Async Priority Codes for Small Teams
Tag every Slack message with a response-window code so nobody has to monitor the channel.
- Difficulty
- Starter
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 82%
Laudi's small-team protocol for protecting focus time: every Slack message carries a code indicating when it needs to be processed — 'no rush', 'EOD', 'timely', or an alarm emoji for ASAP. Because the urgency is declared by the sender, recipients can batch-check Slack periodically instead of monitoring it. Paired with calendar time-blocking (a brain emoji to mark protected deep work) and a monthly or quarterly time-tracking review that recalibrates the blocks against how time was actually spent.
Origin
Georgiana Laudi's own working practice at Forget The Funnel with business partner Claire Suellentrop.
Core principles
- 01The sender declares urgency, so the receiver doesn't have to poll.
- 02Time blocking is only real if the blocks are defended from interruptions.
- 03Time tracking keeps you honest about where the time actually went, which is what makes the next round of blocks accurate.
How to run it
- 1
Agree on the code set
Define a small, fixed vocabulary: 'no rush', 'EOD' (end of day), 'timely', and an alarm emoji for deal-with-this-now. Every message gets one.
Pro tip Keep the set tiny — four levels is enough; more and people stop using it.
Watch out This only works if the whole team adopts it; a partial rollout means you still have to read everything.
- 2
Batch-process Slack against the codes
Drop into Slack periodically rather than continuously, and process messages according to their declared window.
- 3
Time-block the calendar in advance
Block protected work time ahead of time and mark it visibly (Laudi uses a brain emoji) so it reads as safeguarded, not as free space.
- 4
Review time tracking monthly or quarterly and recalibrate
Once a month or quarter, review actual tracked time against intent, then adjust the next period's time blocks to make up for the shortcomings you find.
Pro tip The review is what turns time-blocking from a wish into a system — it closes the loop between intended and actual time.
In the wild
As a small team, Laudi and Suellentrop agreed to code every Slack message with its processing window so they'd know when to mentally engage with it, and to reserve the alarm emoji for genuine ASAP items.
→ They can drop into Slack periodically rather than monitor it, protecting each other's focus time.
Common mistakes
Treating every message as equally urgent
Without a declared window, the recipient has to open and read everything to find out whether it matters — which destroys the value of asynchronous communication.
Blocking time without tracking it
Time blocks drift. Without a periodic honest look at where the time actually went, the calendar becomes decoration rather than a plan.
Is it for you?
Best for
Small remote teams and founders on Slack who need to defend deep work without going offline.
Not ideal for
Large orgs or genuinely incident-driven work (on-call, support) where real-time responsiveness is the job.
From the transcript
“time not time and stamp but we put like a little code in all of our messages that's like either like you don't have to…”
“definitely carving up time like time blocking I do a lot of time blocking like our in advance with like a little brain Emoji like…”
From the episode
Customer-led growth
Georgiana Laudi (Forget The Funnel)