In our fast-changing world, especially after COVID-19, working in ways that don't rely on everyone being online at the same time has become important for strong, lasting businesses. This shift towards remote work isn't just a quick fix; it's a smart way to build a business for the long haul.
Working asynchronously means we write things down and make our intentions clear. This is key when things change quickly. It allows for flexible working hours, which are ever important for GenZ joining the marketplace.
When I switched to working remotely four years ago, I had no clue what it meant to work asynchronously. I’m a big fan of asynchronous work now. It’s hard to shift when you are an established company, but it’s worth it. It made me rethink how we share and collaborate in modern knowledge-based economy. Let me share some learnings and practices we developed to stimulate an async workplace. If you start a new company, consider being async from day one.
It all starts with the basics. You need to have a commonplace that people contribute to. Many platforms allow you to structure your workspace for async work, like Notion, Coda or Nuclino. It's like having a coach or a guidebook that helps you grow people and make them collaborate. It’s important to remember that Microsoft Teams and Slack aren’t good replacements, as the context in threads in your messaging platforms is fleeting.
At my company, we started using a tool called Notion at the end of 2020. It lets us organize our work without the need to have everyone online at the same time. We began with just a few essential documents. People were initially slow to get on board because it meant changing how we did things. We didn't force it; we just created useful stuff that everyone wanted to use and got everyone involved bit by bit.
Now, Notion is a big part of how we do everything - from planning projects to keeping track of employee info and making decisions. It's our go-to place for all our important information.
If you're building a business, check out Notion community templates. They have lots of ready-made setups for different stages of your business, which can be a great starting point.
At work (and not only there 😀), we usually have to make some sort of decisions at some point of time. That could be the decision to start the project, devote more resources to the given topic, change company policy, or make a financial commitment. Usually, there are some stakeholders on whom we base our decisions, even if they aren’t directly engaged in the project we run. When working remotely, you need to be more intentional about your decisions and have a system to distribute them. Those decisions shouldn’t be discussed in private channels but should be available to anybody anytime. Access to reasoning is a key to building trust in such environments.
In our notion, we built a tool called ADR to support the async environment. That’s a place to propose a final decision and ask for feedback from your peers. The solution originated from tech background, where ADRs are used to document design choices about the software architecture. Everybody is allowed to make decisions that aren’t forbidden and follow the advice process. Every employee is allowed to make any decision if:
We encourage employees to listen actively, integrate the best advice, and make a decision. They are allowed to make a decision if they follow those rules.
If you are interested in this decision practice, you can read more about it on the Reinventing Organizations wiki.
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