Muhaus Design Studio

Why Async?

Why we work async at Muhaus

Let’s dive into my background, where I used to run an editorial printing press—a job that felt like an endless race against deadlines. Printing books is no joke; it’s a constant hustle, always chasing deadlines and waving goodbye to your weekends. It was this relentless grind that got me thinking, ‘There’s got to be a better way.’ And that’s when I stumbled upon the wonderful world of async work.

In my quest to understand why async work was the answer, I stumbled upon a fantastic article called ‘The Modern Work Crisis.’ This gem of a report was put together by the brilliant folks over at Almanac.

Their app is a game-changer, offering a single, beautifully organized Source of Truth for remote teams all over the world. Say goodbye to wasting hours searching for company info or waiting for emails from colleagues on the other side of the planet. I highly recommend giving the whole report a read and giving Almanac a whirl.

“If you’re an average business professional in 2023, statistically your work life looks like this:

You wake up early for a Zoom meeting because half your team lives several time zones away. In between back-to-back calls, you try to squeeze in a few minutes for eating, doing chores, or even going to the bathroom. You’re constantly distracted by a never-ending stream of Slack and email notifications.

Your priorities are interrupted by fire drills and digital distractions. At night, once the day’s chaos subsides, you’re forced to choose between doing actual work and spending time with your family, friends, or hobbies.

You’re working more, but not more efficiently. You end the week exhausted, unsure of what you actually accomplished. You’re on the verge of burnout—or maybe already there. This isn’t sustainable, or normal. But it is new.

Remote work was an asteroid that changed work life forever.

Before COVID-19, the way we worked hadn’t changed much in 70 years. ‘Office work’ was originally modeled on the way pre-WWII factories produced goods. Despite the transition to white-collar knowledge work, managers still managed professionals as though they were on an assembly line:

  • In-person: everyone worked in the same place at the same time.
  • Real-time: major discussions, decisions, and reporting happened live in meetings, with few records afterward of how or why things happened.
  • Minimal transparency: important information was hard for employees to access.
  • A focus on tracking inputs: managers measured effectiveness in hours worked, meetings attended, and messages sent.

Keep reading the original article: The Modern Work Crisis” or go back to Muhaus