Communication mythbusting - can internal comms communicate better?

Are internal comms likely to communicate better than you can? Even if you’re the expert on your topic? This is a nuanced topic - part myth, part possibility! | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 23 hours ago

Communication mythbusting - are slides easier to read than docs?

Narrative based writing is often a superior way to convey ideas at work, compared to slideuments. But despite the overwhelming evidence against slideuments, death by PowerPoint is an enduring workplace phenomenon. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 9 days ago

Communication mythbusting - live presentations versus videos

Despite living in the creator economy, we often underestimate the power of recorded video in business settings. In this post, I bust the myth that live presentations are superior to recorded video. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 14 days ago

3 underrated, yet powerful AI skills

As AI becomes a significant part of our work lives, which competencies differentiate the average business user from another? I argue there are three powerful but game-changing skills that you haven’t thought of in this light. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 23 days ago

Choked and stuck - reflecting on Bryan Johnson's walkout

There’s nothing romantic about the average daily commute of the Indian tech worker. We breathe the worst air in the world and endure the most time in traffic, to the detriment of our health. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 1 month ago

Being kinder than necessary

Regardless of how bad things may be, or how awfully people are screwing up around us, our behaviour is in our control. We always have the choice to be kinder than necessary to those around us. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 1 month ago

The case for project archaeologies

We often overestimate the value of grand documents over the unglamourous acts of daily documentation on projects. With the advent of AI-powered KM platforms, it’s time to revisit the fundamentals of team handbooks and documentation systems, if we are to generate relevant and time … | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 1 month ago

The 90-hour portfolio week

While some sections of India Inc. ask for 70, 90 and 140-hour work weeks, the average worker has little or no leisure time. We’re all working close to 90-hour weeks already. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 1 month ago

A 90-hour blast from the past

India Inc. has gone on a warpath to advocate for long work hours. I argue that such advocacy serves the interests of the elite minority and seeks to reverse hard-fought gains from a labour struggle of over 100 years. (This is part one in a two-part series about the 90-hour workwe … | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 2 months ago

In 2025, lead by example

Why not use the full complement of resources on this website, to level up your distributed leadership skills in 2025? | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 2 months ago

"Close knit" leadership may be a red flag

While attractive in marketing brochures, long tenure and close relationships in leadership teams can sometimes harm a company. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 3 months ago

These three dysfunctions will stall your AI transformation

AI transformation isn’t only about building or buying new systems. New technology often faces systemic inanities in legacy organisations. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 3 months ago

Project management - not just for project managers

Do you dislike using project management tools? Give me a chance to address your objections. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 3 months ago

Process is not a four-letter word

Knowledge workers are often mistrusting of processes for the corporate red-tape they create. But effective processes have their benefits. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 3 months ago

The end of remote work

When I speak of asynchronous collaboration, I often get the following pushback. “Async is all about remote work, but we’re all in the office.” “Oh, but we’re hybrid.” “We value the energy of spontaneous conversations at coffee machines and in hallways.” Analytics India Mag even w … | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 4 months ago

The work vibe matrix

It’s entirely possible to have conflicting emotions about your job and your employer. The work vibe matrix helps individuals (and their managers) assess the relationship between their jobs and their employers so they can reconcile such conflicting emotions. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 4 months ago

Set up projects for internal open source

If you set them up right, internal open-source projects can help your company gain extra development capacity and a sense of community. In this post, I discuss four key practices that help you run a successful, internal open-source project. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 4 months ago

The perfect storm for AI disruption

There are widespread concerns about how AI will disrupt employment and render many people jobless. I argue that jobs that involve routine, non-novel, and acceptably risky knowledge work will be prime candidates for such disruption. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 4 months ago

Embrace the disconnect

Regardless of how passionate you are about your work, I encourage you to find ways to separate your professional life from personal time. It’s a win-win-win for you, your colleagues and your employers. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 4 months ago

3 practices every rookie product manager should follow

If you’re a rookie project manager, maintaining a calm and productive team environment should be one of your primary goals. I recommend three important practices that’ll help you in that quest. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 5 months ago

Seductive role, much pain

Seductive job titles come with daunting job descriptions. You may not bargain for the pain that comes with roles. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 6 months ago

My relationship with writing

“Scribo ergo sum”. I write, therefore I am. A post about the top three reasons why I write. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 6 months ago

3 pieces of corporate bullshit that get my goat

When pointy-haired bosses run out of real arguments for a “return to office”, they turn to disingenuous corporate speak. There are many examples out there, but three of them annoy me the most. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 6 months ago

3 ways for super managers to keep their ears to the ground

Super managers, i.e. managers of managers must monitor if their direct reports demonstrate care for their team members. In this post, I discuss three techniques for super managers to hear directly from their direct reports' direct reports. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 7 months ago

