Async and synchronous working connection

For the majority of my career I’ve worked remotely. In that time I’ve had a mix of async communication and in-Zoom (or Skype back in the day) collaboration.

Add in tools like Figma, where we can see each other’s work in realtime, and so much creativity can be done together and apart.

The sweet spot for me is mostly async when you’re working with a team, but checking in roughly once a day to share where things are at, and get feedback from colleagues.

In the in-between times I favor recording video screenshares of my work, talking through the updates, and leaving opportunity for feedback and collaboration in Slack.

The trick is to not let async communication go back and forth more than twice. If you’re debating an issue and keep having lack of clarity across written or async video format, then it’s best to jump on a quick call and solve things.

I’m incredibly grateful for async work, and for the chance it gives for thinking deeply on issues and being able to dive in—headphones on and music blasting.