Practice : Async Collaboration Norms

Purpose and Strategic Importance

Async Collaboration Norms enable teams to communicate and work effectively without requiring everyone to be present at the same time. This promotes flexibility, deep work, and inclusion across time zones or working styles.

Well-defined async practices reduce noise, prevent burnout, and allow information to flow efficiently. They’re essential for hybrid, remote, and globally distributed teams - and they help all teams think more intentionally about communication and decision-making.

Description of the Practice

  • Async collaboration involves written, recorded, or scheduled responses rather than real-time interaction.
  • Channels include documents, chat threads, recorded demos, wikis, and task boards.
  • Norms define when and how to use async vs. sync tools, how decisions are documented, and what response times are expected.
  • Success depends on clarity, documentation, and shared etiquette.

How to Practise It (Playbook)

1. Getting Started

  • Define team expectations for async communication (e.g. respond within 24 hours, use threads, summarise meetings).
  • Establish preferred channels and conventions for updates, requests, and decisions (e.g. Slack, Confluence, Loom, Jira).
  • Encourage over-communication when context is missing - more clarity, fewer pings.

2. Scaling and Maturing

  • Build habits like daily async updates, weekly video walkthroughs, or written decisions.
  • Use shared templates for proposals, design docs, and feedback requests.
  • Assign async “navigators” to keep threads on track and flag unresolved items.
  • Automate reminders or nudges to follow up on unacknowledged tasks or documents.
  • Periodically review norms - what’s working, what’s overwhelming?

3. Team Behaviours to Encourage

  • Be intentional - choose async when it enables clarity and focus.
  • Respect others’ time by writing clearly and using subject lines, formatting, and summaries.
  • Respond with thoughtfulness, not urgency.
  • Default to transparency - make decisions visible and traceable.

4. Watch Out For…

  • Ghosting: when async asks go unanswered or decisions get blocked.
  • Info overload: long threads or docs with no summary or purpose.
  • Mixed-mode confusion: unclear when something should be sync or async.
  • Not revisiting or refreshing shared information - documentation must stay alive.

5. Signals of Success

  • Teams collaborate fluidly across time zones without bottlenecks.
  • Updates and decisions are easily discoverable and well documented.
  • Interruptions drop and focus time increases.
  • Collaboration feels intentional, respectful, and inclusive.
  • Async-first habits support autonomy, trust, and a calmer culture.