Week 18: Normality, Asynchronous Week, Cold Brew

This was a “normal” week so far. (As much as a week can be normal with war only a few hundred kilometers away and a pandemic that is hopefully ending) Excellent, and I needed this.

How I work right now

I have been working in asynchronous and synchronous modes changing week over week for three months.

When I started to go back to my office, I quickly noticed that I wanted to think about what I wanted to do when I was there and what I wanted to do when I was in my home office.

I thought quite a bit about how to spend my time as productive as possible, and I came up with quite a radical idea:

I wanted to improve my productivity by trying something new. Meetings were filling my calendar on regular days from 8:30 until late, and this was on office days and home office days, both in real life and virtually. I wanted more time to work on topics outside of meetings with others. I have been thinking about this challenge for quite some time. Here is what I did:

Every other week was an asynchronous week for me. I will have in-person meetings every two weeks and work together more asynchronously. How did I do this practically?

• We use Asana for things we want each other to do. 

  • Some ToDos are topics we need to discuss in our meetings

  • Other ToDos are things we can do asynchronously. We can tag them and communicate within Asana to get the task done or decisions made.

  • In the actual Asana ToDos, we communicate around the todos, make decisions, and document what we have done.

  • Deadlines become more meaningful as they are no longer connected to our meetings.

• We use biweekly in-person meetings to discuss topics that need to be addressed in a direct conversation.

• We use slack or email to communicate directly with each other.

• We use calls (phone or slack) to talk to each other instantly. During asynchronous weeks there is a lot more time without meetings to pick up the phone for a quick conversation. (although I think that most things can also be dealt with in asynchronous formats like slack and so there is more uninterrupted working time)

• While at the office in asynchronous weeks, I focus on short bursts and interruptable work like doing emails, working on todos, and working with our portfolio and our dealflow. And I will be ready to be “interrupted” to have a quick conversation.

Through this, I regained some time freedom for my colleagues and me, and I believe there is a vast untapped potential in asynchronous working.

I also include more formats of synchronous working in my days again:

• Walks

  • 1on1 walks

  • group walks

• Events

• Presentations and Lectures

• Roundtables

With some business trips coming up and more and more experience in synchronous and asynchronous work, I am sure this topic is far from figured out. So far, I like the changes a lot.

Cold Brew

As I am writing this, I feel my level of caffeine rising. I prepared the first cold brew f the season the other day and just had a glass. After I had it, I suddenly asked myself if the recipe I used was for a ready-to-drink cold brew or a strong one that needs some water or other liquid. I just looked it up: it needs to be diluted, and I had it pure. I just drank half a liter of water. My next two meetings will have an energized Joerg as a participant.

What I read and watched:

• Every Bay Area House Party

• How to do hard things: a longer piece on acceptance and commitment therapy.

Unfortunately, there is not so much more I can share as there were some other topics to work on: My wife broke her ankle, and we had to reorganize quite a bit at home since she will not be able to walk for a few months. The twins are finishing school right now and are having their final exams, and I spent time with them whenever I could. Also, they are growing up fast as all the covid restrictions are lifted, and they are figuring out that they are living in Berlin. 🥳

And there was quite some work: I read a lot of contracts, decks, and concepts. I have dealt with board topics in some of the other roles that I cannot share (yet). And I went to bed earlier. We have a nightingale in our garden—a super lovely sound to fall asleep to.

Next week I will be in London, and the week after, we will have our first three-day APX all-hands meeting of the year.

Have a great week, and cheers from Berlin

Joerg