If it is, then email is usually a better choice, as older Slack conversations can be hard to pull up. Email works best when the message or question is short and to the point. It’s ideal when there doesn’t need asynchronous communication to be much technical detail or nuance in order to get the point across clearly. Customer’s can have their issues resolved faster because they don’t have to schedule a time on the calendar for a live call.

To make sure you’re clear on the difference between the two forms of communication, let’s go over some examples of synchronous communication. Once again, this is obvious, but incredibly powerful as it creates a running log of communication that happens at work that can be referenced over time . Now that the basics are done, let’s dig into how asynchronous communication can improve work. We believe this form of communication when coupled with traditional methods i.e. synchronous communication can give teams superpowers and unlock more productive teams. Tettra is an internal knowledge base that has smart workflows that allow you to answer repetitive questions. It’s a place where you can centralize your team’s resources and effectively search for and find the content you’re looking for.

Asynchronous vs Synchronous Communication

Instead of taking the pains to conduct a chaotic video call with 20+ team members, you may share explanatory videos that teammates can view at their convenience. Knowledge hub tools such as Slab help to encourage asynchronous learning and skills sharing. Slab provides an accessible resource base for employees to access information about teams. Knowledge nuggets and briefs can be included within specific folders for team members to access at leisure, without disrupting colleagues. That being said, if you’re using asynchronous communication channels to communicate with colleagues who demand instant response, it defeats the purpose. Well known examples of asynchronous communication include text messaging, email, discussion forums and workplace chat. Asynchronous communication is when two or more people exchange information without being ‘present’ or together in real time.

Synchronous communication requires constant context switching and makes creating large, uninterrupted chunks of time during the workday impossible. If employees are consistently more productive when working away from the office, there’s something broken about the modern workplace.

Project Management Software

If you message at all hours, expect instant responses, and don’t respect boundaries, neither will your team. The most common customer touchpoints involve phone calls and live chat. These are synchronous and real-time and need you to staff up to customer demand. Time block moments in the day when they need to be available on chat. Otherwise, set a reasonable time to respond to each channel and let them sign off or turn off notifications.