Ask HN: How much of your time is spent in meetings?

#1

Post by topshelf » Fri, Sep 02, 2016, 6:10 PM UTC

If you're a developer for a 'big corp' how much of your time (% or hrs) a week is spent in meetings?

At a new 'big corp' job, and the amount of meetings seems far larger than other employers. To the point of a meeting every other hour, killing productivity. Hoping to get a better understanding of what would be considered normal/average in large organizations.

Aside from an all employees gathering, the biggest meeting yet involved two entire teams (~15ppl not all developers) for a full hour of discussion. For comparison, I had to get approval to order a $40 laptop stand, and estimating the meeting to be worth about $600 of salary time called on a whim.

EDIT (to clarify what counts): Agile/scrum company, and we don't count first day of sprint (spring planning) or last day (sprint reviews).

Re: Ask HN: How much of your time is spent in meetings?

#2

Post by Sir_Cmpwn » Fri, Sep 02, 2016, 6:32 PM UTC

A meeting every other hour is definitely NOT normal. The most meetingsy places I've worked at had no more than a standup every day and longer meetings usually no more than once a week. You should try to bring some change about in the organization, or find a different place to work.

Re: Ask HN: How much of your time is spent in meetings?

#3

Post by imsofuture » Fri, Sep 02, 2016, 6:34 PM UTC

When I worked at a big corp, we talked about this issue at some point.

We started literally putting up a cost clock, that ticked off the running cost of a meeting. It was surprisingly convincing and motivating for everyone, even (especially?) our external customers who were previously happy to sit and chat for hours.

That said, there's a reason I don't work at a 'big corp' anymore :)

Re: Ask HN: How much of your time is spent in meetings?

#4

Post by _RPM » Fri, Sep 02, 2016, 6:38 PM UTC

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #2

A meeting every other hour is definitely NOT normal. The most meetingsy places I've worked at had no more than a standup every day and longer meetings usually no more than once a week. You should try to bring some change about in the organization, or find a different place to work.

My "manager" for my past summer 2016 internship had a meeting every hour or every other hour.

Re: Ask HN: How much of your time is spent in meetings?

#5

Post by edsiper2 » Fri, Sep 02, 2016, 6:39 PM UTC

- Treasure Data (current): 1.5 hours a week (100 ppl company)

- Oracle (past): 1.5 hours a week (a few thousands ppl)

Both cases my team and management avoided unnecessary meetings, the 1.5h is for two meetings: 1:1 and team meeting. It's not up to the company size, but instead how optimized your team wants to behave.

note: I am in a SW Engineer position. Not sure about Marketing, HR, Finance..etc.

Re: Ask HN: How much of your time is spent in meetings?

#6

Post by cairo140 » Fri, Sep 02, 2016, 6:42 PM UTC

I work at Google on the main website as an SWE (non-lead). I have about 1.5 to 3 hours of scheduled meetings a week.

Re: Ask HN: How much of your time is spent in meetings?

#7

Post by topshelf » Fri, Sep 02, 2016, 6:43 PM UTC

edsiper2 wrote: post #5

- Treasure Data (current): 1.5 hours a week (100 ppl company) - Oracle (past): 1.5 hours a week (a few thousands ppl) Both cases my team and management avoided unnecessary meetings, the 1.5h is for two meetings: 1:1 and team meeting. It's not up to the company size, but instead how optimized your team wants to behave. note: I am in a SW Engineer position. Not sure about Marketing, HR, Finance..etc.

Thanks, that's more on par from my past experiences.

We're full agile on the software side, so teams are mixed positions with at least one business-y person (~1000 ppl company).

Re: Ask HN: How much of your time is spent in meetings?

#8

Post by frostmatthew » Fri, Sep 02, 2016, 6:47 PM UTC

> To the point of a meeting every other hour

That seems excessive - are you sure that's typical across your company and not just unique to your team?

Anyway, to answer your question, at VMware I spend about about two hours a week in meetings. [N.B. I'm a fairly junior engineer, more senior ones typically spend more time in meetings]

Re: Ask HN: How much of your time is spent in meetings?

#9

Post by topshelf » Fri, Sep 02, 2016, 6:48 PM UTC

imsofuture wrote: post #3

When I worked at a big corp, we talked about this issue at some point. We started literally putting up a cost clock, that ticked off the running cost of a meeting. It was surprisingly convincing and motivating for everyone, even (especially?) our external customers who were previously happy to sit and chat for hours. That said, there's a reason I don't work at a 'big corp' anymore :)

We've discussed as a team too, cost clock sounds like an interesting idea.

So far, we've just started filing our calendar with bogus 'private meetings' so we can get stuff done. I can't see working for 'big corp' type companies forever, and I do like the experience so far -more learning about 'big corp' world.

Re: Ask HN: How much of your time is spent in meetings?

#10

Post by realbarack » Fri, Sep 02, 2016, 6:53 PM UTC

_RPM wrote: post #4

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #2

A meeting every other hour is definitely NOT normal. The most meetingsy places I've worked at had no more than a standup every day and longer meetings usually no more than once a week. You should try to bring some change about in the organization, or find a different place to work.

My "manager" for my past summer 2016 internship had a meeting every hour or every other hour.

Not unusual for managers to have that many meetings—but yeah, really bad for an engineer.