Remote and async teams face a fundamental challenge with their communication tools. The problem isn’t technical—it’s conceptual. Most tools we rely on today are built for the wrong type of work.
The core problem: operational vs. project work
Understanding team communication requires distinguishing between two fundamentally different types of work:
Reactive work is reactive by nature. It involves putting out fires, handling emergencies, and making quick decisions. This work is about addressing immediate needs and responding to urgent situations as they arise.
Project work is deliberate and planned. It involves focused effort over time, building toward specific milestones through structured cycles. This work is about sustained progress toward defined goals.
The distinction matters because each type of work requires different communication patterns and tools.
Why current tools fall short
Nearly every popular communication tool today (Slack, Microsoft Teams, and similar platforms) is designed for reactive work. They’re built to make you care about the most recent important thing, which works perfectly when the kitchen is flooding or a server is down. Everyone needs to know immediately.
However, this design philosophy creates significant problems for project work, which is what most teams actually spend their time doing.
The urgency problem
When you’re in Slack, everything feels urgent. A random debate in the general channel receives the same visual priority as critical feedback on your project. The tool doesn’t distinguish between what matters to you individually and what matters to everyone on the team.
This creates a false sense of urgency around conversations that may not require immediate attention, while potentially burying truly important project discussions.
The cascade of problems
This mismatch between tool design and work type creates several interconnected issues:
Tool Fragmentation: Teams end up stitching together complicated processes across multiple applications: Slack for chat, Notion for documentation, Asana for task management, Linear for issue tracking. The process becomes so complex that managing the tools becomes its own job.
Lost Context: Important conversations get buried and become nearly impossible to find later. Try locating a key decision from three months ago in a Slack thread—it’s an exercise in frustration.
Constant Context Switching: Team members bounce between tools trying to piece together the complete picture of what’s happening with their projects, leading to fragmented attention and reduced productivity.
A different approach
What if we built communication tools specifically for project work instead of retrofitting operational tools for project needs? A good tool should be designed for the problem at hand.
What would that look like?
Organise and track conversations: Project discussions need to be referenced days, weeks, and months later. Ideas should link together and build upon each other, creating a coherent narrative of project evolution.
Support project milestones: Projects move through defined stages where decisions must be made, feedback must be gathered, and someone needs to make the final call. The tool should facilitate this progression.
Accommodate work cycles: Teams need accountability systems that track who did what, what’s blocking progress, and what actually shipped. This requires understanding natural work rhythms rather than constant-availability assumptions.
Looking forward
Most of a team’s value isn’t created by reacting to fires—it’s built through deliberate, focused work that moves the company forward. This kind of work is highly valuable. It deserves more respect from our tools.
Rather than trying to replace emergency communication channels, the solution is giving project work the dedicated space it deserves. This means tools that understand the difference between urgent operational needs and important project progress.
For teams tired of losing important conversations in the noise of operational tools, or juggling multiple applications just to keep a project on track, purpose-built project communication tools offer a path forward.
The future of team communication isn’t about better operational tools—it’s about recognising that different types of work require fundamentally different approaches to collaboration.
We’re building Cushion specifically for teams that need better project communication. If you’re interested in trying a tool designed around project work rather than operational emergencies, we’d love to have you try it out.