Unproductive meetings drive people to unlikely solutions. Here’s how to decide which meetings can be async threads (and which can’t) and how to turn them into async conversations.Unproductive meetings are more apparent than ever. Whether they’re multi-hour monologues, awkwardly quiet brainstorming sessions, or planning gatherings that don’t result in any real plans, unhelpful meetings
The meetings that should be async
Twist is the first team messaging app designed for async-first communication
- It organizes conversations and makes them searchable for the whole company
- Winning back hours of productive time and giving teammates more flexibility and control over their workdays in the process
Brainstorms
Studies show that traditional brainstorming meetings produce fewer good ideas than other methods, yet they continue to be the default for many teams
- When doesn’t it work? Under a time crunch
- Because async communication lends itself to more thoughtful brainstorming sessions, Hugo on the product team used a Twist thread to gather ideas to make Todoist faster
Moving work forward
Once you’ve kicked off a project, you can get a lot of work done together while apart.
- Create new, searchable threads for each problem that needs to be solved, tag only the people directly involved, and work through issues with longer, thought-out comments back and forth.
Timely decision-making
When an emergency happens, get into the same room or on a call with all the relevant parties
- Provide a written debrief for the entire team asynchronously to share information transparently, reflect as a team on what went well, and decide what needs to be improved
Announcements
Make announcements available to peruse on their own time.
- Async announcements allow for quick, concise communication that can be skimmed for big-picture takeaways or scrutinized for the nitty-gritty details
- With async announcements, your teammates can choose what they want to learn more about and read the thread at a time when they’re best able to process it.
Very detailed or complex topics
Have a meeting to get everyone on the same page
- Provide all relevant information asynchronously before the meeting so everyone can come prepared to discuss
- Ensure that everyone is up to speed so they can avoid any confusion during the meeting
Status updates
Weekly snippets to track what’s on everyone’s plate for the week and make sure projects stay on schedule
- Useful accountability checks
- Look back at the week behind and look ahead to the week ahead to make sure you’re spending time thoughtfully and keeping your promises
Building bonds
Introductions to new team members, casual hangouts, and regular one-on-one meetings with your manager aren’t the same when they’re not face to face
- Creating a sense of community is far easier to do when you can hear your teammates’ tone of voice, see facial expressions, and feel that connection that comes from talking about non-work-related topics
Emotionally charged discussions
Just as post-it notes don’t pass for honest heart to hearts during breakups, emails don’t work for emotional conversations in the workplace.
Async-first doesn’t mean async-only
Move one recurring meeting to an async thread and see how it goes
- Challenge yourself to communicate in a thread the next time you want to ask for a meeting.
- Use these scripts to gracefully decline and try an async meeting first
Kickoffs and Planning Meetings
When there are many dependencies to work through, work schedules to align, or many unknowns about project scope, it can be easier to start with a kickoff meeting.
- Use a Twist thread to kick off a new project, complete with dates, roles, and objectives
Reviews, feedback requests, and approvals
The most helpful, articulate feedback happens when people have time to think through and clearly communicate their comments
- Letting people take their time to sit with advertising imagery, sift through code, or work through challenging communication plans about pricing changes allows them to catch any issues
Anytime Not Everyone Can Make a Meeting
If you can’t have everyone in the same room at the same time, turn the meeting into detailed written communication that allows everyone to participate
