So, after my last entry detailing what this blog would cover, specifically failure, I was asked if I'd actually post something substantive. Well, this may be a loose interpretation of that request, but this is blog about failure. Specially, meeting failure.
At my current company, they like meetings. It varies by group/division, of course. Some really aren't that bad, others are horrendous. On the whole, though, the culture is so meeting-centric you'd think you'd walked into a company five times its size of 300 people.
Thankfully the people actually doing real work (devs and QA) are spared most of the worst of it, but anyone with 'manager' in his name (this includes me) seems to spend nearly his entire day in meetings. This begs the question of "When do these people do any actual work?"
Now, because many of us spend nearly our entire day in meetings, the etiquette we exhibit is pretty crappy. If you're in meetings all day and you do have some other work to do, it's likely you'll try to do it in one or another of your meetings. It also means as you run from meeting to the next, it's likely one here or there will run over and you'll be late to the next. Lastly, since people are so busy with meetings, it's often the case that people feel the only way they can get a bit of someone's time is to schedule a meeting, even when the more appropriate action would be to walk over to that person's desk for a five minute chat.
So, after having complained again and again, I decided to write up a little set of guidelines for meetings. Of course, this is the type of thing you find on many blogs. Neat, little tidy guidelines that promise to solve all your problems.
Well, the problem in the real world is that you write something like this and well, no one listens. The last group I was in was tolerable in its penchant for meetings. The group I've been with the last three months, not so much. Sure, I've complained. Many, many times. I've now written these guidelines, which I passed along to my Director. But so far, I haven't had any measurable effect. So what does this mean? How do I react to this "failure"?
Well, I do a couple things.
If I'm sitting in a room waiting for others to show up and no one is there within 10 minutes of the official meeting start, I go back to my desk and send an email to all attendees saying "I guess this meeting isn't happening. Please reschedule."
If I'm running a meeting, I invite the minimal number of people possible.
I always show up to meetings right on time, even if it means I'm usually waiting for 5 minutes. And I made somewhat pointed comments about others being late (probably just pisses people off, I'm sure).
When it's time for the meeting to end and people are still blathering on, I stand up from my seat. I don't always immediately leave, but sometimes I do.
So, basically, I'm at least raising awareness of some of these issues. You can't mandate behavior, so in an instance like this I think the best you can do is follow Gandhi's advice "Be the change in the world you wish to see." Exhibit the behaviors you expect of others, speak up when people are acting contrary to what you think are reasonable expectations, and most importantly try to get the ear of someone in a position of authority (in my example my Director).
In any event, here are my general guidelines:
At my current company, they like meetings. It varies by group/division, of course. Some really aren't that bad, others are horrendous. On the whole, though, the culture is so meeting-centric you'd think you'd walked into a company five times its size of 300 people.
Thankfully the people actually doing real work (devs and QA) are spared most of the worst of it, but anyone with 'manager' in his name (this includes me) seems to spend nearly his entire day in meetings. This begs the question of "When do these people do any actual work?"
Now, because many of us spend nearly our entire day in meetings, the etiquette we exhibit is pretty crappy. If you're in meetings all day and you do have some other work to do, it's likely you'll try to do it in one or another of your meetings. It also means as you run from meeting to the next, it's likely one here or there will run over and you'll be late to the next. Lastly, since people are so busy with meetings, it's often the case that people feel the only way they can get a bit of someone's time is to schedule a meeting, even when the more appropriate action would be to walk over to that person's desk for a five minute chat.
So, after having complained again and again, I decided to write up a little set of guidelines for meetings. Of course, this is the type of thing you find on many blogs. Neat, little tidy guidelines that promise to solve all your problems.
Well, the problem in the real world is that you write something like this and well, no one listens. The last group I was in was tolerable in its penchant for meetings. The group I've been with the last three months, not so much. Sure, I've complained. Many, many times. I've now written these guidelines, which I passed along to my Director. But so far, I haven't had any measurable effect. So what does this mean? How do I react to this "failure"?
Well, I do a couple things.
If I'm sitting in a room waiting for others to show up and no one is there within 10 minutes of the official meeting start, I go back to my desk and send an email to all attendees saying "I guess this meeting isn't happening. Please reschedule."
If I'm running a meeting, I invite the minimal number of people possible.
I always show up to meetings right on time, even if it means I'm usually waiting for 5 minutes. And I made somewhat pointed comments about others being late (probably just pisses people off, I'm sure).
When it's time for the meeting to end and people are still blathering on, I stand up from my seat. I don't always immediately leave, but sometimes I do.
So, basically, I'm at least raising awareness of some of these issues. You can't mandate behavior, so in an instance like this I think the best you can do is follow Gandhi's advice "Be the change in the world you wish to see." Exhibit the behaviors you expect of others, speak up when people are acting contrary to what you think are reasonable expectations, and most importantly try to get the ear of someone in a position of authority (in my example my Director).
