Foreword by Martin Fowler xxi
Foreword by Darren Murph xxiii
Preface xxv
Acknowledgments xxix
About the Author xxxiii
Part I: Adapting to the New Normal 1
Chapter 1: There's Got to Be a Better Way to Work 3
Work Deserves a New Look 5
A Better Work Environment for All of Us 11
Chapter 2: Foster a Mindset for Change 13
Four Simple Ideas 13
Go Far, Go Together 19
Ready for the First Steps 19
Part II: Prepare to Go Async-First 21
Chapter 3: The Tools You Need 23
With Tools, Less Is More 23
Tools Are Everything; Tools Are Nothing 27
Chapter 4: The Biggest Async-First Superpower 29
Writing Is a Practice; Documentation a Product 30
To Work Async-First, We Must Write 41
Chapter 5: Three More Async-First Superpowers 43
What an Async-First Superhero Looks Like 43
Personal Productivity Leads to Team Productivity 47
Chapter 6: Calm Things Down with Collaboration Protocols 49
Work Execution vs. Workflow 49
Fundamentals, Fundamentals, Fundamentals 56
Part III: The Practitioner's Guide 57
Chapter 7: Meetings as the Last Resort 59
Just. Too Many. Meetings. 59
Async-First, with Small Shifts 66
Chapter 8: The Value of Being Face to Face 69
From URL to IRL 69
So Much for Meetings 75
Chapter 9: Micro-Moves to Shift Left 77
Small Shifts, Easy Wins 77
Build Async-First Behavioral Cues 85
Chapter 10: Write a Team Handbook 87
Distributed Teams Need a Single Source of Truth 87
Aim for a Shared Reality 95
Chapter 11: Tame the "Instant" in Instant Messaging 97
Make Messaging Productive 97
Messaging: Just Not Instant 105
Chapter 12: Standup Meetings: An Easy Shift Left 107
Distributed Standups Can Be Painful 108
Standups = Conveyance/Strong Relationships 116
Chapter 13: Take Charge of Your Development Cycles 117
Sprint Ceremonies Can Hinder Async Work 117
The Key to Asynchrony Is a Strong Process 125
Chapter 14: Run Meaningful Retrospectives 127
Infrequent Retros Lead to Poor Team Health 127
Scrum for the 2020s 135
Chapter 15: Kickoffs and Desk Checks: Reduce Ritualized Interruptions 137
How to Maintain Quality with Fewer Meetings? 138
Make Your Feedback Loops "Remote Native" 145
Chapter 16: Questions to Reimagine Your Tech Huddles 147
The What and the Why 148
Not a Zero-Sum Game 153
Chapter 17: Pair Programming: The Elephant in the Room 155
A Polarizing Topic 155
If It's Fun for You, Pair by All Means 161
Chapter 18: Audit Trails from the Flow of Your Work 163
The "Just Ask" Pattern Breaks Down 163
Trails as the Most Frequent Form of Documentation 171
Chapter 19: Communicate Tech and Functional Design 173
An Agile Approach to Design 173
Simplify Communication Complexity 178
Chapter 20: Two Stable Pieces of Handbook Documentation 181
Being Agile About Documentation 181
Good Documents Reduce Guesswork 186
Chapter 21: Craft an Efficient Onboarding Process 189
Write Once, Run Many Times 189
Onboarding Efficiency = Team Efficiency 195
Part IV: Async-First Leadership 197
Chapter 22: The Async Leadership Mindset 199
The Tyranny of "The Way" 199
Make Time for the Essential Stuff 206
Chapter 23: Manage Your People with Care 209
Corrections in the Right Direction 209
Be the Bridge Between Your Team and Your Company's Culture 216
Chapter 24: Set Up Your Team for Success 217
Design for Success 217
Your Virtual Workplace Needs Configuring 227
Chapter 25: Farm Tacit Knowledge in Your Company 229
Beyond Handbooks: Into Communities 229
From Team Knowledge to Company Knowledge 238
Part V: Navigate the Pitfalls 241
Chapter 26: The Great Hybrid Kerfuffle 243
People's Preferences Are Heading Remote 243
Choice and Autonomy Are the Key Words 253
Chapter 27: The Async Island 255
Unpacking Organizational Inertia 255
While Being a Guerilla, Don't Forget Advocacy 265
Chapter 28: Toxicity in the Virtual Workplace 267
Toxicity Builds: One Benign Step at a Time 267
As a Leader, Stay Vigilant 271
Part VI: Bring It All Together 273
Chapter 29: The Async-First Starter Kit 275
Five Stages of Sensible Defaults 275
A Team Shift, Owned by the Team 285
Chapter 30: A Brave New World of Work 287
Another World of Work Is Possible 289
It's Time to Sign Off 295
Endnotes 297
Index 321