Top 4 Asynchronous Collaboration Tools for Remote and Distributed Teams

As a distributed team, one of your major goals is to cut down meeting time (which doesn't work for everyone given the time-zone difference) and still remain aligned regardless of location. To achieve this, you need to cut down on meetings and move to asynchronous collaboration tools. In this article, we've complied the top four async work tools remote and distributed teams rely on to collaborate and align. We didn’t come up with these recommendations ourselves. We dug into sites like Reddit and LinkedIn and compiled all the recommendations we could find. So, here is it.

How We Compiled This List

Most lists of asynchronous collaboration work tools are basic compilations of tool descriptions and features. While helpful, they don’t tell you how real teams use these tools or what people love (or hate) about them. We took a different approach. We explored user-generated content (UGC) from platforms like Reddit and blogs to understand how distributed teams like yours actually use these tools. We focused on making it practical and actionable: how these tools fit into workflows, the problems they solve, and why the team loves them.

Top Asynchronous Collaboration Tools Distributed Team Use to Stay Connected and Productive

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1. Quely: You know how difficult it can be to balance collaboration across time zones, without multiple meetings. You may be familiar with any or all of the problems below: 

• Difficulties hosting collaborative estimation: Without real-time discussions, it’s easy for team members to misjudge the effort required for tasks.
• Planning across time zones: Syncing schedules for planning meetings can feel impossible, often leading to incomplete participation.
• Fragmented Async Communication: Conversations scattered across tools make it hard to stay aligned and focused on goals.

Solution: How Quely Helps Distributed Teams Work Better

Quely is an async collaboration tool for distributed teams. It removes the need for constant meetings while keeping your Agile ceremonies running smoothly. It creates a shared space for distributed teams to plan, estimate, and align, asynchronously.

• Asynchronous Meetings for Different Agile Ceremonies: When teams work across different time zones, getting everyone online simultaneously can be challenging. ‍Quely creates a dedicated space where team members can contribute meaningfully without needing to be online at the same time. This means someone in New York can review and respond to updates from another team mate in Singapore when it works best for them, ensuring no one needs to attend meetings at inconvenient hours.

• Async Estimation: Most estimation tools use basic voting methods for task estimation. ‍Quely improves this with AI. Team members can contribute their estimates thoughtfully over a set time period. However, ‍Quely's AI-powered Fibonacci Sequence estimation takes this further by analyzing each work item in detail. It examines the task requirements and provides specific time estimates based on different experience levels. For example, it might indicate that a feature will take a senior developer 3 days but a junior developer 5 days, helping teams plan more accurately.

• Centralized Work Discussions: Communication about work items typically gets scattered across email, Slack, and other platforms. ‍Quely brings order to this chaos by providing dedicated discussion spaces for each Jira work item. Think of it like having a mini-forum for every task. When a team member needs to understand why certain decisions were made about a feature, they don't need to search through thousands of Slack messages. Instead, they can find all relevant discussions in the ‍Quely session url that is attached to the Jira work item. 

• Agenda Management to Keep Discussions Focused: With ‍Quely, meeting agendas practically build themselves. It converts Jira work items into meeting agenda, so every meeting—sync or async—is aligned with your team’s projects. By keeping discussions focused, ‍Quely ensures meetings are focused on your team's deliverables rather than veering into another direction.

• ‍Better Workload Distribution: Managing team capacity is often guesswork. ‍Quely's Assign feature changes this by providing clear visibility into each team member's current workload. Managers can see exactly who has bandwidth before assigning new tasks. For instance, if Sarah is already working on three high-priority items, ‍Quely will show she's at capacity, helping managers assign new work to team members with more availability. This prevents burnout and ensures work progresses smoothly.

Results: Better Collaboration and Results: As a distributed team ourselves, we “eat our own dog food”. We use ‍Quely for all our Asynchronous collaboration like sprint planning, daily standup, project/tasks updates, reviews and so much more. The result? Fewer delays, more alignment, and less meeting fatigue.‍

Takeaway: Managing a distributed team shouldn't mean multiple meetings. . ‍Quely’s features enables you to estimate, plan, and collaborate with your team asynchronously with ease.

‍How to Apply This in Your Team

• Start with Async Estimation: Use ‍Quely’s Fibonacci estimation sessions to align your team on task complexity, no matter their time zone.
• Organize Workflows with Agendas: Build and share ‍Quely sessions tied to your Jira work items for better context and focus.
• Centralize Conversations: Encourage your team to use ‍Quely’s chat feature to discuss tasks asynchronously, making it easy to reference conversations around work items.
• Simplify Task Assignments: Use ‍Quely's Assign feature to assign tasks and ensure everyone has a manageable workload.

With ‍Quely, you’ll overcome the challenges of managing a distributed team and build workflows that work, no matter where your team is located.

2. Loom: I used Loom a few hours before writing this article. I’d used it to record a quick run-through for a teammate. Interestingly, it was supposed to be a meeting, but we canceled at the last minute, and I used Loom instead. That's one of the benefits of asynchronous communication tools. Who better to hear how to use Loom for Async work than Loom themselves?

