5 ms·

25 minutes and everything starts at either XX:05 or XX:35. People get to be human and do things like use the restroom, get a drink, or just take a breath in be

by dpeck 5y ago

25 minutes and everything starts at either XX:05 or XX:35. People get to be human and do things like use the restroom, get a drink, or just take a breath in between meetings without being flustered and apologizing for being late.

amoorthy 5y ago
The sentiment and logic here is good but I think all employees have to agree otherwise wastes some time for those folks who do show up on time. My personal observation is the timing matters less than the number of participants. More people usually equals less insights and more wasted time. One rule could be "if you can't emerge with an action item you shouldn't be here." But I'm not sure if that's practical as an organization grows and social/political relationships matter more.
- fennecfoxen 5y ago
  Not everyone takes an action item out of the meeting. Some people provide information to the meeting. But if you're not contributing or taking something away, you should go, yes.
travisjungroth 5y ago
I’ve seen early endings but not late starts. That seems way better.
- zaphod12 5y ago
  Everyone ignores early endings, late starts is so much better!
Graffur 5y ago
I don't even apologize for being late anymore.
loloquwowndueo 5y ago
I just sprinkle short events that show me as “busy” and start at odd offsets like :15 and :45 so I can have some blocks of time where I get to take a break from meetings and do some of the work that stems from those meetings (otherwise when the hell do I do the work). The weird offsets really confuse calendaring applications :) which always try to align things to :30 or :00.
- dpeck 5y ago
  Just block off times as “reserved” for work, and unapologetically so.
  - CameronNemo 5y ago
    Last time I did that, a PM just ignored it.
    - loloquwowndueo 5y ago
      Then you just say “no” to the meeting and don’t attend :)
      - dimitrios1 5y ago
        Exactly. Make your own schedule, or others will make it for you.
        SiempreViernes 5y ago
        The anecdote said that they did make their own schedule but then someone made it for them anyway.
        tspike 5y ago
        It sounds like they attempted to make their own schedule, but then acquiesced when faced with an inconsiderate ask.
javiramos 5y ago
At MIT, all classes started 5 minutes after the scheduled time and ended 5 minutes before the scheduled time.
- Someone 5y ago
  Something like that is fairly normal at universities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_quarter_(class_timing) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_quarter_(class_timing...: “An academic quarter (localized into various languages in the countries where it is practiced[a]) is the quarter-hour (15 minute) discrepancy between the defined start time for a lecture or lesson ("per schema") and the actual starting time, at some universities in Europe including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the United States.”
  - viceroyalbean 5y ago
    This was applied in 100% of classes at my university in Sweden. A 14-16 lecture would start at 14:15, take a break from 15-15:15 and end at 16. The practice was frequently applied in student union meetings and events.
    - xwolfi 5y ago
      While in France they d start on time but the students would trickle down for 15 minutes. You can imagine our respective surprise when I had a german boss one day and I d arrive always 2 minutes late not understanding why it would be written on the meeting note as if it was a huge mega deal :D Complete disrespect for him, absolutely the norm for me :D He learned to be less angry and I learned to be less "late"
      - saiya-jin 5y ago
        This is so common... and a few kind words in the beginning would avoid any negative effect once and for all. Yet its so hard for so many folks
mcot2 5y ago
Or just cancel almost all meetings and do async communication. Works great.
rjzzleep 5y ago
I try to schedule them at 20 minutes, so that people have 10 minutes to prepare for the next meeting. If I'm on point that's usually enough. A lot of these organizations put status updates as meetings though, which is never necessary. There are a lot of better ways to send status updates.

by dpeck 5y ago

amoorthy 5y ago

The sentiment and logic here is good but I think all employees have to agree otherwise wastes some time for those folks who do show up on time. My personal observation is the timing matters less than the number of participants. More people usually equals less insights and more wasted time. One rule could be "if you can't emerge with an action item you shouldn't be here." But I'm not sure if that's practical as an organization grows and social/political relationships matter more.

fennecfoxen 5y ago
Not everyone takes an action item out of the meeting. Some people provide information to the meeting. But if you're not contributing or taking something away, you should go, yes.

travisjungroth 5y ago

I’ve seen early endings but not late starts. That seems way better.

zaphod12 5y ago
Everyone ignores early endings, late starts is so much better!

Graffur 5y ago

I don't even apologize for being late anymore.

loloquwowndueo 5y ago

I just sprinkle short events that show me as “busy” and start at odd offsets like :15 and :45 so I can have some blocks of time where I get to take a break from meetings and do some of the work that stems from those meetings (otherwise when the hell do I do the work). The weird offsets really confuse calendaring applications :) which always try to align things to :30 or :00.

dpeck 5y ago
Just block off times as “reserved” for work, and unapologetically so.
- CameronNemo 5y ago
  Last time I did that, a PM just ignored it.
  - loloquwowndueo 5y ago
    Then you just say “no” to the meeting and don’t attend :)
    - dimitrios1 5y ago
      Exactly. Make your own schedule, or others will make it for you.
      - SiempreViernes 5y ago
        The anecdote said that they did make their own schedule but then someone made it for them anyway.
        tspike 5y ago
        It sounds like they attempted to make their own schedule, but then acquiesced when faced with an inconsiderate ask.

javiramos 5y ago

At MIT, all classes started 5 minutes after the scheduled time and ended 5 minutes before the scheduled time.

Someone 5y ago
Something like that is fairly normal at universities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_quarter_(class_timing) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_quarter_(class_timing...: “An academic quarter (localized into various languages in the countries where it is practiced[a]) is the quarter-hour (15 minute) discrepancy between the defined start time for a lecture or lesson ("per schema") and the actual starting time, at some universities in Europe including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the United States.”
- viceroyalbean 5y ago
  This was applied in 100% of classes at my university in Sweden. A 14-16 lecture would start at 14:15, take a break from 15-15:15 and end at 16. The practice was frequently applied in student union meetings and events.
  - xwolfi 5y ago
    While in France they d start on time but the students would trickle down for 15 minutes. You can imagine our respective surprise when I had a german boss one day and I d arrive always 2 minutes late not understanding why it would be written on the meeting note as if it was a huge mega deal :D Complete disrespect for him, absolutely the norm for me :D He learned to be less angry and I learned to be less "late"
    - saiya-jin 5y ago
      This is so common... and a few kind words in the beginning would avoid any negative effect once and for all. Yet its so hard for so many folks

mcot2 5y ago

Or just cancel almost all meetings and do async communication. Works great.

rjzzleep 5y ago

I try to schedule them at 20 minutes, so that people have 10 minutes to prepare for the next meeting. If I'm on point that's usually enough. A lot of these organizations put status updates as meetings though, which is never necessary. There are a lot of better ways to send status updates.