The reductionism trap

I’m a big fan of dividing and conquering. After all, isn’t that what asynchronous collaboration is all about? But dividing and conquering without a cohesive vision is mere reductionism. Ingredients are nothing without a recipe. A recipe is nothing without a vision. The whole is m … | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 7 months ago

Knowledge management in an age of AI

AI has disrupted our search and content creation experience. To recognise this shift, Nagarjun Kandukuru and I have written an AI-first KM manifesto , which we’d like to introduce to you. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 7 months ago

Workers of the world, unite

IT workers successfully pushed back against a draconian 70-hour work week proposal in Karnataka. But such victories are shallow if we don’t stand in solidarity with our other, worker brethren, who often endure far worse working conditions. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 7 months ago

Feedback? Why bother?

In a psychologically safe workplace, people share feedback freely. But when feedback lands on deaf ears, it fosters feedback fatigue. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 8 months ago

The desire to create

What should the purpose of artificial general intelligence be? Cut jobs? Slash costs? I argue that the purpose could be to elevate our creativity. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 8 months ago

Clean workbench philosophy

Efficient work rituals lead to predictable, high-quality results. As part of my depth rituals, I setup a clean workbench before I begin any work. The inspiration? Elite sport and master chefs! | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 8 months ago

AI revolution at work? We're waiting!

Consumer AI is outpacing enterprise AI tools. The bigger the chasm between these experiences gets, the greater the security and engagements risks for employers. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 8 months ago

The four most common agile fig leaves

When teams and managers forget about the values and sentiments driving the agile movement, practices become convenient fig leaves to cover up the “inanities of corporate life.” I've observed four such fig leaves most often. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 8 months ago

Different folks, different strokes

When leading a diverse team, you can’t manage everyone the same way. Depending on their skills, experience and work styles, some people may need more managerial care for them to thrive at their jobs. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 9 months ago

The social impact of remote work

Remote work impacts not only standard capitalist measures such as productivity and access to talent, but also social aspects. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 9 months ago

Don't want the office? But you may need it!

Remote work is popular, but its not for everyone. Some people may do better in an office. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 9 months ago

Why I oppose volunteerism at work

Volunteerism at work can do more harm than good. I believe that employees should steer clear of it, when possible. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 9 months ago

The joy of being insignificant

When I look back at my life’s experiences - by accident or design - I’m glad I ended up being insignificant enough that no one misses me too much when I go away for a bit. I may not have made my dad proud, but I’m happy. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 10 months ago

Are you organising for collaboration or chaos?

It’s easy to believe that just because people look close to each other on a Powerpoint slide, they’re setup to collaborate with each other. Real life is more complex than slideware. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 10 months ago

Onboarding new hires to be asynchronous workers

If a new hire can join your team and start contributing asynchronously in a short time, it shows that you’re running a tight ship. This article, a repost from reworked.co, shares three patterns for effective onboarding to distributed teams. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 11 months ago

Adopt asynchronous collaboration in your distributed team

A meeting-centric way of working on distributed teams can undermine deep work and flow, inclusion, flexible work and in the long run knowledge sharing. It also doesn’t lend itself to scale. Choosing asynchronous ways to collaborate can be an effective alternative to this meeting- … | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 11 months ago

The wrong kind of async

Not all asynchronous collaboration is productive. There are four ways I see teams get “async” wrong. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 11 months ago

Beyond the digital exhaust

LLMs promise to make sense of a company’s unstructured information and surface meaningful information to each user. But a KM strategy that relies only on LLMs is incomplete. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 1 year ago

The remote manager's guide to one-on-one meetings

One-on-one meetings are a great way for managers to connect and manage their remote team members. Here’s a guide to run these meetings effectively. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 1 year ago

About doing less

There’s always more to do than I’ll ever have time for. I’m sure you face similar choices in life and at work. I take a detour today, to explain why I’m doing less than I possibly can with this website and my professional presence on the web. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 1 year ago

Starting on a new team? Write your user manual!

Personal user manuals are a way for distributed workers to broadcast information about themselves to their colleagues. While they aren’t without their pitfalls, they can be an effective way to achieve some personal and team objectives. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 1 year ago

The survivorship bias in company stories

Survivorship, or selection bias when telling company stories, promotes an echo chamber, where the organisation becomes blind to its inadequacies. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 1 year ago

Distributed leadership is broken. Let's fix it.

In many teams, distributed leadership is a neglected capability. People have unproductive experiences, because no one pays attention to the design of their distributed workplace. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 1 year ago

Tools don’t matter. Tools absolutely matter.

While tools aren’t the end-all and be-all for distributed collaboration and knowledge sharing, they’re hardly trivial. Companies cannot allow their collaboration tool stack to languish. They must aim for a world-class user experience. | Continue reading


@asyncagile.org | 1 year ago