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I manage teams without a single call

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Re: I manage teams without a single call

#91

Post by skirmish »

SoftTalker wrote: post #24
john_strinlai wrote: post #14

> In the end, a 10-minute call can cost me several hours of focus. And I might spend the entire day thinking about it. does anyone else have their entire day sidelined by a 10-minute call? is that common? to me, it hints at something else, but i am not sure if i am the odd one out or not.

Yes. I worked in an agile shop some years ago. We did daily stand-ups at 10:00. So, you arrive in the morning, and can't really get deeply into anything because stand-up is coming up. Then stand-up ends and you maybe have a sidebar conversation at the coffee machine, you get back to your desk and now lunch is coming up, so you look for some stuff you can do quickly, maybe read your email, check HN, whatever. After lu…

If the company does not want you to work, just coast and enjoy. I feel zero guilt when I slack in an overcrowded noisy open plan office too.

Re: I manage teams without a single call

#92

Post by skirmish »

boredemployee wrote: post #2

The top one reason I want to retire so bad is because of useless meetings and calls. I had a boss for 6 months that would call me randomly during the day "just to check how things are going", I mean wtf. But as I age, I see that there are people out there that NEED to talk and to speak to other people. And of course, you have those doing micromanagement.

> just to check how things are going

If you work remotely, a certain fraction of managers always carry a suspicion: he is probably slacking off right now, maybe napping; let me call and check.

Re: I manage teams without a single call

#93

Post by skirmish »

jovial_cavalier wrote: post #10

The problem is literacy. Even if you can read and write, that does not mean you can reduce a complicated idea into text. It also doesn't mean you can decode ambiguously worded and poorly structured writing. A meeting is often needed; not because the relevant people can't be bothered to write their thoughts down, but because they literally are not capable of doing it. I've seen many grotesque misunderstandings go thro…

OTOH, there are people who just don't retain information from hearing it. In college, it was useless for me to attend lectures without taking notes, I would immediately forget most of them. Now taking detailed notes and reviewing them at the end of the day, that was my superpower.

Re: I manage teams without a single call

#94

Post by robocat »

yolo3000 wrote: post #83
robocat wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Expecting everybody else to be like you is the issue. > why would I need someone to tell me This isn't about you. It is about working with others that are not exactly like you. > Maybe if you don't know what you're doing . . . Making up insulting reasons doesn't help either.

So you think most engineers are not capable to work in a group, without supervision? Who's insulting? "If you don't know what you're doing" = "You're out of depth and you need someone to guide you through"

> So you think most engineers are not capable to work in a group, without supervision?

You're doing exactly the same mistake again that I was bringing to your attention.

I think nothing close to your assumptions about others or myself.

Re: I manage teams without a single call

#95

Post by srdjanr »

Insimwytim wrote: post #76
xyzzyz wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very easy today to transcribe and summarize every call that you have.

If you don't care about privacy, consent and other ethical implications.

Why? You can (and should) ask for consent, and you already need to trust your app (assuming Teams etc) for calls/messages. You can also run transcription models locally

Re: I manage teams without a single call

#96

Post by sersi »

eterm wrote: post #66
CharlesW wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the "10-minute call becomes the event my whole day starts to revolve around" is very ADHD and/or autism coded (I'm non-neurotyopical and also mountain this molehill), and there's a lot of rationalization about this in the article. Being a manager means accommodating neurotypical people, too. I agree that the author should think hard about whether management is the best place for them.

I can relate to being distracted for a time before a meeting and unable to focus on something else in preparation for it, but these lines stuck out in a way I can't relate: > unpleasant if I end up not liking the person > Their tone, manner of speaking, their emotions. That can ruin my whole day. Why should this person demand that they like or are liked by everyone, and why should it ruin their day to keep things pro…

I don't see those lines in the article text anymore. Wonder if the author edited them out..

Re: I manage teams without a single call

#97

Post by yolo3000 »

robocat wrote: post #94
yolo3000 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you think most engineers are not capable to work in a group, without supervision? Who's insulting? "If you don't know what you're doing" = "You're out of depth and you need someone to guide you through"

> So you think most engineers are not capable to work in a group, without supervision? You're doing exactly the same mistake again that I was bringing to your attention. I think nothing close to your assumptions about others or myself.

Ok, keep it a mystery then.

Re: I manage teams without a single call

#98

Post by matbanik »

john_strinlai wrote: post #14

> In the end, a 10-minute call can cost me several hours of focus. And I might spend the entire day thinking about it. does anyone else have their entire day sidelined by a 10-minute call? is that common? to me, it hints at something else, but i am not sure if i am the odd one out or not.

[flagged]

Re: I manage teams without a single call

#99

Post by theshrike79 »

dd8601fn wrote: post #85
HyperL0gi wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate video calls, but sometimes is so much easier (and really faster) to align with someone over a complicated issue. feels almost counter intuitive but the more complicated the matter the easier to align over voice / video than text in my view

I have almost never needed video but certainly a voice conversation is much, much faster for two or three people to work something out. Four+ people and someone is either being held hostage to others and/or just tuning out. The more participants, the more of this that’s happening. And that translates pretty directly to lost time, money, and focus. I don’t think Teams supports it, but it would be interesting to see st…

Video meeting invites shouldn't even include people who are there just for FYI stuff and aren't expected to give their opinion.

They can just read the AI transcript of the meeting - or the minutes if someone writes them.

Re: I manage teams without a single call

#100

Post by theshrike79 »

john_strinlai wrote: post #14

> In the end, a 10-minute call can cost me several hours of focus. And I might spend the entire day thinking about it. does anyone else have their entire day sidelined by a 10-minute call? is that common? to me, it hints at something else, but i am not sure if i am the odd one out or not.

Yes. The call or meeting is an inflexible event.

Should I start working on something that requires a lot of active context memory at 9? What if I'm deep in it and then the calendar goes ding for the meeting and I need to get in the call mid-thought?

Can you just stop working on stuff, have a meeting, and pick up exactly where you left off with nothing lost?

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