## Session V: Asynchronous communications

> [“Async is a default, not a dogma.”](https://open-and-async.com/q/default-not-dogma/)

### Discuss

- Which of our recurring meetings could be a document plus a comment thread? What’s actually keeping it on the calendar?
- How do we decide what belongs in chat, what belongs in a tracked issue, and what belongs in email — and where does that blur, so we relitigate Monday’s decision on Tuesday because nobody can find it?
- “Got a minute?” gets called anxiety in three words. What’s our culture around interrupting each other, and who pays for it?

### Split the room

**For managers:** What’s a meeting you own that mostly relays information a transparent system could carry? What would you have to make visible to cancel it?

**For individual contributors:** Next time you’re about to DM “got a minute?”, what could you write instead so the answer helps everyone and doesn’t break their focus?

### Debate

“Async is just slower — sometimes you need an answer now.” Argue it. Then argue the book’s line: async is the default, and sync is the escalation you reach for on purpose.

### Try it

Take your next “let’s hop on a call” and turn it into a written artifact with a clear owner and a decision deadline instead. Optional: run `convert_meeting_to_async` from the [companion tools](https://open-and-async.com/#mcp).

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From the [*Open & Async* book club guide](https://open-and-async.com/book-club-guide/#async).