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Working asynchronously

blog.remote.com

11–20 of 110 posts

Re: Working asynchronously

#11

I would love to, but my coworkers expect me to be synchronous. They do async, but I'm always supposed to be sync with five nines availability. Looks like it's time to go job-hunting again, but I hate job interviews. Dammit.

You should try and change their expectations. Often times it's not because they want to take advantage of you, they may just think you can handle distractions better than they can.

Re: Working asynchronously

#12
post #8

I would love to, but my coworkers expect me to be synchronous. They do async, but I'm always supposed to be sync with five nines availability. Looks like it's time to go job-hunting again, but I hate job interviews. Dammit.

If only job interviews could be async!

Companies have actually done that, and it's worse: They're the "homework" interviews.

Re: Working asynchronously

#13
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've learned to take a lot of notes, make frequent checkpoints (e.g., git commits), and break things down into small pieces, just to deal with interruption--minute to minute (people asking me questions), day to day (fire drills, bugs), and week to week (constantly changing priorities).

Do you use a tool for this?

I'm not the person you asked, but I do the same using Emacs' org-mode[0], but there are many tools around such as the Leo Editor[1], or really, any editor with a decent markup language support will do.

I store all my org files in git repositories and sync them across devices, allowing me to work on multiple devices and worry less about losing a particular device.

[0] https://karl-voit.at/orgmode/

[1] https://leoeditor.com/

Re: Working asynchronously

#14
This is essentially the same problem schedulers run into. It's a latency vs throughput trade off. The article is underlining that blocking is bad, & lots of tasks may receive cancellation signals

I've worked in low latency environments, but I prefer high throughput. The latter is more conducive to flow state. It also means people aren't relying on my consistency, where some days my brain turns on & some days it doesn't

Re: Working asynchronously

#15

I would love to, but my coworkers expect me to be synchronous. They do async, but I'm always supposed to be sync with five nines availability. Looks like it's time to go job-hunting again, but I hate job interviews. Dammit.

Good luck on the job search. You'll likely make more money in the end with the new gig. Start today!

Re: Working asynchronously

#16

I've managed multiple remote, asynchronous teams across multiple countries. When people work in opposite time zones, asynchronous communication is mandatory. When it works, it's a great experience. However, async communication isn't appropriate for every situation, as the article admits. Some times, the most efficient way forward is to schedule a call where all parties can work out the solution in 15 minutes of real-…

This has 100% been my experience as well. All too often it's seen as an all or nothing thing, and it's the parts where discussions should be handled on calls that give it a bad image.

Re: Working asynchronously

#17
post #11

I would love to, but my coworkers expect me to be synchronous. They do async, but I'm always supposed to be sync with five nines availability. Looks like it's time to go job-hunting again, but I hate job interviews. Dammit.

You should try and change their expectations. Often times it's not because they want to take advantage of you, they may just think you can handle distractions better than they can.

I recently tried to bring up the fact that our new management and various members of our team all seem to have different expectations for responses via different mediums and that maybe we should document some company or team-wide guidelines for expectations.

I was told it is not valuable by the new management.

Sometimes, they will take advantage of you, even if just through ignorance.

Re: Working asynchronously

#18
The way we've struck a balance at our company is to only allow meetings in the mornings. In the afternoon, everyone can be off Slack, heads-down, and programming or doing other deep work.

This halves the number of timeslots that are available to have time stolen from you, but allows us to get the empathy and quick resolution that real-time communication enables.

Re: Working asynchronously

#19
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've learned to take a lot of notes, make frequent checkpoints (e.g., git commits), and break things down into small pieces, just to deal with interruption--minute to minute (people asking me questions), day to day (fire drills, bugs), and week to week (constantly changing priorities).

Do you use a tool for this?

I'm not the same person, but I have a small notebook and pen. Any time I think "Shit, how am I going to remember this if I get interrupted right now?", I quickly scribble down as much as I can and continue working. This is invaluable when I do get interrupted.

I do this basically any time I feel like my short-term memory is overwhelmed with facts, and as a result the notebook has effectively become NVRAM for my brain.

Re: Working asynchronously

#20

I've managed multiple remote, asynchronous teams across multiple countries. When people work in opposite time zones, asynchronous communication is mandatory. When it works, it's a great experience. However, async communication isn't appropriate for every situation, as the article admits. Some times, the most efficient way forward is to schedule a call where all parties can work out the solution in 15 minutes of real-…

Agreed. Async communication doesn't belong in sync situations nor vice-versa. Trying to solve everything with one strategy is indeed an anti-pattern.
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