Async

• Focus: long uninterrupted blocks are where most real work gets done, and every live call splits the day. See deep work and the maker schedule.
• Time zones: a team spread over several zones cannot all be awake for one call.
• Record: a written answer can be found again, so one explanation serves the next ten people who ask.
• Agents: AI agents work async by nature. A brief that a new colleague could act on without asking questions is the same brief an autonomous agent needs.

• Put the ask and the deadline in the first line, then the context.
• Write so the reader can act without replying with a question: include the links, the decision needed and what happens if nobody answers.
• Agree a response window, such as one working day, so async does not turn into silence.
• Keep live calls for disagreements, urgent decisions, sensitive conversations and getting to know someone.
• End each thread with a written decision, so the outcome does not depend on who read what.

Synchronous work happens at the same moment: a meeting, a phone call, a chat where both sides wait for each reply. Asynchronous work does not. One person writes a message, records a short screen video or updates a document, and the other responds hours later. Email is the oldest example. Working async as a team means defaulting to writing and meeting only when a live conversation is clearly better.

• Using async for something urgent. A fire needs a phone call, not a message.
• Sending vague notes such as "Can we talk about pricing?", which start a slow exchange of questions.