4 ms·

Activities for Boring Meetings (2012)

55 points by Warchi3f 4y ago

RcouF1uZ4gsC 4y ago
All meetings should have a real time count of the cost of the meeting based on the hourly compensation of everyone involved. Is this discussion we are having right now worth $10,000?
- throwaway98797 4y ago
  who gets to decide that though? managers are fine burning ICs time if they can better communicate to their bosses later IC work becomes progressively less important as they’re more mangers
  - yetanotherloser 4y ago
    I've worked with several manglers but not many mangers.
throwaway892238 4y ago
That's funny; I always thought my product manager was trying to make my head explode, what with the 45-minute stand-ups and all.
Gualdrapo 4y ago
Getting a "This site uses features not available in older browsers" message with Falkon (!) so here's a snapshot from archive.org: https://web.archive.org/web/20170222090404/https://wiki.c2.com/?ActivitiesForBoringMeetings https://web.archive.org/web/20170222090404/https://wiki.c2.c...
- Minor49er 4y ago
  Thank you. I really wish C2 reverted their modern web functionality change
  - kevin_thibedeau 4y ago
    Especially since the site is only text content and it bizarrely renders into a 500px strip everywhere. If you're going to insist on "modern browsers" make the effort to use media queries for the viewport. For some reason the JS is invoked when you manually change the CSS for the width to something sane and it gradually expands the pane with repeated reflows.
jrm4 4y ago
I'm expecting a lot of finger-wavy responses, but broadly I'll just say -- I really like seeing things like this "in print." I feel like in today's (obviously in spaces like this, but generally) LinkedIn world, it is literally important to push back against the seriousness of the work world, since it's not always clear that this flavor of work is always (or even mostly) an air-quotes "good thing." (Personally, I'm contrasting to my own experiences with a Discord meme fueled company game studio but-it's-everyone's-side-hustle thing that's both really fun and gets stuff done)
- BlargMcLarg 4y ago
  Just give them the usual response. If you can't prove it with empirical evidence and there's a mountain of rational counterarguments, it's likely not the panacea you think it is. The only reason business is invulnerable to logic, is because business holds the reins. Not because their methods are actively shown to be the great.
  - jrm4 4y ago
    uh did you mean to post this comment here? It doesn't seem responsive to mine or I'm really missing something.
easton 4y ago
My dad used to pick three random words from the dictionary and try to work them into whatever him and his coworkers would have to say during a menial update meeting. One time they were able to work all three words into a single sentence.
- RegW 4y ago
  During a particularly bad period at one company I worked for in the 80s, a coworker declared that there would be points awarded for each reference made to the Titanic during the upcoming project meeting. He sat quietly making notes during the meeting, while we all tried to work in "lurking beneath the surface", "steaming ahead regardless" and "only 10% of the issues are visible above the waterline". As the meeting went on the quality got worse. It was quite clear that something was going on, when suddenly he stood up and announced the scores. Even awarding one of the managers points for mentioning Belfast.
boffinism 4y ago
Growing up, #2 was called 'the sermon game', but only letters that started words counted. The goal was not to reach the end of the alphabet but to get further through than your peers.
stewbrew 4y ago
It's sad that the most obvious option is missing: try to find out why the speaker/other people in the room think it's interesting.
- 082349872349872 4y ago
  Missing? cf 8
  - stewbrew 4y ago
    You're right.
- dvfjsdhgfv 4y ago
  Are you serious? Nobody finds it interesting. The people who organize meetings have to do them for various reasons, like a kick-of meeting for starting a project etc. Sometimes meetings are useful, many times they are not, but the organizers rarely care about them being interesting - they just have no other choice so they just go on with their presentation or whatever and finally we can get back to real work. Fortunately I WFH most of the time so I spend the meetings on a bike, they are a pleasure to participate.
anotherevan 4y ago
One place I worked had too many meetings. One thing me and a colleague noticed that everyone (including ourselves) tended to sit in the same spots every time. So we started getting there first and picking random seats to sit in each time. It was fun to then watch the mental gears turn as each person walked into the room, saw we those that arrived before them were sitting somewhere unexpected and then had to figure out where they would then sit. The cultural and power dynamics involved really did annoy some people.

