We’ve all woken up feeling tired; possibly sleeping the same number of hours, but disturbed. Though the same length, a disturbed sleep doesn’t refresh us like a peaceful one does.
A similar phenomenon happens at our workplaces. For instance, sometimes I work for the same number of hours, but do not feel productive. Why ?
Observing my workday I found that, Quick catch ups, status updates, small queries, town halls etc. would’ve kept disturbing me throughout the day. While I would’ve spent energy on staying focussed, the frequent disturbances would’ve constantly taken the focus away.
Json Fried explains the phenomenon in this Ted talk.
Meetings hurt productivity. This is a commonly understood phenomenon. Infact popular websites have many blogs on the subject. These blogs explain some aspects of the occurrence – $$ loss to organisations, poor agendas, wrong attendees etc.
While valid grievances, they come from consultants and other high rankers of organisations. Meaning, the viewpoint is based on a bird’s eye view of the problem.
On the other hand, I write from the trenches, not from a podium.
Writing from the trenches, I explain the same phenomenon from what I’ll call the “techie’s eyes view”.
Critique
Meetings are necessary. After all, they help foster collaboration, are needed to get coordination and ‘sound’ good with other co- prefixed words.
But they have pitfalls too. Listing the pitfalls, my list of critiques is as follows:
Panchayat
Panchayat is a village council in India. During panchayat meetings, the whole village gathers to discuss, debate and sortout any differences. Unfortunately, the same thing happens with corporate meetings. That is, the whole village attends them !
What I mean is, huge participation reduces a meeting’s effectiveness. This is because everyone has their own agenda …
Meanwhile, the meeting was held to discuss whether we should add a new column in the DB ! When the meeting concluded, everyone was happy. Except the 2 developers who needed answers to their simple question. 🤦♂️🤦♂️
Bigger the participation, smaller the results.
Democracy
Panchayat has a panch or a village head. He is both a strongman and a strongly respected man. For the most part, his word is final.
Meaning, he can choose to address or dismiss concerns, allow disagreements or push negotiations. In other words, should he choose, he can impose his will. This makes a panchayat more of an autocracy.
On the other hand, corporate meetings are democracies ! That is, people do what they feel like …
The right participants are found missing from the meeting. This results in the organiser spending 10 mins participant hunting.
Fun fact : We Indians are famous for being late. But the funny thing is, we have exported this commodity to the USA and other countries that were otherwise punctual (free of cost). 😁😂😅😅😆
Before long someone forgets about the agenda and starts telling his love story. By the time the story ends, half the meeting slot would be gone. Worst part is that the story will be a boring one; no spice and all.
Unrelated subjects are a plague to meeting productivity.
Less focussed on what can be done, they will talk about “how things should be done”. Or sometimes, how much they want to “contribute”. Frustrated, we techies usually wait for them to shut up, so the work can be done. (though we would like to punch them in the face).
Also, as soon as the real work starts, these fancy pants will leave the room saying something on the lines of “you guys can handle this stuff”. Ofcourse, we can handle this “stuff” Raj !
The above and other issues due to the democratic nature of meetings hurt productivity.
PS: I love democracy and have nothing against it. Just the use of the model during corporate meetings.
An instrument to ‘feel’ like working, instead of working
Our brains are the highest consumers of our daily caloric intake; upto 40%. But I doubt the science. This is because when I meet some morons, their bodies seem fine, but their brains are starved and non-functional.
Technology work requires thinking. And thinking is hard. Infact, thinking is one of the most energy consuming activities. For example, remember feeling hungrier during exam times ? the late night maggie 🍲🍲, bread-omelettes 🍳🍳, chai-ParleGs 🍪🍪 ?
Another fact is that humans are designed to conserve our energies. No surprises there.
Combining the two facts, what is a quickfix to conserving energy i.e. not thinking while seeming to think ?
Meetings ofcourse ! This is a reason, many like to “meet” rather than take a pen-paper, and work through problems themselves.
True story:
One fine day, I was called to an urgent meeting. The meeting was to discuss what will be presented in a subsequent meeting to the big boss. (everyone wanted to ask others what to think). End of the meeting, a follow-up meeting was planned to recycle the same agenda.
Did we achieve anything ? Nope
Did everyone feel productive ? Yup
An instrument to feel like working, while NOT working. A clusterfuck indeed !!
An instrument to ‘delegate’ thinking.
Imagine that you are a manager and bloody incompetent at what you do. As it happens, you have to give a presentation to someone higher-up in the food chain.
What do you do ? Call a “meeting” with your best techies. Ofcourse !
