async
Async standup examples for remote teams
An async standup is read hours after it is written, often by someone scrolling on a phone in another timezone. That changes what a good update looks like: it has to carry its own context, because nobody can ask you a follow-up question for six hours.
Below are three async updates that survive that, the formatting rules underneath them, and a box that writes yours.
Written for a channel, not a meeting.
5 free a month. No signup to try the first one.
scraps
Half sentences are fine.
Fri 30 Oct
Nothing to report.
Nothing planned yet.
Nothing blocking.
Paste anything on the left. Half sentences are fine.
5 of 5 free updates left in October. the Pass
Statusly rewrites what you actually did. It does not invent work, and it never will.
Three async updates that hold up hours later
Notice how each one answers the obvious follow-up before anyone can ask it.
*Done* • Retry queue is live for internal accounts, behind the retry flag. Queue depth flat for 3 hours. • Reviewed Sam's migration PR, asked for the ordering change. *Next* • Flag on for everyone tomorrow morning UK time, if depth stays flat overnight. *Blocked* • Waiting on Priya for the staging key, 3 days. Blocks the SSO verification, not the retry work.
*Done* • Reproduced the upload bug on mobile Safari. Exact steps in BUG-412. • Left the failing branch pushed as bug-412-repro so whoever picks it up starts from the repro. *Next* • US morning can take BUG-412 from here. I am back online 8:00 UK. *Blocked* • Nothing blocking.
*Done* • 4 hours today. Merged the copy fix and cleared 2 small bugs. *Next* • Full day Thursday, back on the export writer. Not looking at it before then. *Blocked* • Nothing blocking.
What async standups need that in-person ones do not
Five rules that come from nobody being able to ask you a question.
Carry your own context
Name the branch, the flag, the ticket. The reader cannot ask "which one" until tomorrow.
Say when you are next online
One line saves three DMs. Especially if your Next depends on you being awake.
Answer the obvious follow-up
If you say a test is failing, say how many. If you say it shipped, say to whom.
Keep the three labels
Done, Next and Blocked in bold, in that order, every day. Predictable shape means it gets skimmed instead of skipped.
Post at the same time
A standup that arrives at a reliable hour is read. One that drifts by four hours is not.
A template still leaves you an empty box tomorrow.
This page helps once. What makes the morning stop hurting is that Statusly keeps yesterday, so what you said you would do next is already sitting in today’s Done, waiting for you to confirm it or correct it.
The blocker you never cleared is still flagged, because you never said it cleared. Correcting an update takes 30 seconds. Writing one from nothing is what you have been avoiding.
carry-over
You said you’d write the retry tests. Done?
Still blocked on Priya, 3 days.
The scraps box is empty, and optional.
What format works best in Slack?
Bold field labels and bullet lines. Slack renders *Done* as bold, and bullets keep it scannable on a phone.
Do async standups need a bot?
No. A bot asks the question on a schedule. Someone still has to write the answer, which is the part that is actually hard.
How do I handle timezone handovers?
End Next with who can pick it up and when you are back. Push the branch even if it is broken, and say it is broken.