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The problem I experience with meetings is that often times the information presented is only tangentially related to you. I hate it when I’m in a meeting and i

The problem I experience with meetings is that often times the information presented is only tangentially related to you. I hate it when I’m in a meeting and it ends up a conversation between two people. It’s stressful if you have an expectation to get something done but also an expectation to sit in a meeting you realize really doesn’t pertain to you.

Bartweiss 7y ago
Once upon a time, this was the point of circulating 'minutes' or a summary after meetings. Outside of some special cases (e.g. the Federal Reserve), they're specifically meant to reflect conclusions, not the full course of discussion. Back-and-forth that reaches an answer isn't needed, and a debate that ends unresolved would just read as a summary of the positions. That way, you can invite the people who need to speak in a meeting, while anyone who just needs to be informed about the result can catch up from a shorter, async source. It seems like easy video recording and calling have been one reason for the decline - minutes were handy if someone couldn't make the meeting, but now they can dial in or watch it afterwards. That's great for not having to create a summary, but I think it loses much of the value of a concise, written record of what happened.
- dpeck 7y ago
  The number of people who have ever watched/listened to a business meeting after it occurred is vanishingly small.
- bluGill 7y ago
  Depends on the minutes. I've seen some where the entire minutes where things like "Heard the report from the director of X on the state of Y". I would like to know if the department in question is a useful use of my tax dollars, so I really want to know what the state of Y is, but I'll probably need to do a FOIA request to get it.
jjkmk 7y ago
I guess it depends how big your team is and how big the company is. Working on a small team at my current company I don't have this issue at all. I remember when working at IBM that was my main gripe.
nradov 7y ago
So uninvite yourself and leave. I do it all the time.

Bartweiss 7y ago

Once upon a time, this was the point of circulating 'minutes' or a summary after meetings. Outside of some special cases (e.g. the Federal Reserve), they're specifically meant to reflect conclusions, not the full course of discussion. Back-and-forth that reaches an answer isn't needed, and a debate that ends unresolved would just read as a summary of the positions. That way, you can invite the people who need to speak in a meeting, while anyone who just needs to be informed about the result can catch up from a shorter, async source. It seems like easy video recording and calling have been one reason for the decline - minutes were handy if someone couldn't make the meeting, but now they can dial in or watch it afterwards. That's great for not having to create a summary, but I think it loses much of the value of a concise, written record of what happened.

dpeck 7y ago
The number of people who have ever watched/listened to a business meeting after it occurred is vanishingly small.
bluGill 7y ago
Depends on the minutes. I've seen some where the entire minutes where things like "Heard the report from the director of X on the state of Y". I would like to know if the department in question is a useful use of my tax dollars, so I really want to know what the state of Y is, but I'll probably need to do a FOIA request to get it.

jjkmk 7y ago

I guess it depends how big your team is and how big the company is. Working on a small team at my current company I don't have this issue at all. I remember when working at IBM that was my main gripe.

nradov 7y ago

So uninvite yourself and leave. I do it all the time.