3 ms·

"If there’s no document, we cancel the meeting." this is a very good idea.

throwawayboise 5y ago
I tried to push a "if there's no agenda, we cancel the meeting" at a prior job. It didn't really work that well. They had a lot of standing "status update" and "one-on-one" types of meetings that were just on the calendar without any specific goals or decisions to be made at any particular meeting.
- beckingz 5y ago
  There are meetings which should not be thought of as "meetings" Labeling them as collaboration sessions or more social one-on-ones helps though.
NAHWheatCracker 5y ago
I love this idea. I've tried to push people to make agendas and just generally do some legwork to make meetings run smoother. There's only been a few times where I've had project managers who actually tried it out. It was glorious and meetings ran so smoothly, but it stopped shortly after. I guess they found it to be to onerous to spend 5 minutes write an email. I think it's hopeless to expect them to write an entire document.
some_furry 5y ago
A related good idea is "Ticket or it didn't happen." Every time a question gets answered, or something gets discussed, put in the appropriate ticket for the problem related to the meeting. If there isn't a ticket, why not?
kator 5y ago
Actually I have often pushed a meeting with a simple "The document is not ready". Obviously you can get push back if you do it too often, however nobody wants to join a bad doc read meeting, they'd rather you get a bit more time to work out the issues in the doc. Often times the issues are cross team, you need to get alignment with partner teams before you join the meeting, or if you can't you write a "hotly debated topics" section with the partner team and just go for it. There is a balance, you should not spend too much time driving for alignment, but you would be better served to come to the meeting showing both sides are talking and understand the point and counter-point.

I tried to push a "if there's no agenda, we cancel the meeting" at a prior job. It didn't really work that well. They had a lot of standing "status update" and "one-on-one" types of meetings that were just on the calendar without any specific goals or decisions to be made at any particular meeting.

beckingz 5y ago
There are meetings which should not be thought of as "meetings" Labeling them as collaboration sessions or more social one-on-ones helps though.

NAHWheatCracker 5y ago

I love this idea. I've tried to push people to make agendas and just generally do some legwork to make meetings run smoother. There's only been a few times where I've had project managers who actually tried it out. It was glorious and meetings ran so smoothly, but it stopped shortly after. I guess they found it to be to onerous to spend 5 minutes write an email. I think it's hopeless to expect them to write an entire document.

some_furry 5y ago

A related good idea is "Ticket or it didn't happen." Every time a question gets answered, or something gets discussed, put in the appropriate ticket for the problem related to the meeting. If there isn't a ticket, why not?

kator 5y ago

Actually I have often pushed a meeting with a simple "The document is not ready". Obviously you can get push back if you do it too often, however nobody wants to join a bad doc read meeting, they'd rather you get a bit more time to work out the issues in the doc. Often times the issues are cross team, you need to get alignment with partner teams before you join the meeting, or if you can't you write a "hotly debated topics" section with the partner team and just go for it. There is a balance, you should not spend too much time driving for alignment, but you would be better served to come to the meeting showing both sides are talking and understand the point and counter-point.