Tell them that “we” have to give a presentation to the boss. And “they” need to prepare it. Next thing we know, they will spend time on preparing for you. Also, let’s remember that the techies will not be able to spend time on their work. Therefore will need to work over the weekend to complete their otherwise timely task. But bloody hell, you are the manager and who’s gonna find out !
Eventually you call 3 other meetings where you follow up, and ask them to make corrections.
Finally, you will NOT take them to the presentation with the big boss. God forbid, they take the credit and everyone finds out your incompetence !
There is a beautiful flip of the coin result to what happens next …
Heads you win
Tails they lose.
A great plan😀😀. High five ! ✋✋✋✋
You were able to “delegate your thinking”. All in the name of Meetings.
Cheap tricks
Meetings can be used to falsify productivity.
True story …
I knew a manager, let’s call him Sharad. Our friend used to ask everyone to add him to their meetings; even when not needed. Next thing, he used to “accept” the invite. (unaccepted invites do not always show up as busy on the calendar)
Whenever asked about his deliverables, Sharad showed his calendar, as a proof of his busy schedule. Meaning, the busy schedule was an excuse to NOT deliver anything.
This cheatcode is very commonly found across tech organizations. So, I will not elaborate at length. Most, if not all, techies will easily understand this behaviour.
As deadlines neared, a familiar story was repeated. Team came together and “pulled the project through”. This is fancy talk for – Others did Sharad’s work by working overtime.
But ofcourse, Sharad was thanked for all the “contributions” he made to the project !
God give them wisdom that have it; and those that are fools, let them use their talents.
Shakespear
The story says it all. Need I say more ?
Wrapping up, do you feel the difference between the usual critiques and one coming from a techie ?
Things look different from “techie’s eye view”; don’t they?
To Dos
Before we discuss the todos, I’d like to clarify.
⚠⚠ I am a normal techie with a little bit of observation. Therefore, I am not qualified to establish rules and protocols. Translates to – please use the suggestions with discretion. ⚠⚠
Having said that, I use every one of the below. And they have worked well for me.
Less a coordinator and more a captain.
As a techie and organiser of my meetings, I don’t passively ride the ship. Instead, I actively guide it; compass, anchor and all.
My responsibility is to “understand” what is being discussed. And not just ask the other guy’s opinion.
Essentially, my goal is not to have two viewpoints agree. Instead it is to have my own viewpoint. And then, figure out which hybrid of the 3 views makes the best outcome. If my proposal is the shittiest, then so be it ! I dismiss my proposal, and thank the other person for bringing in his.
Also, guidelines don’t always dictate my meetings:
But, in case the meeting extends 1 more hour, then it extends 1 more hour. No complaints either.
What I do is against the popular wisdom of running meetings. But, I don’t run shitty meetings. So, I don’t always need to follow the rules. Mostly, common sense and a little bit of hard work seem to work for me.
Inside my plane, I am not an attendant. I am usually the pilot.
Be Mindful
“Bigger, the better” doesn’t apply to meetings. So, if there are people who don’t need to be on the call – let them go.
In case there are 5 agenda items, I try to pick the shortest one first and let the relevant participants go. In the end, the longest discussion ends up with the least number of participants.
Also, if I let 3 people go, saving an average of 10 mins for each, then I end up saving a cumulative of 30 mins for the organisation. But this number doesn’t tell the full story. Because those 30 mins are given back to the best techies in the organisation. Meaning, those 30 mins are really worth hours or days, for the organisation.
Does running efficient meetings sound more important now ?
A side effect of this behaviour is – the best techies in the team are always willing to join my calls. In turn, I don’t need to remind or chase them. While the brilliant techie might skip 5 other calls, he won’t skip mine.
I respect his time; he reciprocates. This in-turn raises my productivity compared to others in the organisation. The intent wasn’t selfish, but the side-effect helps.
Reduce participation, to increase participation.
I shoot the hijackers ( sort of )
While the story doesn’t get time on my agenda, a “beer” meeting does. ( sob stories go easier with beer )
Ofcourse, I don’t do this with the big fish in my food chain. Because, not everyone wants to run efficient meetings, despite what they might say. And, I don’t want to push my luck.
Meaning, when I can, I hijack the hijackers.
Wrapping up
I was a youngblood fresh out of college, interning at a tech company. Suddenly, the VP came out of what looked like a tiring meeting and shouted out loud “Meetings and Mating, the only two things humans seem to find useful”
I was amused but did not understand it until much later.
My take … do both, mate and meet; judiciously !
Write back, in case you have an opinion. Like what you read – do like, comment and share.
Haha, so much to say but as you know my calendar is full!
That I do @megha