We’ve all had those moments when we’re in a zen productive moment, and then our phone rings and all our inspiration is gone. Multitasking or relying on meetings can seriously undermine our speed levels. We aren’t very good at going from total focus on task A to complete focus on task B without loss.
Remote has conducted a study on how to work async. Async has shown massive benefits in productivity when compared to synchronous work. Ready to have an efficiency boost?
Asynchronous (async) work is a way for workers to organise the order in which tasks are executed to align with their timetable. You can deliver three time faster than in a traditional working environment.
Communication is not expected to be immediate in asynchronous work, meaning you can fine-tune positions to reduce pressure on yourself and your colleagues.
Remote has revealed that people that embrace async can move projects forward much more quickly than their competition. From the study, through async work tasks, iteration time. can be reduced to a third of the initial planning.
In addition, businesses with async workflows tend to have higher employee morale, thanks to the trust and increased communication and documentation practices necessitated by an async approach.
What is async work?
Asynchronous work refers to the practice of working on a team that does not require all members to be online simultaneously. When you work asynchronously, individuals can maximise their productivity without waiting for others to complete tasks. The key to asynchronous work is creating processes that allow you to work autonomously.
What is the difference between async and synch work?
Asynchronous work maximises production by decoupling work from synchronous communication. Synchronous work tethers progress to communication, forcing teams to halt progress on projects when one of the team members is unavailable due to different work hours or time off.
- Asynchronous work does not require you and your colleagues to be online at the same time.
- Asynchronous work relies more heavily on documentation and transparency.
- Synchronous work slows down projects by placing artificial barriers on productivity.
- Synchronous work is more common in office environments than in remote work structures, but still not optimal there.
- Asynchronous work puts more trust in you and your ability to perform.
In positive psychology, a flow state, also known colloquially as being in the zone, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energised focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.
In essence, flow is characterised by the complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting loss in one’s sense of space and time. If being totally focused is hard, getting into the flow is even harder.
Async communication shines with great power here, as it shields everyone’s time and focuses while reducing meaningless time sinks. When you’re communicating async, these types of interruptions happen much less. And the total time that you’re able to do deep work is longer, the chance of achieving flow much higher.
How to implement async work?
- Multiplexing your tasks and reducing scope allows you to deliver faster, test your hypotheses sooner and achieve success with higher confidence.
- Always defaulting to action (within reason) helps the whole team move faster, reduce wasteful times and increase ownership.
- Communication should usually be async, and there be sync with things that require you to do so. Keeping this as a rule of thumb allows people to focus on their tasks longer and concentrate on best practices like documentation and writing proper procedures.
