4 ms·

All meetings should start at a time ending in 5 on the minutes side. Eg. 10:35 is a valid start time. All meetings should end at a time ending in 0 minutes. Eg

All meetings should start at a time ending in 5 on the minutes side. Eg. 10:35 is a valid start time. All meetings should end at a time ending in 0 minutes. Eg. 10:30 is a valid end time. Everyone needs some time for composure (travel time, bathroom, drinks etc.), sometimes you just have to run the last meeting a few mins over. By starting on the *5 and setting that as the start time on the calendar you give yourself this time. This is especially true at senior levels where you have strings of back to back meetings. The expectation is then set. You show up at 10:35 precisely and no one’s waiting 5 mins.

paulryanrogers 2y ago
Or allow folks to each have their own meeting reminder default. I do this as one minute ahead and disregard any bundled with the event.
jahbrewski 2y ago
Hmm, my experience with people who are chronically late is that the specific time doesn't matter. This sounds good in theory, but I think those people would just show up at 10:40.
pil0u 2y ago
With digital calendars, I just set a reminder 5 minutes before all my meetings. Whether it starts at 10:30, 10:35 or 10:47, I will always have time pee or grab a snack or prepare the meeting or even all of that.
- from-nibly 2y ago
  Not if people schedule back to back meetings. The point of starting it on the 5 and ending on 0 is that you cant schedule a meeting with no gap after the previous. You will always have at least 5 minutes.
  - projectazorian 2y ago
    Or you could tell the people in meeting A that you have to leave 5 min early - best option if possible. Alternatively, tell the people in meeting B that you will be 5 minutes late. Lateness communicated in advance is far less disruptive than unannounced lateness. If neither of those are possible, reschedule one or the other meeting. If it's impossible to reschedule either meeting, and this happens a lot, then there's a larger problem.
    - noodlesUK 2y ago
      I think that deliberately building in buffer so that people's expectations are explicitly set is much better than constantly having to absent yourself "early".
from-nibly 2y ago
I don't know how everyone is missing this, but it means that if everyone follows this rule you cant ever have back to back meetings. There will always be a 5 munite buffer. This isnt solving for reminders or any of that junk. This is forcefully giving you a window to have the previous meeting go over a touch or going to the bathroom even if your day is slammed.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- soco 2y ago
  And going to the bathroom is bad because...? What if you need to grab a coffee? Or god forbid have lunch? Oh noes, the economy!
  - from-nibly 2y ago
    Its not? Im not sure in what way you are misinterpreting me. I think its a great idea to force no back to back meetings. People need effing breaks and other people need to be on time.
- pertymcpert 2y ago
  Why is back to back meetings without a bathroom break a good thing?
  - from-nibly 2y ago
    Its not.
    - pertymcpert 2y ago
      You said: > I don't know how everyone is missing this, but it means that if everyone follows this rule you cant ever have back to back meetings. So of course based on that wording people are going to think you're being put out by not having back-to-backs.
sseagull 2y ago
Reminiscent of “Berkeley Time”, where classes are scheduled back-to-back, but there is an implicit 10 minute buffer. Why they don’t just make it explicit I will never understand. https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Berkeley-Time-10-minutes-late-university-policy-13182558.php https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Berkeley-Time-10-minu...
- recursivecaveat 2y ago
  This is close to how my alma mater functioned, everything ended on the 50 or the 20 and started on 00 or 30. Just enough time to climb up out of a basement on one end, make the hike, and descend to the furthest classroom on the other. With lectures the content is rigidly planned and controlled by one person, so the end time is more respected than more open-ended and participatory work meetings I find.
- madcaptenor 2y ago
  When I taught there as a lecturer nobody bothered to onboard me, because academia. The one thing I made sure I knew before I started was what time do classes start and end, because I knew my students would know. And my undergrad started five minutes after and ended five minutes before, while my grad school started on the hour and ended ten minutes before, so I was aware the custom varied from place to place. It worked out nicely when I had therapy just off-campus at 11 AM (11-11:50, because that's how therapists do it) immediately before a class that started at noon (12:10 - 1:00), although sometimes I was emotionally a wreck while teaching...
- CRConrad 2y ago
  In Sweden -- or at least in Uppsala, that is, which is the only university I have attended -- it was (and probably still is?) called "akademisk kvart", the "academic quarter" (of an hour). Everything was said to begin at <<some hour>>, but that was understood to mean at quarter past <<the hour>>.
stavros 2y ago
Google Calendar has a "speedy meeting" option that kind of does this, but it makes meetings end a few minutes earlier. Unfortunately, nobody really pays attention to exactly when the meeting ends, so you just end up losing this window. Your idea to start later is great.
_heimdall 2y ago
There's still a lot of room there for issues, even if every meeting actually does end on time. Say on person or team takes that to always have meetings end at :25 or :55, another always ends at :35 or :05, and another team say :15 and :45 for any meeting end times. In my experience meetings seem to fall into common durations, always in intervals of 15 minutes but most common at 30 minutes or an hour. I'd go even more strict on times and say meetings must start at :00 or :30, and always end by :25 or :55. That enforces a 5 minute window and standardizes start times without preventing longer meetings that need to run for 90 minutes or longer.
noodlesUK 2y ago
I will say this is significantly psychologically superior to the alternative where things start on the 0 and end on the 5, because people pay much more attention to the start of meetings than the end time. If the end time is set 5 min before people intuitively expect, it will regularly run over and consume your buffer, whereas people will essentially never start early.
romwell 2y ago
>All meetings should start at a time ending in 5 on the minutes side. Eg. 10:35 is a valid start time. This is an excellent example of an ADHD accommodation that costs nothing to implement, and is absolutely welcomed by neurotypical people too. Same goes for having meeting-free days, and a culture that teaches people to be mindful of interruptions[1]. Unsurprisingly, it's something companies like Meta have (software engineering tends to attract ADHD folks because Hyperfocus[2] is a trait of something ironically called attention deficit, and coding marathons are a great example of that in action). Programmers talk about Flow all the time, but that's what Hyperfocus can easily mistaken for[3]. If you find it difficult to get started[4], but once you get going, you forget the world exists and find it difficult to switch out of whatever you're doing[5], and stopping feels painful.. yeah, that's hyperfocus. Which, along with being late all the time[6], is an ADHD trait. ADHD is surely the worst-named affliction.[7] Found out the hard way at the age of 34. Sharing my experience so that y'all don't have to keep on living your life on hard mode, and driving your Lamborghini brain on unplowed fields when it was built for a different purpose. If you find yourself relating to the article we're discussing (Late Again), you'll likely find the links below interesting. [1] https://romankogan.net/adhd#Hyperfocus https://romankogan.net/adhd#Hyperfocus [2] https://romankogan.net/adhd/#Interruptions https://romankogan.net/adhd/#Interruptions [3] https://www.additudemag.com/flow-state-vs-hyperfocus-adhd/ https://www.additudemag.com/flow-state-vs-hyperfocus-adhd/ [4] romankogan.net/adhd#Getting%20Started [5] https://romankogan.net/adhd/#ADHD%20Switches https://romankogan.net/adhd/#ADHD%20Switches [6] https://romankogan.net/adhd/#Being%20Late https://romankogan.net/adhd/#Being%20Late [7] https://romankogan.net/adhd/#Awfully%20Described%20Human%20Disorder https://romankogan.net/adhd/#Awfully%20Described%20Human%20D...

