Issue #9: Twist and shout
Today we wanted to highlight the relaunch of Twist - the business messaging tool from the team at Doist (known for their highly successful To Do list app Todoist).
Not only is it an interesting tool within the business communication ecosystem, it also allows us to spend a little time talking about an important concept of remote-first work: async communication.
While Slack & Teams largely have the market cornered on corporate messaging, Twist is taking a different approach. As they put it, Twist is "async messaging for teams burned out by real-time, all-the-time communication and ready for a new way of working together."
Asynchronous work is the idea of working, well, asynchronously. In other words: not at the same time. Most organizations use a combination of sync and async communication styles. Examples of synchronous communication include video calls, phone calls, in-person conversations and instant messaging chat tools. Examples of asynchronous communication include email (depending on company culture), project management tools where updates are made and comments added (e.g. Asana, Jira, Trello), and in-app comments on working docs (e.g. in Google Docs, Power Point Decks, GitHub).
Remote organizations, particularly those with teams distributed across the globe, lean more heavily on async communication. It's not possible to always connect in real-time, and leveraging async tools and project organization enables teams to collaborate seamlessly while maintaining the many benefits of remote work.
Doist, a fully remote organization, developed Twist first for internal purposes. In 2015 they adopted Slack and 2 years later they quit it cold turkey in favor of Twist. As their founder Amir Salihefendic said "It was fun, but the honeymoon with real-time chat didn't last. We spanned 10 time zones and needed an async tool to work."
So what makes Twist different?
No presence indicator. Is your boss online? You don't know. And they don't know if you're online. The goal is to not have digital 'face-time', it's to communicate your ideas.
No typing dots. You don't know if they're online, so why would you see them typing? You shouldn't expect a response immediately anyway. This is async, remember?
Designed for focus, not noise. Twist doesn't barrage you with notifications, but rather funnels everything that requires your attention into an 'inbox' model, so you can manage your communication how you want. It also allows linking between threads, allowing you to more easily reference past conversations and decisions.
While Slack has conditioned many people to expect constant communication within their organization, it can have many drawbacks. It can be addicting (who doesn't love all the gifs?), distracting and disrupts deep-flow work. For an interesting deep-dive into Doist's thought process on the pitfalls of Slack & real-time communication, and what they hoped to achieve with Twist, check out their blog post at the time: Why We’re Betting Against Real-Time Team Messaging Apps Like Slack
Interested in dipping your toes into more async communication? Maybe Twist is the tool you've been waiting for.
In the News
Nomad List - a community of over 30,000 remote workers - has released its 2021 State of Digital Nomads: a fun and visual summary of who Digital Nomads are and what they value. This is based on Nomad List's own data. While there's obviously a selection bias (Nomad List is a paid online community), it's arguably one of the richest datasets out there on the demographics and activities of those embracing the nomad lifestyle. So who is the 'average' nomad according to the study? They're from the USA, works in tech, enjoys Hiking, and loves coffee (and Tokyo). Sounds about right. For MUCH more, check out the link above, or read founder Pieter Levels' twitter summary here.
Tech Jobs are Everywhere Now. New data reinforces what we've been hearing for months: employees are leaving tech hubs, and employers are casting a wider net to hire. “West Coast tech companies are dramatically shifting their hiring to other parts of the U.S. Not just for tech jobs, but also engineers, scientists, managers, business and financial professionals.”
Amazon is further loosening its return-to-office expectations. After delaying return from the fall to the new year, and then setting a 3 day per week in-office requirement, Amazon is now allowing each team to set their own policies. Employees are still expected to live close enough to their core team to come in on a day's notice, but are allowed up to 4-weeks per year to work 100% remote anywhere within their country.
...and one more thing
To celebrate the Digital Nomad lifestyle, we feature a few photos each week of someone enjoying their freedom and flexibility. Email us your photos to be featured!
This month, I'm sharing some photos of my own journey as my wife & I make our way across the country in our converted van. Below: Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming
