve.
Preference – if you prefer to work in the office, for whatever reason, then do so. It is your choice.
Purpose – if it makes sense to co-locate to establish a shared sense of purpose, work on team values, and build team cohesion, then do so.
Participation – a team decision that co-location would result in better participation for activities such as deep-dive discovery work, ideation and innovation workshops, energetic collaboration sessions, or active networking.
Productivity - If the team decide that they will be far more productive working from the office, then that is a good reason to do so. If an individual decides they will be far more productive working from the office, then they should do so.
Party - a good reason to get together in person and utilise the office space is to party. Celebrations are far more effective when conducted in person.
Where people work must have a purpose.
Remove ambiguity about working practices
There must be clear and consistent communication protocols. In last week’s newsletter, I talked about the blur between professional life and personal life when there are no protocols in place.
There must be clear guidance on when to use synchronous communication and when to use asynchronous communication. The channels to be used also need to be clearly defined.
Synchronous communications are scheduled, real-time interactions by phone, instant messaging, video, or in person.