Asynchronous and focused: perfect workflows with Jira and Confluence

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You are working on an important project, so you want to work intensively for a few hours without distractions. A pop-up window of the company chat appears on your screen. Surely, that can wait. Back to focus. Then the notification tone of an incoming email rings out. Is this perhaps the important key account from yesterday? But for now, this project is more important. So you concentrate again. But suddenly, without warning, someone calls you via web conference — and your deep flow for your prioritized work ends abruptly.

These problems are familiar to many people who work primarily synchronously, i.e. simultaneously with their team colleagues. The focus here is on connectivity and often not on the productivity of the work. In the long run, the constant availability at the workplace minimizes the power of concentration to a few minutes. Team meetings are all well and good, but more structured asynchronous activities at your work will improve your company's performance and your personal well-being immensely.

To perfectly plan and document asynchronous work, powerful tools like Jira and Confluence are the key. Read here how exactly asynchronous work operates and how Atlassian's collaboration tools support you.

What is synchronous work?

Phone calls, video chats, or face-to-face conversations are examples of synchronous work because in these cases the parties communicate directly with each other without any time shift. Synchronous organizations make their decisions in a chain of live meetings. Often, this involves spending a lot of time asking questions about process status. How is the project progressing? Who is all involved? What is still to be done?

These questions are important in any project management and should not be underestimated, yet more asynchronous communication and transparent documentation of processes would make your work easier.

Asynchronous more often!

Asynchronous work, on the other hand, does not take place in real time, but with a time delay. This is a reliable way of working in today’s dynamic business world, especially when many team members work remotely or in different countries. With this method, you avoid time zones and don’t have to wait until late at night to discuss the new status with the project manager who lives on the other side of the world.

When you communicate asynchronously, a response is not expected immediately after you receive a message. On one hand, this takes pressure off your performance, and on the other hand, it creates the opportunity for you to focus on the task you have scheduled for that time period. This gives you the chance to respond to messages in the way that suits your workflow best.

The more asynchronous you work, the more time you have for Deep Work, the flow state in which you maximize the use of your intellectual capacities. And that’s the only way you can develop personally.

Advantages of asynchronous work at a glance

• More flexibility in everyday work due to fewer meetings

• Better transparency than with hallway discussions

• Scheduled meetings are shorter and more productive

• Team members can work more independently

• More deep work due to fewer distractions

Asynchronous work with collaboration tools

You can only enjoy the many benefits of asynchronous work if you plan and document the work steps accurately. And this is where Atlassian’s collaboration tools Jira and Confluence join the game.

Document your progress with Jira

It’s hard to imagine modern project management without Jira. Thanks to this software from Atlassian, Agile teams can keep track of their projects at all times, regardless of whether they have already been started, completed or are still in the backlog. On structured boards, you can see exactly which tasks have a high priority in your team or can wait for a while. In addition, it is possible to assign tasks to responsible persons.

Use Jira and save meetings to find out who is responsible for which project and what the current status is. Intuitive commenting features ensure transparent documentation for all team members.

Working together with Confluence

Documentation and planning in Jira are optimally supplemented by Confluence. Confluence is an online workspace developed by Atlassian to enable global knowledge transfer. Here, you can work on a project in a structured way in a shared edit mode with your project manager on the other side of the world. As soon as there are news, you can update the corresponding document and your entire team receives a notification about it — which they can read if the Deep Work phase is not disturbed.

This is what collaboration tools provide for asynchronous work

• The current status is delivered automatically

• No manual reporting

• Better documentation of progress

• Simplified planning of processes

The mixture brings success

Of course, asynchronous work cannot completely replace synchronous communication. First-time meetings with external partners or employees, brainstorming together, starting a new project, or quickly delivering new content to an entire group are still best done synchronously.

But making the most of this synchronous time and focusing on asynchronous deep work methods will improve your team’s overall performance. Your own personal development can also progress faster if you’re not constantly distracted at work by unrequested status updates.

A strategic balance of synchronous and asynchronous work ensures maximum efficiency. That’s why Atlassian’s collaboration tools are ideal. Since they can be used synchronously as well as asynchronously.