Teams benefit from making simple phrases part of their language. This helps us remind each other of good practices. For example, to encourage simple design, we use the phrase YAGNI - “You ain’t gonna need it.” Similarly the phrase DRY - “Don’t repeat yourself.” encourages us to avoid redundancy in our code. 

 Make “async-first” a part of your team’s vocabulary. Here are a few examples.

• Setting up a meeting? How about you go “async-first”?

• Someone asks for a quick sync? How about you start “async-first”?

• See a conversation going nowhere? Go “async-first” and then sync up later.

• Planning a workshop? How can you set yourself up for success by going “async-first”?

 “Async-first” is not just a label for a way of working, it’s also a reminder for the default order in which we approach our interactions.

Async-first, sync-next.