In general, synchronous is used to describe things that happen at the same time. Synchronous communication involves real-time back-and-forth—talking face to face and video chatting are synchronous forms of communication. Synonyms for synchronous include coincident, contemporaneous, simultaneous, and synchronized. The terms are also used in other contexts, including in digital technology and in general, such as to differentiate forms of communication that happen in real time from those that don’t.

In fact, either receiving end may be completely unaware of who exactly they are interacting with. Let’s start by exploring some scenarios that illustrate how these two communication approaches work. Then, we’ll explore the details of synchronous and asynchronous communications, including their behavior in hardware, cloud and microservices. While synchronous communication is instantaneous, there’s an expected lag in asynchronous communication. Rather than determining when employees can work or respond to communications, async communication places control with the employee, not the employer.

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You have the freedom to structure your work around your life, rather than the other way around. This means you can attend to personal commitments, take breaks when needed, and work at times when you feel most energized and productive. Current remote work statistics show that in the future, a majority of the workforce will be working remotely.

Project management tools such as Monday.com and tools that help to automate and manage workflows such as Process.st can significantly aid productivity between teams. If the only way your team’s communicating is through real-time meetings or phone calls, you’re not creating an inclusive environment for your team members in other time zones. When you have good async communication methods in place, your global employees don’t need to spend their off-hours online or on the phone with their team members.

Advantages of Asynchronous Communication

The term itself might be new to you, but it’s actually one of the most common types of communication we use during the workday. Email is a common example of asynchronous communication, but everything from phone texting to using asynchronous communication a project management software are asynchronous collaboration tools. When you receive questions from your team via asynchronous communication methods, be sure to spend the time required to give a full and detailed response.

At Hugo, we often send video messages or use Slack threads instead of getting something on the calendar. These asynchronous habits might seem odd for a meeting technology company, but for us, respecting each other’s time, including around meetings, is a crucial ingredient for success. As anyone on a remote team can attest, asynchronous communication is a powerful way to get work done. When the issue at hand requires timely action, asynchronous communication is not ideal for getting your message across. With this example in mind, let’s dive deeper into the potential disadvantages of asynchronous communication.

Asynchronous vs. synchronous communication

No matter the tool or your ability as a communicator, you can’t build the same type of deep connections with people asynchronously. Both synchronous and asynchronous transmission has some benefits and drawbacks. Asynchronous transmission is easy and inexpensive for sending small amounts of data. In today’s fast-paced world, allowing for more asynchronous communication is a good idea for ensuring messages don’t get lost-in-translation. While asynchronous communication doesn’t happen in real-time, synchronous communication does.

Before the widespread adoption of business technology, nearly every type of communication in the workplace was synchronous, as employees had no choice but to work together and communicate in-person. Asynchronous communication is one of the best ways to empower your team to get great work done while also increasing https://remotemode.net/ visibility and transparency. This type of communication increases productivity, helps your team make better decisions, and boosts cross-functional visibility on key project info. You can do this by setting up a team Slack channel or scheduling a weekly chat for your team to connect and unwind.