Async: The Secrets of Remote-first Distributed Software Development, 1st edition

Published by Addison-Wesley Professional (September 20, 2023) © 2024

  • Sumeet Gayathri Moghe
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Title overview

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, you'll 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

Table of contents

  • Part I: Adapting to the New Normal
  • Chapter 1: There's Got to Be a Better Way to Work
  • Chapter 2: Foster a Mindset for Change
  • Part II: Prepare to Go Async-First
  • Chapter 3: The Tools You Need
  • Chapter 4: The Biggest Async-First Superpower
  • Chapter 5: Three More Async-First Superpowers
  • Chapter 6: Calm Things Down with Collaboration Protocols
  • Part III: The Practitioner's Guide
  • Chapter 7: Meetings as the Last Resort
  • Chapter 8: The Value of Being Face to Face
  • Chapter 9: Micro-Moves to Shift Left
  • Chapter 10: Write a Team Handbook
  • Chapter 11: Tame the "Instant" in Instant Messaging
  • Chapter 12: Standup Meetings: An Easy Shift Left
  • Chapter 13: Take Charge of Your Development Cycles
  • Chapter 14: Run Meaningful Retrospectives
  • Chapter 15: Kickoffs and Desk Checks: Reduce Ritualized Interruptions
  • Chapter 16: Questions to Reimagine Your Tech Huddles
  • Chapter 17: Pair Programming: The Elephant in the Room
  • Chapter 18: Audit Trails from the Flow of Your Work
  • Chapter 19: Communicate Tech and Functional Design
  • Chapter 20: Two Stable Pieces of Handbook Documentation
  • Chapter 21: Craft an Efficient Onboarding Process
  • Part IV: Async-First Leadership
  • Chapter 22: The Async Leadership Mindset
  • Chapter 23: Manage Your People with Care
  • Chapter 24: Set Up Your Team for Success
  • Chapter 25: Farm Tacit Knowledge in Your Company
  • Part V: Navigate the Pitfalls
  • Chapter 26: The Great Hybrid Kerfuffle
  • Chapter 27: The Async Island
  • Chapter 28: Toxicity in the Virtual Workplace
  • Part VI: Bring It All Together
  • Chapter 29: The Async-First Starter Kit
  • Chapter 30: A Brave New World of Work

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