{"id":1375,"date":"2020-11-25T09:54:48","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T09:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/?p=1329352"},"modified":"2020-11-25T09:54:48","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T09:54:48","slug":"how-covid-and-an-unexpected-17-hour-time-difference-forced-us-to-master-asynchronous-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=1375","title":{"rendered":"How COVID and an unexpected 17-hour time difference forced us to master asynchronous work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As my co-founder and I roll into the <\/span>eighth month<\/span><\/i> of our \u201cone-week visit\u201d to Australia, it amuses me how a company so focused on meeting efficiency ended up being one of the strongest examples of effective asynchronous communication. <\/span><\/p>\n

Like many, we were surprised by the sudden grounding of our entire team. In particular, we were two co-founders of a San-Francisco based company stranded down under, putting a 17-hour time difference between ourselves and our headquarters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately, we already had processes around asynchronous communication alongside our <\/span>already unique meeting culture<\/span><\/a>. To adapt to our new situation, we moved more of our day-to-day collaboration to asynchronous modes.<\/span> Sure, it\u2019s been a (major) adjustment, but it\u2019s just accelerating our arrival to somewhere <\/span>we were already heading<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The pandemic shifted companies to more synchronous collaboration<\/b><\/h2>\n

Our experience hasn\u2019t been the norm. Many teams have replaced face time with another form of synchronous communication: Meetings.<\/span><\/p>\n

While most teams made adjustments to accommodate remote work back in March, they were often short term solutions. A common issue since then has been too many meetings \u2014 a drain on productivity and time. When you can\u2019t tap a co-worker on the shoulder, you might pop a \u201cshort sync\u201d on their calendar instead. The result is a surge in meetings, many of which are unnecessary (or unnecessarily long).<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, we make software that powers meeting workflows for Adobe, Netflix, Spotify, and thousands of others, so we don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything wrong with meetings. That said, meetings are expensive when poorly used.<\/span><\/p>\n

The obvious cost is the hour that people are in the meeting, but that\u2019s only a portion of the time spent.<\/span> Research shows that <\/span>switching one task to another costs between 10 minutes to 2 hours<\/span><\/a>. Meetings may interrupt productivity, but despite the cost, the data still shows a natural tendency to reach for the calendar invitation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Research across our customer base shows a large increase in the average number of meetings per person since the onset of the pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In other words, companies haven\u2019t embraced asynchronous collaboration. Despite so many ways to share information \u2014 chat, email, documents, video recordings \u2014 meetings appear to be the go-to communication channel for socially-distanced teams.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Analysis of the titles of these meetings is even more revealing. Updates, syncs, weekly status meetings, check-ins, demos, and reviews dominate. In other words, most meetings aren\u2019t for decision-making; they\u2019re for sharing information. As such, they could have been just as effective when performed asynchronously.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mastering the async: Assessing your choices<\/b><\/h2>\n

At Hugo, we have a <\/span>4-hour per week limitation on synchronous, internal meetings<\/span><\/a>. This is to protect everyone\u2019s productivity. We only use meetings for the 3Ds: Debate, Discussion, and Decision-making. All of our other collaboration is asynchronous.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps ironically, one of the most important forms of asynchronous information is the documentation around meetings: agendas, notes, and tasks. If an agenda is shared or collaboratively prepared prior to a meeting, attendees can intelligently choose whether to attend or skip a meeting. If they get the notes, takeaways, and tasks assigned, they can find out what\u2019s happening on other teams without attending their meetings too. And even, if we find ourselves in a meeting, being well-prepared means we can get through a lot of Ds in short order and we often end early.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, how do we choose whether to have a meeting or do something else?<\/span><\/p>\n

Think about the way you communicate at work as a continuum between synchronous and asynchronous, which in both cases range from low to high nuance. What we mean by nuance is the density of the non-verbal cues, such as body language, voice tone, the position at the table, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Generally, we go from high-nuance to low-nuance when choosing the means of communication. While you\u2019re probably well-versed in the synchronous methods of working together, we also owe our success in building a strong, aligned team to these asynchronous channels. <\/span><\/p>\n