The work environment has been constantly evolving. As time goes by, businesses are developing effective solutions that work well for the company and the employees. One of the leading solutions in the work world is flexible working. Things once done only in the office can now be done in any part of the world. As such, the asynchronous work arrangement has become a norm in many businesses.
Asynchronous planning works well for companies with scattered employees. The employees work individually without going to the office but still aim towards achieving the same goal. When done well, asynchronous work tends to be effective with fewer interruptions. If you would like to embrace this kind of planning in your company, keep reading to learn more about it and how you can successfully implement it.
What Is Asynchronous Planning?
Asynchronous planning is a common work arrangement in product development and management. This planning allows the team members to work together but individually from their respective places. With this arrangement, the workers don’t need the formal in-house arrangement like in an office. Instead, they can collaborate when they are far away and deliver as expected.
Since the team members are not centralized, this planning requires discipline. For instance, there should be a common goal that the workers should achieve. Everyone should know their roles well, and there should be deadlines. Also, there should be a collaborative work management tool to leverage asynchronous planning for agile teams. The right tools enhance communication, ensuring everyone is on the same page.
Tips for Successful Asynchronous Planning
Here are five helpful tips to make your asynchronous planning a success.
1. Use Collaborative Communication Tools
Collaboration is essential in all agile teams, mainly those working remotely. Since you are not working in real-time, you need a strong partnership to keep everyone on the same page. As such, there’s a need to use proper collaboration remote tools. There are many of these tools nowadays, and you only need to pick what suits your needs. The ideal collaboration tools should allow team members to communicate with each other. It should be available to everyone and cloud-based for better file sharing and storage.
Find a common tool that you can use to communicate with everyone on the team. Let every team member get it as well. By doing so, communication will be easier, and you won’t have to reach out to everyone individually.
2. Set Clear Goals
Every person on the team should have goals. They should have a target for what they are working towards. The goals set proper direction and purpose, reducing the possibility of wasting time and resources. So, outline appropriate goals for the entire project in your asynchronous arrangement. After that, the team members’ roles were split according to their skills and capabilities. Let everyone know what they will do and when they should do it. The goals should be reasonable and attainable. For the best results, you may schedule a check-in to know the progress of every team member.
3. Gather Feedback
Gathering feedback is an important aspect that can increase the success of asynchronous planning. When working remotely, the team members experience unique challenges. Also, everyone may have a unique perception of the entire plan. Gathering feedback allows you to know the unique challenges your team may be experiencing and solve them. It can also help you know a few important things you may be leaving out, which may increase the project’s success.
Create time for feedback, irrespective of how tight the schedule is. You may schedule a one-on-one phone call or video conference to do this. The process can be tiresome if the team is large, but it helps you highlight the highs and lows of the plan. Apart from the individual feedback collection, you can also schedule an online meetup, allowing everyone to share feedback openly. Once you get the input, devise solutions to any challenges discussed.
4. Build Trust with Team Members
Asynchronous planning requires a high level of trust. Team members should trust each other for the project to be a success. Still, the leadership should believe that every team member will deliver. However, building trust isn’t always easy when working remotely. The lack of physical interactions makes it hard to achieve, but it’s doable. Here are practical tips to build trust in your remote team and improve the success of asynchronous planning.
- Organize regular meetups and involve everyone.
- Allow everyone to air their suggestions or opinions freely
- Appoint a trusted remote leader
- Maintain accountability and transparency in every step of project development/management
- Reward success
5. Plan for Technical Challenges
Asynchronous planning highly relies on tech tools. These tools can sometimes fail. Hence, there’s a need to plan for such challenges. The most common challenges that the team can face include slow or poor internet connection, VPN issues, and slow working devices. Sometimes, managing passwords can be hard when everyone can access them. Highlight the challenges your team may face with asynchronous planning. After that, come up with possible solutions which may help reduce them. This way, your team will face fewer tech issues, and your work arrangement will be a success.
Conclusion
Asynchronous planning allows flexibility because every member can deliver without entering the office. However, careful planning and consideration are required to make it a success. You should set clear goals and expectations for every team member. Then, proper communication and collaboration tools should be used to engage every member. It also helps to get feedback from the members and solve any issues they may face. Hopefully, the five tips above will help you improve successful asynchronous planning.
