💬 Async Communication

Working effectively across time zones and schedules without real-time meetings.

Why async-first?

• Respects deep work and focus time
• Scales across time zones and distributed teams
• Creates a written record of decisions
• Reduces meeting fatigue

Async communication principles

1. Write clearly — Assume the reader has no context
2. Be complete — Include all relevant info in one message
3. Set expectations — State when you need a response by
4. Use the right channel — Don't Slack what should be a doc
5. Default to public — Share in team channels, not DMs

Channel guide

Need	Channel	Response time
Urgent blocker	Slack DM / call	< 1 hour
Team discussion	Slack channel	< 4 hours
Decision with context	Document + comment	< 24 hours
Status update	Project board / weekly report	Async
Knowledge sharing	Wiki / knowledge base	No response needed

Writing effective async messages

**Context**: [Brief background]
**Request**: [What you need]
**Options**: [If applicable, list options with your recommendation]
**Deadline**: [When you need a response]
**FYI**: [Tag relevant people]

Async decision-making

1. Write a proposal document
2. Share with stakeholders, set review deadline
3. Collect comments and feedback async
4. Summarize input, make the decision
5. Announce the decision with rationale

Anti-patterns

• "Quick call?" for everything
• Messages with no clear ask
• Expecting instant responses on non-urgent items
• Important decisions buried in chat history