paulryanrogers 2y ago

Or allow folks to each have their own meeting reminder default. I do this as one minute ahead and disregard any bundled with the event.

jahbrewski 2y ago

Hmm, my experience with people who are chronically late is that the specific time doesn't matter. This sounds good in theory, but I think those people would just show up at 10:40.

pil0u 2y ago

With digital calendars, I just set a reminder 5 minutes before all my meetings. Whether it starts at 10:30, 10:35 or 10:47, I will always have time pee or grab a snack or prepare the meeting or even all of that.

from-nibly 2y ago
Not if people schedule back to back meetings. The point of starting it on the 5 and ending on 0 is that you cant schedule a meeting with no gap after the previous. You will always have at least 5 minutes.
- projectazorian 2y ago
  Or you could tell the people in meeting A that you have to leave 5 min early - best option if possible. Alternatively, tell the people in meeting B that you will be 5 minutes late. Lateness communicated in advance is far less disruptive than unannounced lateness. If neither of those are possible, reschedule one or the other meeting. If it's impossible to reschedule either meeting, and this happens a lot, then there's a larger problem.
  - noodlesUK 2y ago
    I think that deliberately building in buffer so that people's expectations are explicitly set is much better than constantly having to absent yourself "early".

from-nibly 2y ago

I don't know how everyone is missing this, but it means that if everyone follows this rule you cant ever have back to back meetings. There will always be a 5 munite buffer. This isnt solving for reminders or any of that junk. This is forcefully giving you a window to have the previous meeting go over a touch or going to the bathroom even if your day is slammed.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
soco 2y ago
And going to the bathroom is bad because...? What if you need to grab a coffee? Or god forbid have lunch? Oh noes, the economy!
- from-nibly 2y ago
  Its not? Im not sure in what way you are misinterpreting me. I think its a great idea to force no back to back meetings. People need effing breaks and other people need to be on time.
pertymcpert 2y ago
Why is back to back meetings without a bathroom break a good thing?
- from-nibly 2y ago
  Its not.
  - pertymcpert 2y ago
    You said: > I don't know how everyone is missing this, but it means that if everyone follows this rule you cant ever have back to back meetings. So of course based on that wording people are going to think you're being put out by not having back-to-backs.

