The Async-First Playbook: Remote Collaboration Techniques for Agile Software Teams

The Async-First Playbook: Remote Collaboration Techniques for Agile Software Teams

by Sumeet Gayathri Moghe
Released October 2023
Publisher(s): Addison-Wesley Professional
ISBN: 9780138187651

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Book description

Reimagining Agile for Distributed and Remote Teams

Distributed work is now inevitable, but conventional agile approaches are too "synchronous" for today's remote teams. Meetings, ceremonies, and rituals can become unsustainable when teams are scattered across the globe. The result: burnout, constant interruptions, a lack of deep work, poor work-life balance, greater frustration, and workplaces with poor diversity.

In The Async-First Playbook, Thoughtworks Principal Product Manager Sumeet Gayathri Moghe provides tools and techniques to embed remote-native, asynchronous practices into traditional agile methods, making remote work more efficient, inclusive, thoughtful, and fun.

Drawing on extensive experience leading distributed teams, Moghe addresses the "nuts and bolts" of specific practices and the crucial "softer" elements such as culture, mindset, and leadership. Short, practical chapters show how to adapt traditional agile techniques such as sprints and pair programming for the realities of today's distributed environments. Whatever your project, youll learn how to create asynchronous environments that promote success, improve the workplace experience, and deliver better results.

  • Discover why asynchronous collaboration is crucial to your project's success

  • Learn the tools, skills, and protocols you need to get right in order to go "async-first"

  • Map current agile techniques to async-first versions that better reflect today's realities

  • Become a more supportive and effective leader of async-first teams

  • Anticipate, navigate, and mitigate the pitfalls of async-first distributed work

  • Bring it all together--walk through your async-first transition

  • Access valuable resources, examples, and hands-on templates at the companion website

"This playbook will empower you to lead and build differently. All that you need is an open mind and a belief that the status quo isnt worthy of defining the future."

--From the Foreword by Darren Murph

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Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. About This eBook
  3. Halftitle Page
  4. Title Page
  5. Copyright Page
  6. Pearson’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  7. Dedication Page
  8. Contents
  9. Foreword by Martin Fowler
  10. Foreword by Darren Murph
  11. Preface
    1. Who Should Read This Book
    2. How I’ve Structured This Book
    3. The Companion Site
  12. Acknowledgments
  13. About the Author
  14. Part I: Adapting To The New Normal
    1. 1. There’s Got to Be a Better Way to Work
      1. Work Deserves a New Look
      2. A Better Work Environment for All of Us
    2. 2. Foster a Mindset for Change
      1. Four Simple Ideas
      2. Go Far, Go Together
      3. Ready for the First Steps
  15. Part II: Prepare To Go Async-First
    1. 3. The Tools You Need
      1. With Tools, Less Is More
      2. Tools Are Everything; Tools Are Nothing
    2. 4. The Biggest Async-First Superpower
      1. Writing Is a Practice; Documentation a Product
      2. To Work Async-First, We Must Write
    3. 5. Three More Async-First Superpowers
      1. What an Async-First Superhero Looks Like
      2. Personal Productivity Leads to Team Productivity
    4. 6. Calm Things Down with Collaboration Protocols
      1. Work Execution vs. Workflow
      2. Fundamentals, Fundamentals, Fundamentals
  16. Part III: The Practitioner’s Guide
    1. 7. Meetings as the Last Resort
      1. Just. Too Many. Meetings.
      2. Async-First, with Small Shifts
    2. 8. The Value of Being Face to Face
      1. From URL to IRL
      2. So Much for Meetings
    3. 9. Micro-Moves to Shift Left
      1. Small Shifts, Easy Wins
      2. Build Async-First Behavioral Cues
    4. 10. Write a Team Handbook
      1. Distributed Teams Need a Single Source of Truth
      2. Aim for a Shared Reality
    5. 11. Tame the “Instant” in Instant Messaging
      1. Make Messaging Productive
      2. Messaging: Just Not Instant
    6. 12. Standup Meetings: An Easy Shift Left
      1. Distributed Standups Can Be Painful
      2. Standups = Conveyance/Strong Relationships
    7. 13. Take Charge of Your Development Cycles
      1. Sprint Ceremonies Can Hinder Async Work
      2. The Key to Asynchrony Is a Strong Process
    8. 14. Run Meaningful Retrospectives
      1. Infrequent Retros Lead to Poor Team Health
      2. Scrum for the 2020s
    9. 15. Kickoffs and Desk Checks: Reduce Ritualized Interruptions
      1. How to Maintain Quality with Fewer Meetings
      2. Make Your Feedback Loops “Remote Native”
    10. 16. Questions to Reimagine Your Tech Huddles
      1. The What and the Why
      2. Not a Zero-Sum Game
    11. 17. Pair Programming: The Elephant in the Room
      1. A Polarizing Topic
      2. If It’s Fun for You, Pair by All Means
    12. 18. Audit Trails from the Flow of Your Work
      1. The “Just Ask” Pattern Breaks Down
      2. Trails as the Most Frequent Form of Documentation
    13. 19. Communicate Tech and Functional Design
      1. An Agile Approach to Design
      2. Simplify Communication Complexity
    14. 20. Two Stable Pieces of Handbook Documentation
      1. Being Agile About Documentation
      2. Good Documents Reduce Guesswork
    15. 21. Craft an Efficient Onboarding Process
      1. Write Once, Run Many Times
      2. Onboarding Efficiency = Team Efficiency
  17. Part IV: Async-First Leadership
    1. 22. The Async Leadership Mindset
      1. The Tyranny of “The Way”
      2. Make Time for the Essential Stuff
    2. 23. Manage Your People with Care
      1. Corrections in the Right Direction
      2. Be the Bridge Between Your Team and Your Company’s Culture
    3. 24. Set Up Your Team for Success
      1. Design for Success
      2. Your Virtual Workplace Needs Configuring
    4. 25. Farm Tacit Knowledge in Your Company
      1. Beyond Handbooks: Into Communities
      2. From Team Knowledge to Company Knowledge
  18. Part V: Navigate The Pitfalls
    1. 26. The Great Hybrid Kerfuffle
      1. People’s Preferences Are Heading Remote
      2. Choice and Autonomy Are the Key Words
    2. 27. The Async Island
      1. Unpacking Organizational Inertia
      2. While Being a Guerilla, Don’t Forget Advocacy
    3. 28. Toxicity in the Virtual Workplace
      1. Toxicity Builds: One Benign Step at a Time
      2. As a Leader, Stay Vigilant
  19. Part VI: Bring It All Together
    1. 29. The Async-First Starter Kit
      1. Five Stages of Sensible Defaults
      2. A Team Shift, Owned by the Team
    2. 30. A Brave New World of Work
      1. Another World of Work Is Possible
      2. It’s Time to Sign Off
  20. Endnotes
  21. Index

Product information

  • Title: The Async-First Playbook: Remote Collaboration Techniques for Agile Software Teams
  • Author(s): Sumeet Gayathri Moghe
  • Release date: October 2023
  • Publisher(s): Addison-Wesley Professional
  • ISBN: 9780138187651