55 points by Warchi3f 4y ago

All meetings should have a real time count of the cost of the meeting based on the hourly compensation of everyone involved. Is this discussion we are having right now worth $10,000?

throwaway98797 4y ago
who gets to decide that though? managers are fine burning ICs time if they can better communicate to their bosses later IC work becomes progressively less important as they’re more mangers
- yetanotherloser 4y ago
  I've worked with several manglers but not many mangers.

throwaway892238 4y ago

That's funny; I always thought my product manager was trying to make my head explode, what with the 45-minute stand-ups and all.

Gualdrapo 4y ago

Getting a "This site uses features not available in older browsers" message with Falkon (!) so here's a snapshot from archive.org: https://web.archive.org/web/20170222090404/https://wiki.c2.com/?ActivitiesForBoringMeetings https://web.archive.org/web/20170222090404/https://wiki.c2.c...

Minor49er 4y ago
Thank you. I really wish C2 reverted their modern web functionality change
- kevin_thibedeau 4y ago
  Especially since the site is only text content and it bizarrely renders into a 500px strip everywhere. If you're going to insist on "modern browsers" make the effort to use media queries for the viewport. For some reason the JS is invoked when you manually change the CSS for the width to something sane and it gradually expands the pane with repeated reflows.

jrm4 4y ago

I'm expecting a lot of finger-wavy responses, but broadly I'll just say -- I really like seeing things like this "in print." I feel like in today's (obviously in spaces like this, but generally) LinkedIn world, it is literally important to push back against the seriousness of the work world, since it's not always clear that this flavor of work is always (or even mostly) an air-quotes "good thing." (Personally, I'm contrasting to my own experiences with a Discord meme fueled company game studio but-it's-everyone's-side-hustle thing that's both really fun and gets stuff done)

BlargMcLarg 4y ago
Just give them the usual response. If you can't prove it with empirical evidence and there's a mountain of rational counterarguments, it's likely not the panacea you think it is. The only reason business is invulnerable to logic, is because business holds the reins. Not because their methods are actively shown to be the great.
- jrm4 4y ago
  uh did you mean to post this comment here? It doesn't seem responsive to mine or I'm really missing something.

easton 4y ago

My dad used to pick three random words from the dictionary and try to work them into whatever him and his coworkers would have to say during a menial update meeting. One time they were able to work all three words into a single sentence.

RegW 4y ago
During a particularly bad period at one company I worked for in the 80s, a coworker declared that there would be points awarded for each reference made to the Titanic during the upcoming project meeting. He sat quietly making notes during the meeting, while we all tried to work in "lurking beneath the surface", "steaming ahead regardless" and "only 10% of the issues are visible above the waterline". As the meeting went on the quality got worse. It was quite clear that something was going on, when suddenly he stood up and announced the scores. Even awarding one of the managers points for mentioning Belfast.

boffinism 4y ago

Growing up, #2 was called 'the sermon game', but only letters that started words counted. The goal was not to reach the end of the alphabet but to get further through than your peers.

stewbrew 4y ago

It's sad that the most obvious option is missing: try to find out why the speaker/other people in the room think it's interesting.

082349872349872 4y ago
Missing? cf 8
- stewbrew 4y ago
  You're right.
dvfjsdhgfv 4y ago
Are you serious? Nobody finds it interesting. The people who organize meetings have to do them for various reasons, like a kick-of meeting for starting a project etc. Sometimes meetings are useful, many times they are not, but the organizers rarely care about them being interesting - they just have no other choice so they just go on with their presentation or whatever and finally we can get back to real work. Fortunately I WFH most of the time so I spend the meetings on a bike, they are a pleasure to participate.

anotherevan 4y ago

One place I worked had too many meetings. One thing me and a colleague noticed that everyone (including ourselves) tended to sit in the same spots every time. So we started getting there first and picking random seats to sit in each time. It was fun to then watch the mental gears turn as each person walked into the room, saw we those that arrived before them were sitting somewhere unexpected and then had to figure out where they would then sit. The cultural and power dynamics involved really did annoy some people.