What’s most interesting about how Loom uses Loom (I know. I love the play on words 😀) for async all-hands is that it doesn’t cancel out meetings, just like most critiques of async work claim.

The Problem Loom faced was Juggling Time Zones and Engagement in All-Hands Meetings.

As they grew into a distributed team spanning multiple time zones, their traditional all-hands meetings started to fall apart. For one, finding a single time that worked for everyone was nearly impossible. While some team members were beginning their day, others were wrapping up or worse, tuning in during what should have been personal or family time.

This conflicting schedules led to half-hearted attendance and engagement. Even when people managed to join, they were distracted or unable to focus on the updates . On top of that, the format was limiting. Presenters were speaking into the void, and the asynchronous team dynamic left little room for the real-time energy and interaction that makes meetings impactful. Loom recognized that this approach was inefficient and counterproductive, and was not meeting the needs of their distributed team.

The Solution: Combining the Best of Async and Synchronous Meeting

To solve these challenges, Loom leaned into their async collaboration tool: recorded Loom videos. Instead of hosting lengthy live sessions, presenters created bite-sized updates—no longer than two minutes each that team mates can watch at their own time. This change turned Loom’s all-hands into an asynchronous meeting where everyone could participate regardless of their time zone.

But they didn’t stop there. Loom transformed how they used synchronous time. The company kept the live component but reserved it for Q&A and discussions, making these moments more intentional and valuable. Team members could react to videos with emojis, leave comments, and come prepared with thoughtful questions for the live sessions.

This shift allowed the team to keep the spirit of connection while eliminating the stress and inefficiency of forcing everyone into a single meeting slot.

The Results? Engaged Teams and Better use of Meeting Time

• Engagement that Works for Everyone: By letting team members consume updates when it suited them, Loom ensured higher participation and better focus.
• Richer Feedback: The interactive features in Loom created a space for thoughtful comments and reactions, fostering a deeper connection between presenters and viewers.
• Synchronous Time with Purpose: Live meetings became more dynamic, focusing on discussions and problem-solving rather than passive listening.
• A Lasting Resource: The recorded updates doubled as a transparent archive for new hires, current team members, or future reference.

Take Away: Better Meetings, Even for Distributed Teams

For distributed teams, the goal of async communication tools like Loom isn’t to eliminate meetings. It's to make them more meaningful. Loom’s approach shows that with the right tools, you can reduce scheduling conflict, give team members flexibility, and still maintain the benefits of live collaboration. This balance is key to thriving in an async workplace.

How You Can Apply This

Be inspired from Loom’s approach and rethink how your team approaches all-hands meetings:

• Audit Your Meetings: Are your team members joining at odd hours or skipping altogether? Look for patterns and pain points in attendance and engagement.
• Embrace Asynchronous Updates: Start by recording short, focused updates for team-wide announcements. Keep them concise and engaging.
• Redefine Live Meetings: Save synchronous time for what matters most—like discussions, brainstorming, or Q&A sessions. Make it interactive and dynamic.
• Leverage Engagement Tools: Use reactions, comments, or polls to encourage participation in your async updates.
• Build a Living Archive: Store your video updates in an accessible space so team members can revisit them as needed.

By making these small but intentional changes, you can create a meeting culture that respects everyone’s time, drives engagement, and supports your distributed team’s success.

Here’s an article we wrote about how to address the challenges of transitioning to async work. There, we addressed the myth that it cancels all forms of meetings (which we know is worrisome for people who’d like to meet with their team occasionally). Read how we explained how it makes your meetings even better.

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Related Read: How remote teams are using async meetings to plan, align, and collaborate.

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3. Notion: Notion needs no introduction. Chances are that you’ve used it at some point in your work. So instead of explaining what Notion is, let’s look at how remote teams are using it in 2025 to collaborate async, document decisions, and stay aligned across time zones.

In this article about transitioning to async work and solving common challenges with async work, we wrote that documentation is essential for asynchronous documentation. It’s better to overcommunicate than to under communicate and Notion makes that easy.

One team that has hacked how to use Notion for this is Clearfire. Here’s a detailed breakdown of how Clearfire uses Notion and what you can learn from their approach:

• Handbook: The All-in-One Operational Guide: Clearfire’s Handbook in Notion isn’t just a set of policies—it’s a living, breathing document that keeps everyone aligned. It includes

1. Company Policies: Everything from HR guidelines to communication norms.
2. Toolkits and Resources: A curated collection of tools, tutorials, and best practices, making it easy for team members to find the support they need.
3. Process Playbooks: Step-by-step guides for recurring tasks, like running a sprint or onboarding a client.

Takeaway: Even if you already use Notion for documentation, consider creating a dedicated "Handbook" section to codify your team's unique processes and ensure new hires ramp up quickly.

