Async communication
Communication is the bottleneck of IT
Natural communication = synchronous
- meetings
- video calls
- face to face
- inquiring
- tribal knowledge
Synchronous communication doesn't work
- it can work in the short run
- it won't work in the long run
- synchronization takes time
- synchronization brings challenges
- it's volatile
- it's unfair
- doesn't scale
Meetings are rubbish
- high effort, little profit
- what matters is the outcome
- changes in documents
- action points
Takeaway 1
Let's not communicate by meetings
Async-first
- Detach sending from receiving
- Avoid inquiring...
- ...by making it visible
Async-first
- communication by visibility
- questions as indicator
- no questions = good communication
Async-first
- written
- visible (public)
- updatable
- push information
- in proper place
- subscribable places
- no communication ping-pong
Takeaway 2
Checklist for knowledge sharing:
-
written
-
pushed in advance
-
public
-
in proper place
Sync / async balance
Takeaway 3
Sync communication supports async communication, not replaces it
Example 1
Refinements
Text
Example 2
Confluence page on email offer
Example 3
A/B Test style guide
Takeaways
-
Let's not communicate by meetings
-
Sync communication supports async communication, not replaces it
-
Checklist for knowledge sharing
-
written
-
pushed in advance
-
public
-
in proper place