31–40 of 74 posts
Many meetings are used to simply coordinate activity. This can easily be done through asynchronous communication using email or instant messaging.
Some tips I've been learning: - Be ruthless about when you need to have a meeting. Its generally only if you need three or more decision-makers to come to a consensus on a strategy to solve some problem. - Be ruthless about who you invite; it's usually only people who have something explicitly to contribute or who you know wish to be included. - One person leading/driving the discussion, making sure to keep things on…
This basically touches all the points that I came here to write, except I want to add: - Check-in: Give each attendee 10-30s to just say how they're feeling, either in general or about the topic. This can do a lot to make individuals more likely to engage in the meeting, but also to help you assess the mindset of those attending and anticipate issues. - Framing: Beyond having a defined agenda and goal, it is also imp…
For some, the meetings are a way to avoid loneliness. I have sympathy for that, but no tolerance. Every wasted minute is one I have to make up at the end of the day. My tip: Don't even start the meeting unless you know the criteria for ending it. Most people just run out the clock or try and use the time for something else -- deny them this.
Some tips I've been learning: - Be ruthless about when you need to have a meeting. Its generally only if you need three or more decision-makers to come to a consensus on a strategy to solve some problem. - Be ruthless about who you invite; it's usually only people who have something explicitly to contribute or who you know wish to be included. - One person leading/driving the discussion, making sure to keep things on…
I think one thing that is missing in the Slack/no meeting discussions is that you can resolve things just as poorly (or worse!) via email/Slack/Teams. Effective communication is really really hard and requires significant effort.
>How do you handle meeting feedback for meetings by others to make sure it is not just a random meeting with talking, no agenda, no clear outcomes and mainly information sharing? Easy. (Or at least easier said than done.) Only initiate/attend a meeting if one or more of these things are clearly defined before the meeting even takes place. It can be helpful to approach it like you would a ticket or a to-do at work: id…
The simplest solution is to make all meetings optional. Then people will stop going to meetings that are not useful to them. You will be forced to find better solutions to the problems your meetings were solving sub-optimally. Many meetings are used to simply coordinate activity. This can easily be done through asynchronous communication using email or instant messaging.
Usually there's a reason, but often it's just cause a question might come up that I can answer or similar. In those cases I'll let them know they can poke me if they really need me and then I'll join for whatever they need.
Thankfully my boss has understood that the less he's in our way the more we get done, so this works well.
Conversely, being “meeting first” demands everyone’s attention. Even for small scale projects I’d rather hop on a 5 minute call then get into it over slack.
Why are meetings better than records based (written, podcast, videos, whatever) asynchronous (remote friendly) discourse processes? I've never been in a meeting that I consider productive. I've never been in a meeting that, in my opinion, couldn't have been done better with at least 90% of the time spent in the meeting completed by reviewing materials before the meeting and then signing off on them. Even that 10% cou…
0.) Prevent meetings whenever possible
0.) Don't do meetings longer than 2 hours, better 1 hour
0.) Invite only people, that have to be there
1.) Set a topic and max. 3 goals per hour BEFORE inviting
2.) Prepare yourself BEFORE the meeting
3.) Repeat the goals visually at the beginning (on a board)
4.) Focus on the goals
5.) At halftime, revalidate the achieved goals
6.) Take the last 5-10 minutes to verify, the goals have been achieved
7.) Don't exceed the time limit (not even 5 minutes)
8.) If you finish earlier, leave the room earlier! (Don't talk about something else, because you are all there)
9.) Write an email with a SHORT summary to everyone, who may care