How to shift an update meeting to async and give everyone deep work time back

"If you would just stop inviting me to update meetings, I might have time to DO some work to then update you on 😵‍💫"

I have been to a LOT of update meetings in the last 10 years!

Staying connected.

Keeping track of progress

Surfacing and solving problems.

Re-prioritising as new things come up.

 

All important things.

And according to my extensive and accurate research, this 'meeting that should have been an email' thing is not new. 

Back in the 21st century, as we work on more collaborative projects, there are just so many of these update meetings to go to. 

They may be relatively short but they litter our calendar, stealing precious deep work time and chopping our day into chunks too small to get anything real done.

To reduce the load of update or check in meetings in my diary, without missing out on key information and decisions, I will often use asynchronous check in meetings. Similar content, discussed via typing in a structured way, using a chat platform like Microsoft Teams or Slack.

In fact, I’ve been doing meetings asynchronously since 2013 when I worked with a company called Unboxed - always at the forefront of great collaboration habits.

6 situations I use async check ins for

* If teams are spread over time zones or just geographies, async check-ins allow people to participate when it suits them. No need to force a time in the calendar.

* If people like time to think or there are disparities in contribution. Async means people can contribute when they’re ready, without the pressure of being “on the spot” in a live meeting - and give things more thought. For some brains, this is particularly helpful. 

* When the update meetings is essentially and exchange of information, leading to ‘stuff we need to look at’. If you’ve ever sat through a long, verbose and ultimately content-free update, you’ll know that even people who like talking on the spot are often no very good at it! It’s really not that easy to give a very concise but specific update verbally. And of course, reading content is 3x faster than listening to someone speak the same content.

* When a team needs blocks of uninterrupted time to have anything to update me on!

* If I have a lot of big talkers and the conversation takes 2-3x as long as it should. 

* When it's important to have a permanent record of what was discussed and agreed on, e.g. for accountability and tracking progress.

* When people are just in too too many meetings and somethings go to give.

 

And three I do not

* If the check in hugely time sensitive e.g. resolving something right now that affects our work TODAY, then delays in responses will create delays in work and I might not use async until we've got really well practiced. Or I might ask people to check in async before a 15 minute stand up to resolve things that come up in their notes.

* I don’t use async check ins them in nuanced or confusing situations. It’s harder to get across tone and detail so misunderstandings are more likely in async and take a lot longer to unravel when they occur.

* Clearly there’s a big loss in human connection - which can only be partially overcome with emojis and giphies! So if trust is an issue, I don't use it.

I often switch some but not all to async e.g. one live session a month and the other weekly check ins are async. 

 

 

Exactly how to do this

The key here is thoughtful prompts, simple structures and established rhythms.

First, where? Do it in your team/project channel - or set up a channel specifically for async check-ins (e.g., #team-check-in). No one needs to spend anytime thinking about where to put it or how to find it later.

Ok fine - but when? Find a routine that suit you - daily, weekly, monthly, whatever. Set a deadline for responses (e.g., "Please respond by 1700, your local time") or a time window e.g. “Check in between 0900 and 1000 CET please.

I use a simple, repeatable format to kick off the check in - and vary it a little each time so it doesn’t go completely stale by week 3.


The crucial things I'm looking for in this prompt is:

- Some kind of vibe  /  temperature check

- An update on stuff that’s done or about to be done

- Problems / blockers  etc so we can fix them

- A place where we can flag anything people need to know about

Here’s an example using a format I use quite a lot:

And here’s a more technical one! 

You can cut and paste my cut down version here:

🤔 Today I am:


✅ Done and next:

⛔ Blockers:

✋🏼 Heads up:

 

I model it with my own check in and encourage others to do the same and @mention people.


We briefly discuss things that need attention, filtering bigger stuff through other channels.

For many teams, I’ll write a quick summary of the resolution or next step for everything that needed dealing with.

 

Who's using this kind of check in?

Here are a few examples from companies you will know and love :-)

1. GitLab: A fully remote company, GitLab prompts team members for daily updates in a standardised format. They make the responses publicly available for transparency.

2. Buffer: Uses Slack for async check-ins. They ask their team members to answer three questions daily: What did you work on yesterday? What will you work on today? Do you have any blockers? [Note from Carrie: these are the three classic stand up questions]

3. Zapier: Uses async check-ins via Slack and Trello, combining short daily updates with a broader weekly summary. 

Just to give you a couple more inspirational examples of this kind of technique successfully in use in organisations like yours.

Here, you'll see this worked well for a team with some big talkers AND some strong silent types.

Here's another example. For this team, there was a bit too much immediate peril for an async meeting but they gave it a go anyway.

As you can see, there are one or two things that can go wrong.

 

Obvious problems to head off

While async check-ins can be incredibly useful, there are some common banana skins to watch out for:

 

Partial or sporadic participation

Without the face-to-face pressure of live meetings, some team members might not check-in every time. Make participating a clear expectation, and consider using automated reminders.

Overwhelming threads

If the check-in is too detailed or lengthy, it can lead to an overload of information. Be the moderator and quickly move or car park things that clearly need proper airtime.

Misunderstandings

Async communication relies on written text, which can sometimes lack tone or context. Encourage team members to be explicit about their needs and avoid assumptions. If the tone gets weird, ask straight forward questions of clarification to try and unweird it. 

Delays

The whole point is of async checks is to get people aligned quicker. If the reverse is happening and things are not getting resolved quickly enough BECAUSE of the format, you’ll need to take action quickly or watch your lovely shiny async check in drift into a distant abyss.

The surprise bonus of async burnout

While async check-ins reduce meeting fatigue, using them too frequently can still overwhelm team members. Balance async check-ins with occasional live meetings for more complex discussions.