Async Communication vs Meetings: When Each One Wins
Patrick Bushe
March 7, 2025 · 5 min read
Async communication means people respond in their own time, through written updates, shared documents, recorded videos or message threads, rather than all meeting at once. Neither async nor live meetings are better in general. Each wins for certain kinds of work.
What is an async meeting?
An async meeting replaces a live call with a shared space and a deadline. For example, instead of a 30-minute status call, everyone posts their update in a thread by 10am, and the lead reads them and flags problems. Same purpose, no calendar slot.
When async wins
- Status updates: reading takes a fraction of the time of listening to everyone in turn. See async standups.
- Information sharing: announcements, decisions already made, plans to review.
- Feedback on documents: comments in the document are clearer than discussing it live.
- Teams across time zones: no one has to join at midnight. See time zones and meeting costs.
- Deep work: fewer meetings means longer blocks of focus time.
When a live meeting wins
- Conflict or disagreement: tone gets lost in writing, and threads can escalate.
- Sensitive conversations: difficult feedback, bad news, personal matters.
- Open-ended problems: early brainstorming where ideas build quickly on each other.
- Urgent decisions with many people and unclear options.
- Building relationships: new teams, new clients, onboarding.
A useful test: if a thread has gone back and forth several times without progress, switch to a short call. If a meeting is mostly people reading updates aloud, switch to async.
How to make async work
- Set deadlines: "Reply by Thursday noon" rather than "when you can".
- Name an owner who reads everything and makes or announces the decision.
- Write complete updates: context, what you need, and by when, so no one has to ask follow-up questions.
- Record decisions where everyone can find them later.
- Agree response times, so async doesn't turn into always-on messaging.
Make better live meetings too
Keep the meetings you do hold short, with an agenda and only the people who need to be there. See running a 15-minute meeting and no-meeting days.
See what meetings cost
Meeting Cost Calculator shows a meeting's running cost from the number of attendees and their average salary, which makes it easier to decide whether a topic deserves a live slot.
