# Asynchronous Communication FAQ with Cate Huston of DuckDuckGo | LinearB Blog > Cate Huston (Director of Engineering at DuckDuckGo) joined the Dev Interrupted discord community to answer some frequently asked questions. [Blog](https://linearb.io/blog) / Asynchronous Communication FAQ with Cate Huston of DuckDuckGo # Asynchronous Communication FAQ with Cate Huston of DuckDuckGo ![Photo of Dan Lines](https://assets.linearb.io/image/upload/v1721418067/Dan_Lines_3fb5152de2.jpg) By [Dan Lines](https://linearb.io/blog/asynchronous-communication-ama#dan-lines) | December 2, 2020 ![Group_1160_2_7f74503024](https://assets.linearb.io/image/upload/v1720000000/Group_1160_2_7f74503024.png) After talking with me on the [Dev Interrupted podcast](https://devinterrupted.com/podcast/asynchronous-communication/) about Asynchronous Communication for remote teams, Cate Huston (Director of Engineering at DuckDuckGo) joined the Dev Interrupted discord community to answer some frequently asked questions. (_The exerts below came from the Friday Community AMA series hosted in the Dev Interrupted discord community for dev leaders. [You can join the community here](https://discord.gg/tpkmwM6c3g)._) #### **Q: How does Asyc Comm create a more inclusive work environment?** _Great question. A few things stand out:_ _– People can respond as they have time – this levels the playing field across timezones (and life commitments)._ _– People can think before they respond – better for those who don’t like to be put on the spot._ _– It’s self documenting. So many benefits here, but two: 1) no-one has to “take notes” and 2) it’s much harder to give the wrong person credit for someone’s idea if it was there first in writing._ #### **Q: You made a point during the podcast about the importance of having both a transient place (ex. slack) and a more permanent place(ex. Asana). Can you give an example of how you use each?** _Totally. We use MM for our water cooler conversation, and short term coordination (e.g. looking for PR reviewers)._ _We use Asana for anything longer term and more important discussion – such as putting together project scopes, or discussing how to address a complex bug with varying options._ _If the answer to “will this matter later?” is “yes”, then it should go in the more permanent place._ #### **Q: We just started doing our Feature Review via Async. Do you have any tips for team members who are new to communicating asynchronously?** _Totally it takes some getting used to, two things that help:_ _– framing the feedback and breaking it up – you don’t want detail feedback until the “thing” is structurally sound_ _– processing the feedback and coming back – the person requesting feedback needs to take the inputs, go through them all, and then come back saying they have done it and requesting the next round._ #### **Q: What qualities have you found to be good indicators for people who thrive in a remote environment?** _I’m a strong believer that how people take feedback is a predictor of coachability, and generally a good thing to consider in hiring. Some remote specific things are: good written communication, ability to ask for help, good work habits / self discipline._ #### **Q: Do you run a daily stand-up with your team? If so, how does that work async?** _🙈 not on my current team._ _On my previous team, yes. We were using Slack, and we used a tool called Geekbot._ _Everyone would get a ping when they logged on and answer:_ _– How they felt_ _– What they did yesterday_ _– What they hoped to do today_ _– Any blockers_ #### **Q: What is the biggest thing you think dev teams are getting wrong about remote work right now?** _I think they have just shifted their regular work online, and missed the opportunity to reinvent how they work across the board._ _I understand doing that initially, I have so much empathy for the sudden shift to remote._ _But even with the good news about vaccines, it’ll be late in 2021 at the earliest before we come back to “normal”. Now is a great time to start making changes to improve the way things are._ _This is the time to get rid of all boring meetings!_ #### **Q: When is a synchronous meeting needed?** _When it’s contentious_ 😜 _Synchronous meetings are great for arguments_ #### **Q: How do you know when to expect arguments?** _When people have strong opinions, when there’s no clear right answer, when the stakes are high._ _Synchronous meetings are also good for team bonding, not every meeting has to be an argument._ _I think the main thing is where there is nuance that is going to be lacking in text based communication. So, anytime when how people feel is important._ #### **Q: Can you give an example of a good synchronous meeting?** _Sprint planning. Because most sprint planning is pretty boring. If everyone agrees, it is dull._ _The real value of sprint planning is where people disagree._ _So you can break that kind of meeting up, do the boring bit in tech, and then have the more interesting part of the conversation synchronously._ _Cutting a 2h meeting to <1 hour is a huge win._ #### **Q: What tips do you have for helping new hires feel welcome and engaged in an distributed, async team?** _I break it into: belonging and accomplishment._ _Accomplishment is easy – people want to feel like they are contributing._ _Belonging is harder, it’s making people feel welcome and psychologically safe._ _On our team we do “experiments”, and one of our things is that the previous new hire has to do an experiment for the next new hire._ _It generally involves coordinating something across the whole team. Examples so far:_ _– Having a 1:1 with everyone on the team._ _– Putting together a piece of advice for the new hire, one from each member of the team._ _– Putting together a list of projects that are good to learn from (about process, the way we run things, or just generally), each person on the team suggested one._ _Everyone also gets an “onboarding buddy”, whose job it is to foster a sense of accomplishment on the new hires first project._ _Overall I think it’s really important that the team see onboarding a new hire as a collective responsibility._ ## Improve developer productivity with LinearB Find us on [](https://www.linkedin.com/company/linearb) [](https://devinterrupted.substack.com/) ## Your next read [![Cover image for Code generation is faster than ever, but shipping value isn't](https://assets.linearb.io/image/upload/v1780591733/Blog_AI_code_review_bottleneck_2400x1256_d73333ea46.png)](https://linearb.io/blog/code-generation-faster-shipping-isnt) DevEx [Code generation is faster than ever, but shipping value isn't](https://linearb.io/blog/code-generation-faster-shipping-isnt) Your team writes more code than ever, but less reaches production. 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