As companies grow, the art of communication becomes more crucial than ever, especially in a remote or asynchronous (async) environments. We adopted async two years ago and have been all-remote since our inception in 2014. To work in these conditions, we have to be very good at communicating.

At MarsBased, we've embraced this challenge by innovating our approach to internal communication. Every Monday, we send out an internal intel post, a cornerstone of our strategy to enhance the async experience for our team.

Here's a glimpse into how this practice not only keeps everyone informed but also fosters a cohesive and informed remote workforce.

The Monday Ritual

The week at MarsBased kicks off with the delivery of our internal intel post, called Martian Chronicles. It's not just an email; it's a comprehensive update that prepares our team for the week ahead, and keeps everyone informed in a 2-min read post to help you kick off the week without having to collect notifications and emails from different platforms.

The Martian Chronicles contains what you ought to know for the week at a company level and is usually sent by our Head of People. Since she's on maternity leave, I've been doing it since she left and it's also helping me to be more connected to our internal operations. It's very humbling to sit down every Monday morning and put your team's necessities at the forefront of your task list and to enable them to do their work better. You should all give it a try!

This ritual has become an essential part of our culture, eagerly anticipated by everyone.

More Than Just Updates

What makes our Martian Chronicles post unique? It's a meticulously crafted post that contains a wealth of information, crucial for every team member. This includes:

• Company-wide announcements: Announcements of new clients, our latest blog posts, recaps of past events, tasks to be done, etc - all of this gets shared first.
• Deadlines and events: Time-sensitive notifications are also placed right up on top of the post, to let people know about upcoming deadlines for document submissions, feedback surveys or other admin tasks. Also, we let people know about internal events such our upcoming Martian Tapas, our Friday Martian Coffee, work anniversaries, project launches, new hires joining, Startup Grind events or even personal birthdays!
• Time Off Notifications: Keeping track of who's out of the office is vital in a remote setting. Our intel post details upcoming leaves, ensuring smooth project transitions and coverage and who's out for the week, so he or she doesn't get contacted during their leave.
• Podcast episodes: Our podcast is very important in- and outside of the company. We want to share with our employees the latest episode to ensure they don't miss it, especially if it's a technical one.
• Highlights: We share a few articles every week that might be relevant to the team from a wide range of topics: technical articles, insightful books, must-listen podcast episodes, news about technology or interesting content about productivity, health, remote work, development, life-work balance and more.

In fact, here's one I've written just prior to this blog post:

Written on Linear - A Platform for Clarity

Our choice of platform for crafting these posts is Linear. Why Linear? Because it's a tool that aligns with our ethos of clarity and efficiency. Its intuitive interface and robust features make it easy to organize our thoughts and present them in a way that's both engaging and easy to digest.

Sadly, last year we have to say good-bye to our beloved Basecamp and replace it with Linear, a tool more adapted to our current needs. We now manage almost 30 people, manage more areas of the company using a single tools and service multiple clients with different needs each. Linear is more flexible and has been a game-changer for the company. We will write more about this in another blog post.

Linear is our go-to communication tool for project and task management in the company, and all of our communications happen there. We send the Martian Chronicles on our "MarsBased talks" project, where we discuss company-wide things like internal policies, announcements of new clients or hires, the agenda of our internal events, discussions about how to do X or Y, request time off and much more.

The Martian Chronicles post is more than an information bulletin; it's a narrative of what's happening within MarsBased. We structure it to provide a clear, concise overview of the week, making it easier for team members to stay informed about various aspects of the company without feeling overwhelmed.

In a nutshell, it's like a weekly issue of a central point of truth for what's going on.

Enhancing the Async Experience

In a remote setting, the absence of physical interaction can lead to information gaps. Our internal intel post bridges these gaps. It's not just a communication tool; it's a way to maintain our company culture, ensure everyone feels included, and enhance the overall async experience.

In fact, in all-remote and async environments, companies have to double down in communication efforts lest every team becomes an information silo. If we didn't do this, we would end up not knowing anything outside of the project we're working on.

At MarsBased, we understand that effective communication is the backbone of a successful remote team. Our Martian Chronicles post is a testament to this belief. By providing a comprehensive, easy-to-digest overview of the week, we empower our team members to stay informed, engaged, and aligned with our company's goals and activities for whenever they choose to work, wherever they want to do it from.

This practice has not only improved our workflow but has also strengthened the bonds within our team, making us more unified and efficient in our async journey.