November 28, 2011 at 10:30 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Thinking Time
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November 29, 2011 at 1:59 am
Totally agree - avoid meetings generally I prefer to tackle problems one to one with people as they arise.
The temptation is that all the problems are stored up and released in meetings. This quite often means you cannot resolve spend the correct time or resources on individual things. Quite often things can be solved by a quick call to another party.
Too often I feel meetings are confrontational.
Meetings are of course good to introduce people to each other and ensure that everyone knows how to get in touch with everyone else and to let people better understand what the other parties do.
The better you know a team generally the less you need to meet.
November 29, 2011 at 2:16 am
I think that there is also a danger that colleagues become 'professional' meeting goers and almost believe that attending meetings is their only job. The end result is a whole lot of work does not get done or gets dumped on others to pick up. This needs careful managing which does not always happen.
I have one colleague that almost arranges days off around meetings so as to not miss anything. Something not quite right there.
November 29, 2011 at 3:12 am
I think many meetings are unproductive so I took some tips from Tim Ferris (author of the four hour work week) and they've made a big difference.
All in all I try to:
1) Only accept where there is a clear agenda that relates to the making of a decision
Meetings with no value can be avoided and ones that are just updates can be replaced with emails
2) Prepare beforehand
Meetings take about 30 minutes just getting everybody on the same page to make a decision - get the materials that'll be used in the meeting in advance and read up. Question the organiser, get a good idea of how you want the decision to be made in advance. The corollary of this is always send out supporting documents and invite questions before hand.
3) Keep everybody on the discussion framework [raise issue][identify solution(s)][give somebody an action]
Letting people wander off-topic is a recipe for disaster, keep everyone focused and responsible
4) Minutes are a must
Even if the organiser does not do this, I send out a list of actions and decisions made from a meeting to ensure that everyone stays on the same page
5) Batch meetings
Meetings can take up a lot of time (although item 1 reduces the volume, 2-3 shorten the time taken and 4 reduces the time the next meeting will take) so I like to put them all one one day of the week since they are so disruptive to my thinking time. Ideally they are on a Friday or Monday with prep the afternoon before (or a Friday afternoon) so that I have time to allow things to percolate.
November 29, 2011 at 6:37 am
Meetings can be useful, of course. Even lots of meetings, so long as it doesn't become a career. I've had major projects that required hours of meetings in order to get all the Ts dotted and Is crossed before the project could reasonably be launched. Once the planning, coordination, specification, et al, were sound enough, the quantity of meetings dropped back down and real work got started. But without, in some cases, a week or two of spending a lot of time with various stakeholders from a variety of departments, the project would end up being incompletable or would produce the wrong thing.
On the main point of the editorial, time to think, I definitely agree. And it shouldn't all be on your nickle. I've had plenty of managers who understood that, and who were quite pleased to see me sitting and thinking, or taking a walk around the building to clear my mind. (By the way, a few laps around the building/block/parking lot/whatever, just clearing thought-debris and looking at scenery, can be very, very helpful to getting a clear concept of whatever you're going to work on next.)
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November 29, 2011 at 7:03 am
I agree that thinking time is important. Too often I don't take enough time to think things through completely before I start working. This almost always leads to refactoring down the road.
I can't stand most meetings because I've rarely been in a well-organized and run meeting. There are almost always more people than necessary in the meeting, the meeting almost always goes off-topic because there is no agenda, because of off-topic discussions the meeting almost always runs long, there are rarely minutes, and the worst, no action items from a meeting.
I love your post Stephanie, but 99.999% of the time I can't do #1 on your list because the boss says I have to be in the meeting.
Jack Corbett
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November 29, 2011 at 7:17 am
Jack Corbett (11/29/2011)
I agree that thinking time is important. Too often I don't take enough time to think things through completely before I start working. This almost always leads to refactoring down the road.I can't stand most meetings because I've rarely been in a well-organized and run meeting. There are almost always more people than necessary in the meeting, the meeting almost always goes off-topic because there is no agenda, because of off-topic discussions the meeting almost always runs long, there are rarely minutes, and the worst, no action items from a meeting.
I love your post Stephanie, but 99.999% of the time I can't do #1 on your list because the boss says I have to be in the meeting.
Of course, it could be argued either that a meeting without an agenda can't possibly go off-topic, or can't possibly be on-topic, because it really doesn't have a topic.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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November 29, 2011 at 7:25 am
Sometimes it's also necessary to attend meetings because the people who should be attending and communicating to you either don't communicate, or can't communicate clearly what was discussed. I tend to call into as many meetings as possible, and continue work from my desk while the meeting rambles on.
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November 29, 2011 at 7:41 am
Thinking time is important, but only by half. The other half is actually documenting the results of your thinking processes along with any conclusions you came up with.
The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle of arrival.
November 29, 2011 at 7:51 am
I'd encourage you to take some time to just think over the holiday season, when there usually is less work going on
HA HA HA HA HA HA, ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Where do I find that job? I work in health care. There is no such thing as less work going on at any time.
Dave
November 29, 2011 at 8:05 am
djackson 22568 (11/29/2011)
I'd encourage you to take some time to just think over the holiday season, when there usually is less work going on
HA HA HA HA HA HA, ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Where do I find that job? I work in health care. There is no such thing as less work going on at any time.
Sick/injured people don't schedule their health issues for banker's hours???? :w00t:
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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November 29, 2011 at 8:08 am
GSquared (11/29/2011)
(By the way, a few laps around the building/block/parking lot/whatever, just clearing thought-debris and looking at scenery, can be very, very helpful to getting a clear concept of whatever you're going to work on next.)
It most definitely can. Where I work we have a park, and you can find me walking laps there quite often while its warm. That's my best thinking time.
sturner (11/29/2011)
Thinking time is important, but only by half. The other half is actually documenting the results of your thinking processes along with any conclusions you came up with.
Can I +1 this? Just yesterday I was searching for my notes on a situation that I had thought through a month ago. I fear I did not document my conclusions.
November 29, 2011 at 8:21 am
sturner (11/29/2011)
Thinking time is important, but only by half. The other half is actually documenting the results of your thinking processes along with any conclusions you came up with.
Definitely. At least as important.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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November 29, 2011 at 8:27 am
sturner (11/29/2011)
Thinking time is important, but only by half. The other half is actually documenting the results of your thinking processes along with any conclusions you came up with.
too true. Following up and using what you come up with is important.
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November 29, 2011 at 9:13 am
djackson 22568 (11/29/2011)
I'd encourage you to take some time to just think over the holiday season, when there usually is less work going on
HA HA HA HA HA HA, ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Where do I find that job? I work in health care. There is no such thing as less work going on at any time.
In my current place every year there is a last minute super important project that just has to be developed in December after maybe 6 months of dithering on the part of the business (the psychology I guess is "I can't let this go into 2012") - the whole IT department gets quite stressed at this time of year!
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