sseagull 2y ago

Reminiscent of “Berkeley Time”, where classes are scheduled back-to-back, but there is an implicit 10 minute buffer. Why they don’t just make it explicit I will never understand. https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Berkeley-Time-10-minutes-late-university-policy-13182558.php https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Berkeley-Time-10-minu...

recursivecaveat 2y ago
This is close to how my alma mater functioned, everything ended on the 50 or the 20 and started on 00 or 30. Just enough time to climb up out of a basement on one end, make the hike, and descend to the furthest classroom on the other. With lectures the content is rigidly planned and controlled by one person, so the end time is more respected than more open-ended and participatory work meetings I find.
madcaptenor 2y ago
When I taught there as a lecturer nobody bothered to onboard me, because academia. The one thing I made sure I knew before I started was what time do classes start and end, because I knew my students would know. And my undergrad started five minutes after and ended five minutes before, while my grad school started on the hour and ended ten minutes before, so I was aware the custom varied from place to place. It worked out nicely when I had therapy just off-campus at 11 AM (11-11:50, because that's how therapists do it) immediately before a class that started at noon (12:10 - 1:00), although sometimes I was emotionally a wreck while teaching...
CRConrad 2y ago
In Sweden -- or at least in Uppsala, that is, which is the only university I have attended -- it was (and probably still is?) called "akademisk kvart", the "academic quarter" (of an hour). Everything was said to begin at <<some hour>>, but that was understood to mean at quarter past <<the hour>>.

stavros 2y ago

Google Calendar has a "speedy meeting" option that kind of does this, but it makes meetings end a few minutes earlier. Unfortunately, nobody really pays attention to exactly when the meeting ends, so you just end up losing this window. Your idea to start later is great.

_heimdall 2y ago

There's still a lot of room there for issues, even if every meeting actually does end on time. Say on person or team takes that to always have meetings end at :25 or :55, another always ends at :35 or :05, and another team say :15 and :45 for any meeting end times. In my experience meetings seem to fall into common durations, always in intervals of 15 minutes but most common at 30 minutes or an hour. I'd go even more strict on times and say meetings must start at :00 or :30, and always end by :25 or :55. That enforces a 5 minute window and standardizes start times without preventing longer meetings that need to run for 90 minutes or longer.

noodlesUK 2y ago

I will say this is significantly psychologically superior to the alternative where things start on the 0 and end on the 5, because people pay much more attention to the start of meetings than the end time. If the end time is set 5 min before people intuitively expect, it will regularly run over and consume your buffer, whereas people will essentially never start early.

romwell 2y ago

>All meetings should start at a time ending in 5 on the minutes side. Eg. 10:35 is a valid start time. This is an excellent example of an ADHD accommodation that costs nothing to implement, and is absolutely welcomed by neurotypical people too. Same goes for having meeting-free days, and a culture that teaches people to be mindful of interruptions[1]. Unsurprisingly, it's something companies like Meta have (software engineering tends to attract ADHD folks because Hyperfocus[2] is a trait of something ironically called attention deficit, and coding marathons are a great example of that in action). Programmers talk about Flow all the time, but that's what Hyperfocus can easily mistaken for[3]. If you find it difficult to get started[4], but once you get going, you forget the world exists and find it difficult to switch out of whatever you're doing[5], and stopping feels painful.. yeah, that's hyperfocus. Which, along with being late all the time[6], is an ADHD trait. ADHD is surely the worst-named affliction.[7] Found out the hard way at the age of 34. Sharing my experience so that y'all don't have to keep on living your life on hard mode, and driving your Lamborghini brain on unplowed fields when it was built for a different purpose. If you find yourself relating to the article we're discussing (Late Again), you'll likely find the links below interesting. [1] https://romankogan.net/adhd#Hyperfocus https://romankogan.net/adhd#Hyperfocus [2] https://romankogan.net/adhd/#Interruptions https://romankogan.net/adhd/#Interruptions [3] https://www.additudemag.com/flow-state-vs-hyperfocus-adhd/ https://www.additudemag.com/flow-state-vs-hyperfocus-adhd/ [4] romankogan.net/adhd#Getting%20Started [5] https://romankogan.net/adhd/#ADHD%20Switches https://romankogan.net/adhd/#ADHD%20Switches [6] https://romankogan.net/adhd/#Being%20Late https://romankogan.net/adhd/#Being%20Late [7] https://romankogan.net/adhd/#Awfully%20Described%20Human%20Disorder https://romankogan.net/adhd/#Awfully%20Described%20Human%20D...