Async agile 1.0, is distributed agile 2.0!

This blog expands on the ideas from “The Async-First Playbook”. You can either browse through the posts using the grid below, or start at the very beginning. Alternatively, use the search bar below to find content across the site.

Leadership, Antipatterns, Management Sumeet Moghe Leadership, Antipatterns, Management Sumeet Moghe

A tale of externalised costs

Many decisions execs take for their employees, ignore externalised costs. Mike Hopkins of Amazon claims their RTO policy has “no data” to back it. Lyft CEO, David Risher can only advocate for snacks in the office, while batting for RTO. Meanwhile, employees and other stakeholders pay for such decisions through costs to their health, productivity and happiness.

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Leadership, Management Sumeet Moghe Leadership, Management Sumeet Moghe

Form your team right

Poorly formed teams are woefully ineffective, but I see it so often that I’d be remiss not to state the problem. In this article, I’ll call out two common problems I see leaders repeat when forming new teams. I’ll also describe a few simple ways to avoid these problems.

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Culture, Leadership, Management, Knowledge sharing Sumeet Moghe Culture, Leadership, Management, Knowledge sharing Sumeet Moghe

It's urgent? So what?

Constant urgency is the enemy of deep work and an async-first culture. Often this means getting on meetings, and being ok with days full of IM interruptions. With enough of these “urgent” tasks, even the most motivated teams can slip back into their old, synchronous ways of working. In this post, I explain techniques to deal with urgency.

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Leadership, Management, People Sumeet Moghe Leadership, Management, People Sumeet Moghe

What are your people upto?

If you learned to be a manager in an office-centric setup, async-first remote work may seem like an opaque way to lead your people. How do you manage without walking around and listening? In this post, I’ll unpack the risks of leading unhappy, disengaged or struggling team members in remote teams and what you as a manager can do to pre-empt these problems.

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Culture, Management, Leadership, Relationships Sumeet Moghe Culture, Management, Leadership, Relationships Sumeet Moghe

Don't let your virtual workplace become toxic

Every work model has its pitfalls. It’s not as if a remote workplace can’t go south. In today’s post I want to explore some anti-patterns I’ve seen in remote-first and “hybrid” organisations that can make your workplace toxic. When you know of these possibilities ahead of time, you’ll be able to pre-empt them and put the right guardrails in place for your team.

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Best practice, Planning, Estimation, Management Sumeet Moghe Best practice, Planning, Estimation, Management Sumeet Moghe

Truly agile estimation - more than one way to peel an orange

There are different approaches to estimation and planning depending on the outcomes you’re looking for and the context you’re operating in. Making synchronous workshops efficient is part of this. Many activities can be asynchronous as well. You also need to consider if estimates are necessary in your context. I cover all these topics and more, in this post.

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Leadership, Management, People Sumeet Moghe Leadership, Management, People Sumeet Moghe

Manage your people with care

In an async-first culture, the role of a manager is crucial. If the company is the mother-ship, the manager’s the employee’s bridge to it. They should be the individuals that know the most about their people, their skills, abilities and strengths, their personalities and their aspirations. You need managers who lead with care. In this post, I want to address how you can show that care as a leader and a manager.

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Leadership, Management, Culture, Strategy, Cohesion Sumeet Moghe Leadership, Management, Culture, Strategy, Cohesion Sumeet Moghe

Create a culture for asynchronous work to thrive

As a leader, you’re responsible for much more than the mechanics of work. Depending on the size of your company you’re a custodian of culture, or the one who defines it, or someone in between. In today’s post, I want to share with you how you can foster a culture that supports async agile.

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Leadership, DEI, Management Sumeet Moghe Leadership, DEI, Management Sumeet Moghe

How asynchronous work helps you be a champion for inclusion

As a manager or a leader in any tech firm today, I imagine you have a DEI agenda. Your people’s ability to work asynchronously can be a powerful tool to not just further that agenda, but also to differentiate you as a progressive leader.

In today’s post, I want to share a few notes about diversity and a few more about inclusion. I expect these perspectives will help you shape your organisation’s culture and eventual competitive advantage, starting of course with the people you influence.

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