Effective Async Communication

Asynchronous, what a nerdy word. If you don't know what it means let's start with a definition:

Not simultaneous or concurrent in time\

Examples of Synchronous Communication:

• Video Calls (Zoom, Google Meet, etc...)
• Audio Calls (Teleconferences)
• Slack (usually, see below)
• Live talks or Events

Example of Asynchronous Communication: 

• Project Management Tools (JIRA, Basecamp, Asana)
• Stack Overflow
• In-App comments (Google docs comments, comments in Abstract, etc...)
• E-mail (unless you're using it like chat, don't do this)
• Surveys
• Forums (like https://elixirforum.com)
• Github/Gitlab issues
• Marco Pollo (a unique async video chat)

Benefits of Async communication

The benefits of async communication are many:

• 🤔People are allowed to think more deeply about their responses which leads to higher quality ones and less "hot takes"
• 🤐People that would normally be timid in meetings have a voice
• 🎧They support "Deep work". Nobody gets left out because they couldn't make the meeting or they were focusing instead of checking Slack
• 📖Context is always available. A person can read over the discussion to get caught up without needing people to constantly re-cap old discussions
• 💾Decisions are documented so they can be referenced in the future
• 😴They are timezone friendly. Many times people in other timezones (think Brazil, Austrailia) are 2nd class because they can't make all the meetings or a discussion happens in Slack while they are sleeping

So you mean just Slack people more?

So when we're talking about "Asynchronous Communication" we mean that each person doesn't have be present at the same time.

This is important because Slack is often is thought of as "asynchronous" but in reality it's often quite hostile to it. Why? Well many reasons, but let's start with this:

If you're not paying attention all the time, you won't be able to have your say when something comes up. And since conversations happen quick, and then scroll away on the conveyor belt, if you're not at your station when it's your turn to speak, you won't get a chance later.
Slack conversations are Real-time and usually multiple topics share the same channel. This means that if you don't type up your reply quick somebody else might change the topic, or not give you time to speak. The chance increases the more people that you include in the room.

Tips for being better at Async

1. Don't expect an immediately responses
2. Don't give too many status updates
3. Have a title: optimize for the readers time
4. Include all the context
5. Scope your topics
6. Include pictures
7. Offer numbered options
8. Record quick videos

Keywords: Slack, Async-ish, My Essays MOC, Group chat