How to communicate effectively with your offshore development team? What does asynchronous communication mean and how does it look like? What are the key benefits of asynchronous communication? When to be asynchronous? These are some common questions we hear from our clients. Read this article, to learn the answers.
Are you afraid of hiring a remote development team because of a lack of control? Do you fear your money will be wasted due to inefficient communication? Do you think the time zone difference will ruin your communication?
If yes, you are in the right place.
In this article series, we’re exploring the topic of communication between the App Owner (you), and your Offshore Development Team. It contains:
- Introduction to Communication between App Owner and Development Team – you are reading this
- Asynchronous Communication with the Development Team – How to Do it Effectively? Guide for App Owners – to be published
- How to Improve Communication your Development Team | Tips for App Owners – to be published
In this post, you’ll learn why communication is crucial for your app development process, how asynchronous communication works, and what benefits does it bring for you.
Why communication is hard
Before developers, clients, and Product Owners…, we all are human beings. Communication between people is difficult by nature. You probably have many examples when improper communication was the only reason why somebody got upset or sad, even though nobody had such intentions.
What exactly is communication? I’m no scientist, but to me, it’s sending messages from one head to another – leveling the information gap between people. Messages are being sent one by one. See this diagram showing how complex communication is on the scale of only ONE message:
The biggest mindset shift you need to employ as a remote App Owner
Effective remote communication is asynchronous. If you haven’t already, you need to switch your mindset to asynchronous communication, instead of synchronous.
What does synchronous and asynchronous communication mean?
What’s the difference between asynchronous and synchronous communication?
Synchronous communication
For synchronous communication, think of office-like interactions. Each side of a conversation needs to be in the same time (the same place is not necessary but advisable). For example, a meeting in a conference room or face-to-face interactions. Sometimes the same place is not needed (think online meeting), but in my experience it is desirable, and still requires the same time.
Wrap up
Communication is not a piece of cake, yet it’s extremely important, especially in software development. Mistakes can be made on different layers. To improve your communication with your offshore development team you have to tackle the most fundamental feature of it – that is, you have to turn it all into asynchronous communication.
If you’ve employed this mindset and understood what it is, as well as why it’s important, you’re halfway through.
In the next episode of our series, you’ll find a few pieces of advice on how to achieve asynchronicity. In the third episode, I’ll share a few secrets for improving communication overall and not just for asynchronous methods, so be sure to check it out even if you’re using synchronous means. Stay tuned!
