The most famous example is probably Gitlab (https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/company/culture/all-remote/asynchronous/)
Since their IPO the work environment seems to have deteriorated though (https://old.reddit.com/r/devops/comments/152o4bb/what_the_hell_is_going_on_at_gitlab/)
Curious to see if other people have any experience of real asynchronous work culture?
Often neither the 5 minute call nor the 20 emails are needed but used because no prioritization is being made for the time or work of others because there’s not enough friction to force the prioritization. Not everything that is urgent is important and not everything that is important should interfere with urgent matters. The balance is difficult in any arrangement.
Also, you can send an email to schedule a call.
You’re conflating things.
Urgency is not a factor, but brevity and mental load. Writing mails takes time and forces you to jump between issues/contexts. Even if you answer all mails in one go, you still need to switch contexts again and again. Add to that the inevitable misunderstanding in written communication and you end up with hours of work for simple questions.
Of course there are issues that can be resolved via mail/tickets just fine, but many can’t. Forcing employees to choose a certain channel is not a good idea.
Why are companies going async? To go global. Now find a slot that works for Central/Western Europe and California. Good luck.
I was scheduling calls from EST with people on AEDT 20 years ago. Companies having a global presence isn’t a new issue. Everything is a trade off and sometimes the cost of asynchronous work communication is beneficial.