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AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

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Re: AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

#12
post #7
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no agenda, no attenda I've been using this mentality for the last three years. Some responds with hostility and some see the benefits, but most are just indifferent to it sadly. I've also been observing people just throw in a short sentence or some AI generated shit list which is then not followed during the meeting. But those who take this seriously usually have pretty darn good meetings (e.g not book the full hou…

What do you do if you skip such a meeting and a decision you don't like but that you can't weigh in on anymore is taken there?

Lol I've seen this happen, people feeling they're too important to attend meetings and then complaining when something happens in them.

Skipping meetings because they aren't organized the way you like is pretty passive aggressive. I agree with all the criticism about poorly organized meetings, but I think the non prima Donna thing to do is push back on their existence or format, not just skip them. That's part of why a job is a job.

Re: AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

#13
post #7
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no agenda, no attenda I've been using this mentality for the last three years. Some responds with hostility and some see the benefits, but most are just indifferent to it sadly. I've also been observing people just throw in a short sentence or some AI generated shit list which is then not followed during the meeting. But those who take this seriously usually have pretty darn good meetings (e.g not book the full hou…

What do you do if you skip such a meeting and a decision you don't like but that you can't weigh in on anymore is taken there?

If it's essential that I attend for such a meeting, the organizer usually reach out.

If not. Then I'll have to either live with the decision or at least give feedback on it.

Nothing is final until you build it (from a developer point of view).

Re: AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

#14
post #12
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you do if you skip such a meeting and a decision you don't like but that you can't weigh in on anymore is taken there?

Lol I've seen this happen, people feeling they're too important to attend meetings and then complaining when something happens in them. Skipping meetings because they aren't organized the way you like is pretty passive aggressive. I agree with all the criticism about poorly organized meetings, but I think the non prima Donna thing to do is push back on their existence or format, not just skip them. That's part of why…

It's not about being a prima Donna. It's about business value. Too many meetings over the years should either be better planned, not taken place at all or could have been an email/chat message.

Business value first

Re: AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

#15

I feel this is a symptom of poor meetings, where they are used for information exchange (which I think should come before the meeting) instead of collaboration and problem solving. You could save your time and a bunch of AI-generated notes you'll never read with the simple rule of "no agenda, no attenda". Remote has allowed us to adopt meeting policies that would never exist in-person: giant, long, back-to-back sessi…

> opportunity to pee

Social pressure is still a thing for some unfortunately. Or maybe memories from school creep in. Just go for a pee.

Re: AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

#16
post #4

I bet there are a bunch of people in upper management who hear about this phenomenon and think that employees are skipping meetings to slack off (appearing to do work but they're actually playing Mario Kart). In reality, it's more likely that they're being judged on their attendance of BS meetings, but if they attend the BS meetings, they won't be able to make the BS deadlines they're responsible for hitting. So they…

Having had been on both sides of this coin, I agree a lot of managers mis-manage meetings.

But then there's those engineers who don't show up to meetings and then a month later come to you with a

"I don't know how we're deciding on some of these critical product features"

and I don't know how to tell them its because they skipped some meetings where they could've been part of that discussion.

Re: AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

#17
post #4

I bet there are a bunch of people in upper management who hear about this phenomenon and think that employees are skipping meetings to slack off (appearing to do work but they're actually playing Mario Kart). In reality, it's more likely that they're being judged on their attendance of BS meetings, but if they attend the BS meetings, they won't be able to make the BS deadlines they're responsible for hitting. So they…

These are the same executives/managers who lost their minds at the idea of butts not being in the physical seats at the office, so yeah.

Re: AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

#19
post #4

I bet there are a bunch of people in upper management who hear about this phenomenon and think that employees are skipping meetings to slack off (appearing to do work but they're actually playing Mario Kart). In reality, it's more likely that they're being judged on their attendance of BS meetings, but if they attend the BS meetings, they won't be able to make the BS deadlines they're responsible for hitting. So they…

> it's more likely that they're being judged on their attendance of BS meetings

Some middle manager types in my company track emoji reactions to their messages in slack. I got written up for it, no joke. That was easy to automate though.

Re: AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

#20

I feel this is a symptom of poor meetings, where they are used for information exchange (which I think should come before the meeting) instead of collaboration and problem solving. You could save your time and a bunch of AI-generated notes you'll never read with the simple rule of "no agenda, no attenda". Remote has allowed us to adopt meeting policies that would never exist in-person: giant, long, back-to-back sessi…

>Remote has allowed us to adopt meeting policies that would never exist in-person: giant, long, back-to-back sessions with no purpose, plan or opportunity to pee.

Oh, if only that had been true, but pointless, aimless meetings have been a plague forever. Maybe less so the no-peeing.

But "no agenda, no attenda" only works if you're in a position to refuse. Often attending meetings is seen as part of the job, either formally or in the managers' eyes, so ignoring them without good reason isn't allowed without repercussions.

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