As the CTO and cofounder of DailyBot, I’ve had the privilege of not just building the tool but also living the async-first culture it enables.
The Problem with Synchronous Work
Most distributed teams default to synchronous communication — endless meetings, real-time chat interruptions, and the expectation of immediate responses. This approach doesn’t scale and creates burnout, especially across time zones.
Our Approach
At DailyBot, we built our own product into the core of our daily workflows:
- Automated stand-ups replace daily sync meetings
- Check-ins capture progress without interruptions
- Kudos maintain team morale asynchronously
Key Results
After fully adopting the async-first model:
- 60% fewer meetings across the engineering team
- Higher developer satisfaction from deep work time
- Better documentation as a natural byproduct
Lessons Learned
The biggest lesson? Async-first doesn’t mean async-only. Some conversations still need to be real-time — the key is making that the exception, not the default.
Building DailyBot taught me that the best tools don’t just automate processes — they change how teams think about collaboration.