[dunkelheit]

I think I am not really well-adapted for async communication.

I can't really do "fire and forget" messaging. When I ask something I want the reply to arrive as quickly as possible because I don't want to lose the context that I have in my mind right now and load it again later when I receive a reply. On an async channel this results in compulsive checking for replies which of course kills productivity. Almost-sync channels like Slack are the worst - who didn't experience the frustration of their chat partner suddenly disappearing without a word in the middle of a discussion?

On a related note I very much prefer a focused half-hour meeting to a whole day of async back-and-forths.

Inbound messages are problematic too because they provide the same kind of addictive random gratification that social media is infamous for.

Any tips for dealing with these problems?

[kbsletten]

Nobody is adapted to asynchronous communication, it's always going to make you less productive. The key is that your immediate request is forcing someone else to put down their thing to help you, the same way that other people interrupt you when they message you. In optimizing for team performance, we don't get individual maximums.

Mostly, try to reduce switchyness. Not all input is blocking, sometimes you can put a question out early and have hours/ days/ weeks before you need an answer. Work on identifying potential hangups early and often. Try to handle your communication in batches. Respond to urgent messages faster, but spend time between deep tasks or in the lame duck part of the day doing email.

[damontal]

i have a personal kanban type page in ms onenote. one section is Waiting For... where I add things I'm waiting for like responses to questions I've emailed out. I can scan that in the morning to see who hasn't responded to what questions and send out follow ups or schedule calls, etc

[maximente]

thanks for your honesty; i think it takes some adjusting both personally and culturally from the company so not entirely your fault.

i would broach the subject with the team to the extent possible. i think it requires buy in from others to the extent that if you're getting stuck with regularity, then those with whom you work don't seem to be empowering you with either the autonomy or information you need to work async.

so, the company needs to resolve that either via empowering you (=> individuals), or get their knowledge/discussion norms set up to empower async/remote type stuff, to include such things as escalation guidelines (e.g. can use phone call for urgent matters, but gitlab issue is 24hr turn around), project planning, decision provenance/knowledge storage, etc.