• Projects: Clarity at Every Stage: For Clearfire, Notion acts as a centralized repository for project-related details, filling in the gaps left by tools like Basecamp and GitHub. Each client project gets its subfolder with the following:

1. Development Roadmaps: Clearly defined stages, milestones, and deadlines.
2. Objective Tracking: A space to document goals and evaluate outcomes.
3. Challenges and Resolutions: A log of roadblocks encountered and how they were addressed—essential for learning and iteration.

Takeaway: Use Notion to create detailed project dashboards that don’t just outline tasks but also capture lessons learned, helping your team refine its processes over time.

• Developer Workspace: Workflow Mastery: Clearfire dedicates an entire section in Notion to developer-specific workflows, ensuring technical team members have everything they need to succeed. This includes:

1. Coding Standards: Guidelines for maintaining code quality and consistency.
2. Pull Request Best Practices: Tips for crafting pull requests that are easy to review and approve.
3. Deployment Guides: Step-by-step instructions for deploying code to different environments.

Takeaway: Consider building a specialized space for each department in your team, tailoring the content to their needs. Developers, designers, and marketers have unique workflows that can benefit from centralized documentation.

Results

What sets Clearfire apart isn’t just their use of Notion but the culture they’ve built around it. Here’s what they’ve achieved:

• Streamlined Onboarding: New hires get up to speed faster because all the information they need is documented and easy to find.
• Reduced Communication Overhead: Async work thrives on clarity, and Clearfire’s documentation ensures fewer meetings and quicker resolutions.
• Enhanced Project Outcomes: With every detail documented, team members can focus on execution without wasting time tracking down information.

How You Can Apply This

Take a page from Clearfire’s playbook by revisiting your Notion setup. Ask yourself:

• Are your processes documented in such a way that a new team member can follow them without asking questions?
• Do you have dedicated spaces for each aspect of your work (e.g., projects, departments, goals)?
• Are you using Notion’s features—like linked databases and templates—to simplify recurring tasks?

Clearfire’s approach proves that documentation doesn’t have to be boring or time-consuming. With a little effort upfront, your team can turn Notion into a strategic asset that supports your async team.

4. Miro: If you do a lot of your work in Miro and notice that team members often need additional context after looking at your board (which causes you to schedule separate meetings to walk them through it), Miro has a feature that solves this. Fujitsu used it to improve async work and host better meetings when necessary.

Distributed teams often face challenges in conducting effective all-hands meetings asynchronously, such as scheduling conflicts across time zones and the lack of real-time interaction. Miro's Talktrack feature was a solution to this, enabling teams to create interactive audio or video walkthroughs directly within Miro boards.

Problem: Inefficient Asynchronous All-Hands Meeting

Fujitsu’s distributed teams struggled with meeting overload and poor knowledge transfer. Written updates didn’t capture tone or context, and live meetings were hard to schedule across global time zones. The result was missed information, repeated explanations, and wasted time

Solution: Implementing Miro's Talktrack

To fix this, Fujitsu used Talktrack, a Miro feature that lets you record audio or video walkthroughs directly inside boards. Instead of hosting long synchronous meetings, they recorded short, focused walkthroughs explaining updates, diagrams, or planning boards.

Teammates could then watch and comment asynchronously, with full context like voice, visuals, and annotations when they can..

Results: Clearer Communication

Talktrack helped Fujitsu communicate more efficiently. The number of meetings reduced as they could easily share information asynchronously with the necessary context. This saved time and enhanced team dynamics as it ensured that messages were conveyed with the appropriate tone and nuance.

Takeaway

Incorporating tools like Miro's Talktrack can transform asynchronous all-hands meetings by embedding interactive, context-rich recordings directly into collaborative spaces. This method addresses common challenges in distributed teams, such as time zone differences and the impersonal nature of text communication.

How to Apply This in Your Team

• Identify Key Meeting Content: Determine which parts of your all-hands meetings can be pre-recorded using Talktrack. This might include project updates, announcements, or detailed explanations that benefit from visual aids.
• Create Engaging Talktracks: Record your walkthroughs directly within the relevant Miro boards, ensuring they convey the necessary context and nuances. Encourage team leaders to use this feature to share their insights and updates.
• Facilitate Interactive Engagement: Share the Talktrack recordings with your team before the meeting. Encourage team members to interact with the board by adding comments, questions, or feedback directly within the Talktrack.
• Streamline Live Meetings: Use the live meeting time to address any questions or discussions that arose from the Talktrack, focusing on decision-making and collaborative problem-solving rather than information dissemination.

Conclusion

Async work tools are essential for distributed teams. With these tools, distributed teams can reduce meeting bloat while communicating clearly and collaborating efficiently.

If your team is looking for a platform that centralizes all tasks communications, docs and artefact, so anyone can easily find what they need and get up to speed without requiring a meeting, consider Quely. 

In addition, it gives you capabilities to move sprint planning and capacity planning, even standups and retrospectives, async, helping agile teams collaborate asynchronously without losing alignment or context.

Take our interactive product tour to see how Quely helps distributed teams plan, discuss, and deliver work without another meeting.

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