#RollCall: an ‘async standup’ technique for intervisibility

The team at Rees McCann and ImpactBasis wanted to stay in close contact. But we were all busy, and the last thing we wanted was more meetings!

So I suggested we tried an ‘async standup’, using our shared Slack channel. Everyone would post a short message each day, close to the start of the work day, about what they were up to. Then the others could quickly catch up by reading whenever they had a minute. We called it #RollCall

It worked really well! Here’s Matt Barnaby’s article about it on LinkedIn, in which he sets out the benefits and explains how to do it yourself.

I came up with the idea because I hate ‘meetings for the sake of meetings’. I’m constantly asking, ‘How might the goal of this planned meeting be achieved async?’

Async communication is a collaboration superpower. (The word ‘async” is short for ‘asynchronous’. It means ‘not at the same time’. This blog is an example of async communication – you’re not reading it at the same time as I’m writing it.)

When I’m asked to design highly-engaging online gatherings, one of the most important steps is to work with the clients to get really, really clear about why the gathering is happening. I use my Clean Language interviewing skills to understand the formal and informal desired outcomes of all kinds of stakeholders.

Once we have clarity about what’s actually wanted, it’s important to stop and consider whether the gathering is really needed. Could we achieve the desired results asynchronously?

For example, if the main aim is to gather a wide range of opinions on a topic, could we use tools such as Slack, a private online community, or a survey? If the goal is to announce something new, recording a video and a social media launch might work very well.

The thing is, async communication is usually much, much easier and less expensive than gathering, even gathering online (which, of course, is much easier and less expensive than gathering in a single location – hence the proliferation of meetings during the pandemic.)

Async can also be more inclusive than gathering. Async communication can create a level playing field for people from different time zones, and makes it easier for those who are less fluent at speaking in meetings (for all sorts of reasons) to contribute.

That means that the more we can achieve asynchronously, the more we can achieve!

Of course, to be a superpower for collaboration, async needs to be done thoughtfully. Email blasts are easy and cheap to send, but hugely destructive to other people’s work! For best results with async, involve the right people, using the right tools, at the right time.

So, here’s this week’s tip. Whenever you’re considering calling (or attending!) a meeting, ask, ‘How might this work asynchronously?’ Think it through – and replace a meeting with some kind of async communication.

• In future blog posts I’ll write more about async communication. If you have questions you’d like me to answer, please ask them in the Comments area below. Meanwhile, I recommend Sumeet Moghe’s excellent site, AsyncAgile