It’s now gone.
I suspect The Times pulled it, after it got hugged to death.
How to Attend Meetings
161–170 of 193 posts
Re: How to Attend Meetings
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There wasn't a SINGLE ONE that would tolerate someone declining EVERY MEETING when the culture does not align to the ideals this presentation outlines. Exactly. Love the deck. Like you, agree with many things. My similar suggestions (but a little looser): 1. Long meetings need agendas. But don't expect perfection. You can get away with no agenda in a short (30 or less) meeting. 2. Very large meetings need a DRIVER…
> I hate a big meeting when someone says something like "so who wants to bring something up" - no no no. This makes the meeting end really quick when nobody has anything to discuss right? For some people the only way you are ever going to get them to bring something up is by asking in a meeting.
the slowest talking person always brings up the dumbest thing that for some reason half the room suddenly cares deeply about
Re: How to Attend Meetings
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Especially, "Attending meetings is a choice." Just like paying taxes is a choice; I am pretty aggressive about declining meetings and protecting my time. And I still agree to what you say. No matter how you structure meetings, there’s always a chance that items unrelated to the agenda are discussed, decisions are made when they’re not supposed to be made, incorrect information is conveyed or misunderstandings are n…
Let me tell you what visibility looks like: - regular reports sent to all stakeholders with relevant detail - videos that demonstrate important features that folks can watch on their own time - scheduling small, focused meetings with the most important stakeholders so they can actually get what they need It doesn’t look like going to meetings and never talking, or worse, going to meetings and blathering on so someone…
Depends on who is evaluating that. Not disagreeing what you mentioned helps, just that it doesn’t work everywhere.
Re: How to Attend Meetings
#164Where did this come from? Source? Date (2024?) Brian doesn't work at NYT anymore I don't think
The title card is cached by reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/hackernews/comments/1pbr587/how_to_...
How to Attend Meetings
Brian Peterson
Product @ The New York Times
Re: How to Attend Meetings
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
> And then you risk people making stupid decisions, which you have to fix later on, because you didn't attend the meeting. If you are the one responsible for the work to fix something, you need to be the one driving the meetings or pushing alternative communication. This is why all of the generic “just say no to meetings” advice is useless: It’s all dependent on the context. You can’t just decline meetings from your…
I’d amend that to “A lot of … advice … is just people … doing imaginary role play.” A lot of bad advice out there, being delivered with confidence.
Bad advice, bad information, absolutely.
I’m not sure if this is more bad advice, but it seems like we’d all be better off if people just shared their experiences, rather than trying to proscribe them for others: you telling me to decline meetings is worthless, but you describing how you did, and what the effects were has value.
Re: How to Attend Meetings
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I also know that in each and every company I have ever worked for, none of this is going to fly. My favourite part of climbing the corporate ladder is finally having enough clout to just say "no". > I have been asking for agendas; I have asked for clarification on what to do to prepare; I have even suggested Try "I am unable to attend meeting without an agenda. Let me know when one has been posted." in your decline…
I assume this works nice to get you out of any meeting they didn't want you to attend, but couldn't just remove you from. If they plan to move resources out of your team but need highers approval, having a meeting that you refused to attend sounds like a good first step. You might be there on the next one, but the terrain is already prepared. And as it's a sensitive subject, a vague agenda would also be natural enoug…
"Go to every meeting that has a vague agenda just in case it's the one where they talk about their plan to downsize your team" is not a good strategy. (And probably by the time it's come to a meeting that you're invited to there's already nothing you can do)
Re: How to Attend Meetings
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
> And then you risk people making stupid decisions, which you have to fix later on, because you didn't attend the meeting. Unless your head is on the line, why do you care?
As a manager or even a technical leader, your head IS on the line, it just might not seem so obvious. Rollout delays, customer debacles, etc all shape your image to promo panels. If you’re just a junior engineer, it’s not like it will be held against you, but you certainly missed an opportunity to demonstrate ownership and make a name for yourself as one of the 1 in 20 people who aren’t NPCs.
> but you certainly missed an opportunity to demonstrate ownership and make a name for yourself as one of the 1 in 20 people who aren’t NPCs
Depends on a company where you work. At our org you’ll get nothing out of it but headache, salary doesn’t change either way.
Re: How to Attend Meetings
#168I consider it a key part of my job to reject as many stupid meetings as I can. I accept meetings that have actual potential to change the status quo and bring progress. I choose between conflicts based on that too.
Re: How to Attend Meetings
#169No file !
Re: How to Attend Meetings
#170No visible file !