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I hate this regarding my day job. I don’t have a single day like other days so, setting routines is nearly impossible. Can 10-12 be focus time? Nope. Someone wi

I hate this regarding my day job. I don’t have a single day like other days so, setting routines is nearly impossible. Can 10-12 be focus time? Nope. Someone will need to throw a meeting in there. I thrive with routine and structure, but can’t find it at work, which makes things way harder than they need to be.

adenozine 5y ago
What kind of skillset do you have? It's not always hard to find a new job. That's not a healthy environment to be working in, imo.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
bcoughlan 5y ago
I've tackled this by telling everyone that from 9am to 11am I'll be working offline with no IM or e-mail access. Even if the rest of my day is filled with meetings I don't feel too anxious because at least I've least accomplished something in the morning.
jmfldn 5y ago
We have this problem to some extent as well, but I've fought back pretty hard with some improvements having been made on my team. We have no meetings on Wednesdays and Fridays and also make as many meetings optional as we can. Time fragmentation and establishing a routine is still a big problem for me at work though. This is the only negative of the WFH experiment I'm finding. Too easy to have meetings when meeting space isn't a factor. I feel like we're working though this at least though so I'm confident we'll get there.
orev 5y ago
It’s not foolproof, but if you want 10-12 to work on something, block your calendar so people don’t see an open spot to drop a meeting into. You might get overridden sometimes, but most of the time it will work.
- 123pie123 5y ago
  company dependant: almost no-one at my company looks at the calendar when booking a meeting, this has the massive knock on effect of people changing the meeting times sometimes up to the actual start of the meeting - extremely frustrating yes.
  - tharkun__ 5y ago
    You have to nip these habits in the bud. Might require changing company if it's a well established thing there though. I know when my meetings start in the morning. If someone books a Monday morning meeting with me after I go home for the day Friday they will learn really quickly that I won't see their meeting invite until its too late. Same for any other days.
  - cratermoon 5y ago
    What do you use to schedule meetings? I feel like it's basic table stakes for a calendar/scheduling tool to require an explicit override to schedule people for meetings if they have the time blocked already. I hate Outlook/Exchange with a purple passion but at least it gets that right.
- 6gvONxR4sf7o 5y ago
  You know, I've thought about that before and it felt like asking too much, since I don't see anyone else's calendars like that. But I guess that's no reason not to try it. Thanks for the push.
  - jasonpeacock 5y ago
    I have Mon/Tues/Friday blocked like this. If people can't find an open time on Wed/Thurs, or they have to schedule on my blocked days in order to coordinate with others, then they reach out and ask when I'm available. It's a great way to control your time. Also, always ask "can this be an email?" and "what's the agenda & decision that needs to be made for the meeting?".
  - maroonblazer 5y ago
bluGill 5y ago
Just remember the best engineers are assigned to the least important projects. That way nobody is afraid to interrupt them as whatever they are on is more important. It also means your second best can develop to the best instead of relying on the best to do everything. So if you are a great developer you shouldn't get that time. (on the other hand, not getting that time will degrade your skills until you need to admit you are second best and drop back to leading something while someone else takes the interruptions)

adenozine 5y ago

What kind of skillset do you have? It's not always hard to find a new job. That's not a healthy environment to be working in, imo.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

bcoughlan 5y ago

I've tackled this by telling everyone that from 9am to 11am I'll be working offline with no IM or e-mail access. Even if the rest of my day is filled with meetings I don't feel too anxious because at least I've least accomplished something in the morning.

jmfldn 5y ago

We have this problem to some extent as well, but I've fought back pretty hard with some improvements having been made on my team. We have no meetings on Wednesdays and Fridays and also make as many meetings optional as we can. Time fragmentation and establishing a routine is still a big problem for me at work though. This is the only negative of the WFH experiment I'm finding. Too easy to have meetings when meeting space isn't a factor. I feel like we're working though this at least though so I'm confident we'll get there.

orev 5y ago

It’s not foolproof, but if you want 10-12 to work on something, block your calendar so people don’t see an open spot to drop a meeting into. You might get overridden sometimes, but most of the time it will work.

123pie123 5y ago
company dependant: almost no-one at my company looks at the calendar when booking a meeting, this has the massive knock on effect of people changing the meeting times sometimes up to the actual start of the meeting - extremely frustrating yes.
- tharkun__ 5y ago
  You have to nip these habits in the bud. Might require changing company if it's a well established thing there though. I know when my meetings start in the morning. If someone books a Monday morning meeting with me after I go home for the day Friday they will learn really quickly that I won't see their meeting invite until its too late. Same for any other days.
- cratermoon 5y ago
  What do you use to schedule meetings? I feel like it's basic table stakes for a calendar/scheduling tool to require an explicit override to schedule people for meetings if they have the time blocked already. I hate Outlook/Exchange with a purple passion but at least it gets that right.
6gvONxR4sf7o 5y ago
You know, I've thought about that before and it felt like asking too much, since I don't see anyone else's calendars like that. But I guess that's no reason not to try it. Thanks for the push.
- jasonpeacock 5y ago
  I have Mon/Tues/Friday blocked like this. If people can't find an open time on Wed/Thurs, or they have to schedule on my blocked days in order to coordinate with others, then they reach out and ask when I'm available. It's a great way to control your time. Also, always ask "can this be an email?" and "what's the agenda & decision that needs to be made for the meeting?".
- maroonblazer 5y ago

bluGill 5y ago

Just remember the best engineers are assigned to the least important projects. That way nobody is afraid to interrupt them as whatever they are on is more important. It also means your second best can develop to the best instead of relying on the best to do everything. So if you are a great developer you shouldn't get that time. (on the other hand, not getting that time will degrade your skills until you need to admit you are second best and drop back to leading something while someone else takes the interruptions)