Great design happens asynchronously
We imagine great design emerging from rooms filled with people and sticky notes. But is this actually true?
What does great design look like?
Ask professional designers, and they’ll mention iconic works: Dieter Rams’ Braun radio, Jonny Ive’s iMac, or Eames chairs.
Ask non-designers, which is always more interesting, and they’ll hesitate. They might mention famous architecture or inventions. But if they’ve worked with designers, many will describe this scene: people in thick-rimmed glasses discussing ideas and writing on sticky notes.
This is the popular image of design at work. Sometimes it’s accurate. Often, it’s not.
These sticky-note sessions feel productive and creative. The reality is different. People talk over each other. Minds wander. The CEO’s ideas usually win. Everyone tries to describe something tangible while picturing different things entirely.
Worse, these meetings create false alignment. We leave feeling good. Days later, that feeling vanishes.
So why does every project at a company start this way? Teams go into these sessions expecting magic to happen and are left with nothing.
When I was a design team manager, this frustrated me. Meetings seemed productive, but quality work rarely emerged.
When I reflected on my best work, I realised something important. It didn’t happen in meetings. It happened alone, outside the office, after hours. The solitude of no slack messages or interruptions allowed me to get into the weeds. I could dig through and really uncover some gold.
This is working asynchronously.
This work suits creativity. Retreating from noise, working independently, then returning for feedback builds momentum. This leads to great results.
As we’re building our startup cushion.so, my co-founder and I only work this way.
Any new ideas we have are written up first. These ‘pitches’ are then reviewed and critiqued by the team. This forces us to think deeply about our ideas. We can’t just throw loose comments into a meeting. We don’t jump onto the next shiny thing because the CEO just said it.
When we need feedback, we share the work with a post explaining our process and choices. Others leave comments. We collect these insights and incorporate them.
This simple process works well. We don’t need complicated sign-offs or design thinking frameworks. Those just create obstacles.
Working asynchronously gives us time to think and digest. I often look at work, step away, and return before giving feedback. I’m not pressured to respond instantly during design reviews. My feedback improves because I think more carefully.
What’s equally amazing is when something is written down, you can reference it. I can go back to feedback from our early ideas and draw on it. You will never remember feedback from a meeting 6 months ago. Even with your poorly written notes.
The good news? This approach is easy to adopt:
- Move design reviews from weekly meetings to Figjam or Miro boards
- Post designs at the start of the week
- Let people leave feedback when they’re ready
- Write pitch documents before jumping into sketching or Figma
- Write a regular check-in of what progress you made every day
Working asynchronously won’t just make you more productive. It will make you a happier, calmer designer.
