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Ask YC: How to conduct a meeting?

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Re: Ask YC: How to conduct a meeting?

#11

Post by DenisM »

spencerfry wrote: post #8
DenisM wrote: post #4

Short answer: don't have meetings. Long answer: work in the same room together for a few hours a week (10-20). This way as questions come up they will get resolved in context. Announcements, presentations and other broadcast-type things can be made at coffee break. Start having meetings after this model stops scaling.

I disagree with your short answer. Our 3 person company has a weekly meeting every Friday from 1 minute to anywhere to 30 minutes depending on if anything needs to be discussed in more detail. It's a very good idea to get together once a week outside of just working together to go over the week's happenings even if it's only for a few minutes. It serves to seal the deal of the week and get everyone completely caught…

I'm not saying this lightly, I was dead set agains it before I became 100% for it. It boils down to one thing:

It's a lot easier to stay focused when the other guy is focused.

Re: Ask YC: How to conduct a meeting?

#12

Post by spencerfry »

DenisM wrote: post #11
spencerfry wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree with your short answer. Our 3 person company has a weekly meeting every Friday from 1 minute to anywhere to 30 minutes depending on if anything needs to be discussed in more detail. It's a very good idea to get together once a week outside of just working together to go over the week's happenings even if it's only for a few minutes. It serves to seal the deal of the week and get everyone completely caught…

I'm not saying this lightly, I was dead set agains it before I became 100% for it. It boils down to one thing: It's a lot easier to stay focused when the other guy is focused.

Who's saying anything about focus? That's not the topic here. You're saying meetings (no matter how short or how on topic) are useless. That's really far from the truth. Any organization, no matter how small, needs to get together and re-hash what's going on within the company. You can't just expect to work telepathically.

Re: Ask YC: How to conduct a meeting?

#13

Post by DenisM »

Stabback wrote: post #6
DenisM wrote: post #4

Short answer: don't have meetings. Long answer: work in the same room together for a few hours a week (10-20). This way as questions come up they will get resolved in context. Announcements, presentations and other broadcast-type things can be made at coffee break. Start having meetings after this model stops scaling.

Unfortunately this is not an option. One of our team is working on the west coast, the other three are east coast. We currently do not have an office - we are a home based organization (we are coding and running around contacting potential clients/investors). We are having weekly meetings to get everyone back on the same page as the work is largely independent at this point.

We use skype when apart - both video and audio. Good camera, mike and speaker help. We'd just sit and code with a little window showing the other guy, when something comes up we would talk it over and then code again. Don't knock it till you try it!

Re: Ask YC: How to conduct a meeting?

#14

Post by DenisM »

spencerfry wrote: post #12
DenisM wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not saying this lightly, I was dead set agains it before I became 100% for it. It boils down to one thing: It's a lot easier to stay focused when the other guy is focused.

Who's saying anything about focus? That's not the topic here. You're saying meetings (no matter how short or how on topic) are useless. That's really far from the truth. Any organization, no matter how small, needs to get together and re-hash what's going on within the company. You can't just expect to work telepathically.

If you work in the same room you will stay up to date with your mates. When I checkin stuff, everyone in the room knows about it. And when I start cursing they know what's going, too.

I agree my "focus" comment was a bit offtopic. Got carried away there. :)

EDIT: and I did not say meetings are useless, please don't put words in my mouth. I said don't have them because there are better ways to stay in sync. Meetings can be useful, just not as efficient.

Re: Ask YC: How to conduct a meeting?

#16

Post by spencerfry »

DenisM wrote: post #14
spencerfry wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who's saying anything about focus? That's not the topic here. You're saying meetings (no matter how short or how on topic) are useless. That's really far from the truth. Any organization, no matter how small, needs to get together and re-hash what's going on within the company. You can't just expect to work telepathically.

If you work in the same room you will stay up to date with your mates. When I checkin stuff, everyone in the room knows about it. And when I start cursing they know what's going, too. I agree my "focus" comment was a bit offtopic. Got carried away there. :) EDIT: and I did not say meetings are useless, please don't put words in my mouth. I said don't have them because there are better ways to stay in sync. Meetings c…

2 of us work out of the same office; the other works in a different state. (We do all get together every few months, though.) However, at least for us, we've found that it's better to separate ourselves inside the office for complete concentration. If someone needs to communicate with the other person, instead of yelling over to them, we send a message on Campfire and wait for the person to respond.

Anyway, this is all getting a bit off topic as far as meetings are concerned. I really think you need to do what is best for you and sometimes that's having weekly meetings, sometimes that's having monthly meetings, and sometimes that's having no meetings. However, I really advocate the weekly meetings, because it's very important to make sure everyone is on the same page. And not to sound corporate or anything, but you need to make sure your goals are aligned.

Re: Ask YC: How to conduct a meeting?

#17

Post by visitor4rmindia »

When you have a team size of only 4 people, I really feel you should target continuous communication. A weekly meeting just encourages each individual to "go dark". I'd suggest a daily 'stand-up' meeting.

I've used this format when forming new teams and the 10 minutes the meeting typically takes is more than paid for by the increased communication. Plus it helps motivation - everyone can share daily progress and trouble spots.

The key to this working correctly is you've gotta drive it. There is a general agenda (share progress and discuss issues) but no minutes or note taking. This means you've got to keep track of everything in your head (the big picture). Then you get to decide - "Hey this is taking too long" or "We need in-depth discussion of this" or "X isn't communicating/contributing enough" etc etc...

Re: Ask YC: How to conduct a meeting?

#18

Post by chrisbroadfoot »

jlouis wrote: post #7

Meetings should have an agenda. By mail. 5 days in advance. That will kill "impulse meetings". First point on the agenda: "Is this meeting necessary?". Every time. With luck, it can be adjourned in less than 5 minutes. If not, you have something to discuss. Meetings have a secretary who writes down decisions. The referendum is available as quickly as possible. The same day or the next. Meetings have a speaker who con…

Mail is horrible. As I just commented, I much prefer the pattern of using a wiki to organise a meeting agenda.

That way, everyone can contribute to the meeting's purpose (beforehand, obviously)

Re: Ask YC: How to conduct a meeting?

#19

Post by chrisbroadfoot »

Mystalic wrote: post #2

Take note from the Paypal model when they first started out - have as few meetings as possible, hit only the key points, and again, don't have unnecessary meetings. Just cover what needs to be covered and allow people to get to their work. Fast paced. And have people stand if possible, not sit. And no laptops or cell phones in the room. They'll pay attention in both instances.

Where I work, we have a stand-up meeting every day. It only takes 10 minutes and everyone is on the same page.

Fortnightly, we have longer, sit-down meetings, generally for planning.

I think it works well, although the sit-down meetings sometimes draw out too much discussion, I think this should be avoided to keep the meeting on point and not to bore/waste people's time

Re: Ask YC: How to conduct a meeting?

#20

Post by randy »

There's no one 'proper' way to conduct meetings, it depends on your team and situation. You'd probably be good to ask your (conveniently small) team about the issue, they'll be able to give you a better answer than any HN user.

That being said, 37signals "Getting Real" has a chapter on meetings (http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch07_Meetings_Are_Toxic.php) that is probably worth reading (though most of the points have already been made in comments here), as is the rest of the book.

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