How Shopify replaced meetings with async video across 300 projects
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As VP Product, Glen Coates oversees a fully remote, global team who at any given time are working on around 300 projects—from infrastructure mechanics to game-changing new features for the millions of merchants who use Shopify as their e-commerce engine.
Glen applies the same high standard to every single initiative. But he couldn’t possibly give his full attention to every one if it required regular meetings with the product managers.
So instead, when a product manager needs to give Glen an update, or propose a new idea, they use Descript to make and share an async video.
- Content Type
- Video Message
- Team
- Product
When I get a video review, that person now has the floor to say their whole piece. And it forces me as the reviewer to listen to the whole story.
Glen CoatesVP Product
What is async video?
Async video is a short recorded video message shared over a link, watched and responded to on the viewer's own schedule instead of in a live meeting. The sender records once. The recipient watches when they have time, then replies in comments.
It fixes the thing status meetings are worst at: pulling five people onto a calendar to hear an update one person could have recorded in three minutes. With async video, the update gets made once and watched whenever, and nobody loses half an hour to a meeting that could have been a link.
In Descript, an async video starts as a webcam or screen recording, gets its audio cleaned up with Studio Sound, and gets trimmed by editing the transcript like a doc. Then it becomes a shareable link. Reviewers comment right on the transcript, the same way they would in a Google doc.
Could that meeting be a video? Probably.
You don’t need a bunch of recording setups or a team with video skills to replace meetings with asynchronous video. You just need Descript. Here’s how Shopify does it in four simple steps.
Record: Product Managers deliver updates and float ideas by talking into their webcams or laptop cameras; they can also incorporate screen recordings to supplement the narrative.
Edit: With Descript’s text-based editing, PMs can quickly edit out mistakes, tighten their narrative, even move segments around by cut-and-paste. It’s as fast and easy as editing a word doc or an email.
Pro tip: In video, audio matters. “When it’s hard to listen to someone, you don’t want to listen to them,” Glen says. But you don’t need pricey mics or soundproof rooms: Shopify PMs use Studio Sound to instantly clean and enhance their audio.
Share: When the 2-3 minute video is ready, the PM gets a shareable web link and sends it to Glen.
Respond: When Glen has time to give it his full attention, he’ll watch. Then he’ll add comments and ask questions in the transcript, just like in a Google doc.
Learning to tell tight, compelling stories
All product managers are, on some level, product marketers. But they rarely get to hone their messaging skills because they’re busy juggling so much technical and project work. Delivering regular async video updates forces them to learn to tell concise, compelling stories. And Descript handles all the technical parts of making video for them, so they can focus on the story they want to tell, and how best to tell it.
Click here to listen to Glen’s full conversation with Descript CEO Andrew.
