The Secret Art of Async Comms

Fix your slack game before you get muted

August 05, 2025

Most people suck at asynchronous communication.

They write walls of text. Bury their asks. Ramble in Slack. Then wonder why things move slowly.

But here’s the truth: If your team mastered async updates, you could move 30% faster—without more meetings.

This isn’t a guess. I’ve seen it play out again and again.

Here is my secret art to async comms:

⛳️ Flagposting

Flagposting is the art of formatting your message so it’s instantly scannable.

That means bolding key phrases, using bullet points, breaking up walls of text, and clearly separating context from action.

When you drop an unformatted brain-dump into Slack, you force the reader to think harder than they should. They squint. Re-read. Guess at what you meant. And eventually, they message you back to clarify—slowing the whole machine down.

❌ The Hard-to-Parse Wall of Text

Hey, I’ve started pulling copy variations for the new landing page. Thinking of using some of the testimonials from last year’s webinar, but I also want to run the same ones as ad headlines. Also wondering if I should rewrite the CTA at the bottom or keep it consistent across everything. Might switch up the visual on the hero too. Let me know what you think.

✅ The Flagposted Version

FYI: I’ve drafted some new copy variations for the landing page.

Changes:

- I’m pulling testimonials from last year’s webinar to test as both landing page copy and ad headlines.
- Considering swapping the CTA at the bottom (“Start Free”) to something punchier.
- Thinking about changing the hero visual to better match our new theme.

Decisions:
- Should we keep the same CTA across all surfaces?
- Are you okay with reusing webinar quotes for ads?

An extra 20–30 seconds spent formatting can save minutes (or hours) of back-and-forth.

In a fast-moving company, this scales fast. If everyone flagposted their messages, I genuinely believe the whole org would move 20–30% faster. (Yes, I made that stat up. But it feels true, doesn’t it?)

How to Give Updates

There are only six types of updates you’ll ever need. Master these, and you’ll be 10x clearer:

🟢 FYI

Hey just letting you know about this thing but you don’t need to do anything. In the case of an event (good or bad) you can use this framework:
→ What happened?
→ Why did it happen?
→ So what - are you doing about it / do you need from them

The what, why, so what frameworks is incredibly helpful for comms

🔵 Approval

I want to do this thing, do you approve?

🔴 Decision

I need you to decide something. Here are some options. Also you want to be clear if you’re open to another solution altogether. Ensure you provide a recommendation to your manger because 9/10 times they will say - I trust you, do what you said.

🟣 Action

I need you to action this task for me.

🟠 Closing the Loop (CTL)

Remember that thing we discussed or that intro you made. Here’s how it went.

🟡 Feedback

Share thoughts on a specific thing — positive or negative.

The best feedback is specific, actionable and timely

What It Looks Like in Practice

Most of my async updates—whether to a manager or from my team—look like this:

One big Slack message, broken into labeled chunks. Here’s a completely fictional example of how I’d write a weekly update:

Async comms aren’t just about being easy to send off. They’re about being easy to parse and understand.

A fast message that creates confusion is not a fast message—it’s just a delayed meeting. Every time you make someone reread, clarify, or guess what you meant, you’re slowing the whole system down.

When you follow the steps above, you save time not just for yourself, but for everyone around you.

You build trust. You reduce noise. You make async work actually work.

And in high-performing teams, that’s the difference between spinning wheels and flying.

Until next time,

Ajay

🧠 Ajay’s Resource Bank

A few tools and collections I’ve built (or obsessively curated) over the years:

  • 100+ Mental Models
    Mental shortcuts and thinking tools I’ve refined over the past decade. These have evolved as I’ve gained experience — pruned, updated, and battle-tested.

  • 100+ Questions
    If you want better answers, ask better questions. These are the ones I keep returning to — for strategy, reflection, and unlocking stuck conversations.

  • Startup OS
    A lightweight operating system I built for running startups. I’m currently adapting it for growth teams as I scale Superpower — thinking about publishing it soon.

  • Remote Games & Activities
    Fun team-building exercises and games (many made in Canva) that actually work. Good for offsites, Zoom fatigue, or breaking the ice with distributed teams.

✅ Ajay’s “would recommend” List

These are tools and services I use personally and professionally — and recommend without hesitation:

  • Athyna – Offshore Hiring Done Right
    I personally have worked with assistants overseas and built offshore teams. Most people get this wrong by assuming you have to go the lowest cost for automated work. Try hiring high quality, strategic people for a fraction of the cost instead.

  • Superpower – It starts with a 100+ lab tests
    I joined Superpower as Head of Growth, but I originally came on to fix my health. In return, I got a full diagnostic panel, a tailored action plan, and ongoing support that finally gave me clarity after years of flying blind.
    (Want a discount code? Just reply to this email.)