3 ms·

I don't think more meeting are the solution here. Most meetings are a complete and utter waste of time. They meander, they lack focus, and beget more meetings a

I don't think more meeting are the solution here. Most meetings are a complete and utter waste of time. They meander, they lack focus, and beget more meetings as a result. I am obsessive about correctness, I want to build the right thing, but meeting culture is fundamentally broken. It's faux productivity. Humans getting together on a call -- often many of whom have no real stake in the game -- is just about the slowest way possible to get alignment on something. And, more often than not, that alignment ends up wrong, because spoken word sucks at precision -- even when aided by Word / Excel. I've become increasingly bullish on using formal methods for business requirements. The dev side can spent time modeling their understanding of the problem, then use small *focused* meetings with the business to move that understanding of the current model forward. tbh, my experimenting with this approach is still early. But, initial results are really promising. It feels really good to be able to concretely model (and machine check!) something amongst a small group, and then only schedule/attend a meeting when you need to confirm that your invariant are correct.

engagthe 3y ago
I agree! I do think if you cut ALL meetings, you may miss out on some important relationship building stuff that is helpful when necessary conflict arises. Formalizing business requirement gathering may help reduce conflict, which is great, but you inevitably will have some. That said, I don’t think meetings are a good way to build relationships or trust, and there are more efficient and enjoyable ways to do that! If in person, at least go for a walk, get some food together, talk about hobbies, etc. Give some freedom to “waste time” just getting to know people, especially if the relationships will come in handy later! If you kill unnecessary meetings, you should have plenty of time for this! People need down time to de-stress, and to recharge, but meetings are not the way.
- re-thc 3y ago
  No 1 says you have to have the meeting in the meeting room. You could do it in a cafe or elsewhere. Not everything has to be so strict. Depends on your team and environment.
  - wonderwonder 3y ago
    I wish. Many of us work from home now though so its just zoom meeting after zoom meeting.

engagthe 3y ago

I agree! I do think if you cut ALL meetings, you may miss out on some important relationship building stuff that is helpful when necessary conflict arises. Formalizing business requirement gathering may help reduce conflict, which is great, but you inevitably will have some. That said, I don’t think meetings are a good way to build relationships or trust, and there are more efficient and enjoyable ways to do that! If in person, at least go for a walk, get some food together, talk about hobbies, etc. Give some freedom to “waste time” just getting to know people, especially if the relationships will come in handy later! If you kill unnecessary meetings, you should have plenty of time for this! People need down time to de-stress, and to recharge, but meetings are not the way.

re-thc 3y ago
No 1 says you have to have the meeting in the meeting room. You could do it in a cafe or elsewhere. Not everything has to be so strict. Depends on your team and environment.
- wonderwonder 3y ago
  I wish. Many of us work from home now though so its just zoom meeting after zoom meeting.