Meaning
Asynchronous; working and communicating without requiring all participants to be online at the exact same time.
Three examples from work
Remote culture
LeadWe default to async communication so engineers can enjoy uninterrupted deep work.
DevHaving clear Slack threads and PR descriptions makes that work effortlessly.
Meeting reduction
PMCan this meeting be handled async instead?
LeadYes, drop the proposal in Notion and we'll leave feedback by end of day.
Time zone collaboration
DevOur distributed team spans six time zones, so async updates are vital.
ColleaguePosting daily bulleted summaries protects everyone from midnight calls.
Pronounce 'AY-sink'. Essential vocabulary for remote and distributed international teams. Collocations: 'handle async', 'async-first culture'.