In any event, here are my general guidelines:
- Meetings begin and end on time
- Only the organizer should be using her laptop. The rest of the participants should either not bring them or keep them closed. Same goes for phones. Either you are present for the meeting or not. Half paying attention and half doing other work wastes *everyone's* tim
- Every meeting should have an agenda which is provided to participants beforehand. If yo haven't prepared an agenda, you don't get to have a meeting. An agenda can be very basic. Minimally, it should consist of a problem statement, what is expected to be decided by the meeting, and sufficient information so that participants can come to the meeting prepared
- Don't use a meeting when ad hoc face-to-face communication will suffice
- The preference should be to keep meetings as short as possible while still accomplishing the goal set out in the agenda.
- Only invite the people that *absolutely* need to be there. Taking a shotgun approach should be strongly discouraged as wasteful and counterproductive (it detracts from other work that participants could otherwise be doing)
- The corollary of rule 6 is that one should not feel obligated to attend a meeting if she feels she doesn't need to be UNLESS the organizer can make a case for why her presence is required
- Certain meetings are special cases and do not need an agenda and rigid form. Brainstorming sessions, etc. Sometimes free-form discussion is a great thing. This should be the exception rather than the rule however.
- Status meetings should be discouraged in general. If the status of a project is not clear to its participants without such a meeting something is wrong. This is the essence of the program manager's role, keeping team members appraised of status and providing artifacts. If a status meeting is required, it should not a general troubleshooting session for the issues. Those should be addressed as they arise.
- If you those in the meeting find themselves saying 'I think this is what person <X> said', the discussion should quickly either move on and a note made to follow up with the individual or someone should go grab the person and bring him to the meeting. It is a waste of time to guess at what people think or said.
- If you are able to attend only a portion of a meeting, state it to the group at the beginning and exit when you need to do so with minimal disruption.
4 comments:
12. If you haven't showered the night before, nor the morning of the meeting, please don't show up.
13. If you don't speak English, send someone on your team instead who does.
14. If a conference line is opened in the meeting room for those who cannot attend, ensure that the individuals on the phone know how to hit the "mute" button when their child decides to cry in the background.
15. Nobody wants to meet in the break area / kitchen. If you can't schedule a room, you don't get to have a meeting.
16. If your meeting is running late and another group is waiting for the room, get the hell out. You're not more important than them, even if you climbed the corporate ladder over the corpses of your coworkers to get the V.P. in your title.
Seriously.
Everyone loves to hate on meetings. And meetings are, many times, the antithesis of getting anything done.
However, meetings are borne of a real need... to communicate effectively (NOT efficiently, as you might be trying to explain here). It is very hard to communicate effectively with this cornucopia of restrictive rules...
Face it...
Meetings are how people get together with other people and talk about stuff they need to talk about. Sometimes, that can be done person-to-person, but many times multiple people are needed -- people who don't sit right next to each other. Bam. Meeting.
I don't disagree with you about many of these things, but try to remember that a company composed of people cannot exist successfully unless those people can effectively communicate. Perhaps a meeting isn't the most effective way to communicate in some cases, but it seems that you may be trying to solve the wrong problem...
My $0.02.
You and I know how well "Meetings begin and end on time" works. We're of different minds when it comes to management, I think. I fall into a category I guess you could call "massaged chaos" while I think you prefer the authoritative approach. I don't know if there's any hard evidence supporting either, but certain things, like the rule about meetings starting and ending on time seem like they just won't fly in reality. People show up when they show up. That's how it goes with parties, concerts, meetings, etc.
Sometimes I wonder if the Navajo, who are averse to time schedules, are more in tune with human nature than us Europeans.
In response to all these comments, that's fair criticism.
Let me respond to each:
Silent Observer-
I was trying to be serious, but honestly I do *agree* with most of these. Things like #12 or #13 though might result in a little visit with HR.
Dantelope-
I agree with you completely in that fact that efficiency and effectiveness may occasionally be competing priorities.
Most times, though, I don't think that's the case at all. There's very little within these guidelines that dictates how a meeting is conducted, it's more about common courtesy and common sense.
If these guidelines had been written for bathroom usage (don't know why I'm picking this as my analogy), they might be:
1) Don't use the handicap stall if another normal stall is available
2) Wash your hands thoroughly after having used the restroom
3) Do not throw towels on the floor
4) Flush the toilet when you are done.
They're all things that no one should have to *think* about, but that some people just don't freaking get. Would you say I'm infringing on the ability on individuals' abilities to use the toilet in such a case? No, it's a social contract among all people using it, meant for the common good.
Having meetings start and end on time is so I'm not sitting there in the room twiddling my fucking thumbs for ten minutes when I could be doing work. That's common fucking courtesy.
There are a few that perhaps are borderling, the ones about what make meetings effective, but at the same time I think they're reasonable common sense things that should make the meeting *more* effective, which is what seems to be your concern. When you invite 10 different people and no one is paying attention and you just let that behavior continue, I'm not sure how you can argue that that makes a meeting more efficient OR more effective. Because it doesn't.
Shaun-
Again, you may not believe it, but I prefer *not* to be authoratative. In fact, I hate it. To continue my example, above, when people aren't flushing the fucking toilet or washing their hands or doing the stuff anyone should reasonably expect, you can be damn sure I *will* tell them to.
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