I'm curious about what everyone considers to be a high frequency of meetings. Two 1-hour team meetings per week, along with a daily 15-minute stand-up meeting. Do you think this frequency is high?
How to keep engineers out of meeting hell
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Re: How to keep engineers out of meeting hell
#22Re: How to keep engineers out of meeting hell
#23I actively fight against meeting hell. If I get a meeting request without a specific agenda (I don't split hairs with the definition of "agenda" or "outcome" like the article though), I ask for one and don't accept it otherwise. If the agenda makes it clear that this can be answered via email, I answer it and decline. If I'm in a meeting that seemed reasonable for me to attend, but I'm not adding/receiving value, or…
We are 100% on the same page. All of these send a message and are professional
Re: How to keep engineers out of meeting hell
#24There are some who believe that meetings are work. If those people are in charge of an organization, there will be tension with people who have real tasks and deliverables.
My preferred approach is not to modify the meetings to make them more efficient, but to go on an extremist crusade against all meetings. Insist on asynchronous communication. Create dashboards with whatever metrics are discussed at status update meetings. Have people write memos explaining new proposals. Some meetings will survive the crusade, and that’s ok. All meetings aren’t actually bad, but that should be the default.
Re: How to keep engineers out of meeting hell
#25There are some who believe that meetings are work. If those people are in charge of an organization, there will be tension with people who have real tasks and deliverables. My preferred approach is not to modify the meetings to make them more efficient, but to go on an extremist crusade against all meetings. Insist on asynchronous communication. Create dashboards with whatever metrics are discussed at status update m…
There are some who believe that meetings never accomplish anything. If those people are in positions of power in an organization, there will be tension with people who use meetings effectively to coordinate, communicate and drive decision making with all stakeholders present.
Re: How to keep engineers out of meeting hell
#26You know how you do this? You keep the org not as flat as possible, but flatter. People find one another dynamically to share understanding. Would be middle managers join your competitors, to your org's competitive advantage.
Disclaimer: I am relaying what i learned working years in Apple engineering (as above) and Motorola Labs (above) versus ridiculous Amazon etc.
Re: How to keep engineers out of meeting hell
#27As a lead I used to tick a few people off by occasionally declining meetings. The result is that I developed a mystique, and when I needed to get peoples' attention, I could get it. As an engineer it's important to feel comfortable occasionally declining BS meetings: it reflects more poorly on the person who can't get people to come to their meetings than on you. (Even though people might appear mad at you.) It's als…
i'll add that there you can avoid making people mad at you by communicating why you’re cancelling. you don't need to be mean, just explain that your contribution wont be valuable and the task your working on has higher priority etc.
Re: How to keep engineers out of meeting hell
#28Meetings are the only way to grow your career unfortunately. Nobody really cares how shiny your code is.
Re: How to keep engineers out of meeting hell
#29I'm curious about what everyone considers to be a high frequency of meetings. Two 1-hour team meetings per week, along with a daily 15-minute stand-up meeting. Do you think this frequency is high?
If everyone is meeting daily, why would you also need to meet twice a week?
That seems insane to me.
Re: How to keep engineers out of meeting hell
#30> Meetings are interruptions that cause context switches This. I find it very difficult to get into a "flow state". Simple meetings such a a standup are highly interruptive for me, especially when time zones push "morning" meetings mid day.
And someone in a "flow state", headed in the wrong direction, is even more wasted time than a meeting to coordinate efforts in the right direction.