4 ms·

It's from talking too much - many many companies plaster over their poor planning and decision-making by constantly meeting and talking. They need to cut out s

by gedy 2y ago

It's from talking too much - many many companies plaster over their poor planning and decision-making by constantly meeting and talking. They need to cut out some of the yapping by deciding, writing things down, and sharing this info.

rolph 2y ago
yes, i remember desk memos, and work orders. that would be a starting point. i have concerns about what happened to it all. i have people that actually see hand writing, even typing, as too complicated, or takes too long.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
klodolph 2y ago
Meetings are also run inefficiently. My last manager was abysmal at setting agendas for meetings, and any time he ran a meeting, it would filled with status reports (mostly for projects I won’t ever be working on) and the occasional brainstorming session for ways that our team can leverage AI. The way I handled it was to simply take over the meetings and run them myself, but that didn’t address the underlying problems (poor management skills and a lack of respect for staff time).
- jrs235 2y ago
  I'm dealing with this same situation due to a new manager. It's exhausting. That saying "people don't leave companies they leave managers" is about to prove itself true again...
bbqfog 2y ago
#1 reason for meetings is insecure managers who have massive anxiety if they don't see "butts in seats" (or the wfm equivalent). These people are the downfall of any organization and it normally starts at the top: CEO/founder.
digging 2y ago
I have a strong inverse relationship between talking and fatigue in meetings. If I'm talking, it's generally because there's something for me to say, which means I'm engaged. I guess it does hit a limit where I've talked too much, but in my role that's pretty rare. What gives me fatigue is the opposite. It's the meetings where I have nothing to say whatsoever. It's driven by the refusal, or inability, of organizers to plan or focus their meetings. I spend >95% of my meeting time trying to judge how little attention I'm allowed to pay to what's being discussed. Because I usually can't just leave and actually focus on work, but I also can't pay attention because the conversation is meaningless to me (think: discussing extremely specific problems of projects I've never heard of). There's no winning move, so "try to keep an ear open for my name or other keywords while I fidget, draw, or otherwise waste time" is unfortunately the optimal strategy in most meetings, even though it's extremely tiring. Can't imagine if I had to have my camera on. Now that I've written all this out... I might just start leaving meetings and hope I don't get fired.
- jrs235 2y ago
  You are not alone. I'm in the same boat.
- ryandrake 2y ago
  If you have nothing to contribute to the meeting, and nothing you need to hear from the meeting, just don't go. Unless you're working for one of those companies who care about meeting attendance from uninvolved people (which companies are these so I can avoid them?), then nobody is going to notice or care that you're not there. I'm double- and triple-booked most time slots of most days, so I'm constantly skipping meetings, and it's just not a big deal. Even when I'm not double-booked, I am ruthless about what meetings I agree to attend. If there is nothing for me to say or hear, I just decline the meeting and get actual work done. In 25 years of working, Lumbergh has never even once stopped by my desk to say, "Yeaaaaaah, so, Peter, I notice you haven't been coming to meetings..."
  - digging 2y ago
    > If you have nothing to contribute to the meeting, and nothing you need to hear from the meeting, just don't go. Unless you're working for one of those companies who care about meeting attendance from uninvolved people (which companies are these so I can avoid them?), then nobody is going to notice or care that you're not there. You've overlooked my prior point: I'm not given enough information (any, actually) to know this beforehand. I can assume, because it's very likely true, but then once or twice a month I'm missing from a meeting where my presence is actually useful. In an idealized training video, that's the moment where my manager would ask, "Hey, I noticed you've missed some important meetings, is there anything I can do?" and I'd explain the situation. In reality, at the start of the meeting they'll bug me 0 or more times until they give up (regardless of whether or not I'm needed at the meeting, because they probably don't know either), they'll never ask what's going on, and their mental model will slowly adjust to see me as more and more "unreliable and disinterested".

by gedy 2y ago

rolph 2y ago

yes, i remember desk memos, and work orders. that would be a starting point. i have concerns about what happened to it all. i have people that actually see hand writing, even typing, as too complicated, or takes too long.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

klodolph 2y ago

Meetings are also run inefficiently. My last manager was abysmal at setting agendas for meetings, and any time he ran a meeting, it would filled with status reports (mostly for projects I won’t ever be working on) and the occasional brainstorming session for ways that our team can leverage AI. The way I handled it was to simply take over the meetings and run them myself, but that didn’t address the underlying problems (poor management skills and a lack of respect for staff time).

jrs235 2y ago
I'm dealing with this same situation due to a new manager. It's exhausting. That saying "people don't leave companies they leave managers" is about to prove itself true again...

bbqfog 2y ago

#1 reason for meetings is insecure managers who have massive anxiety if they don't see "butts in seats" (or the wfm equivalent). These people are the downfall of any organization and it normally starts at the top: CEO/founder.

digging 2y ago

I have a strong inverse relationship between talking and fatigue in meetings. If I'm talking, it's generally because there's something for me to say, which means I'm engaged. I guess it does hit a limit where I've talked too much, but in my role that's pretty rare. What gives me fatigue is the opposite. It's the meetings where I have nothing to say whatsoever. It's driven by the refusal, or inability, of organizers to plan or focus their meetings. I spend >95% of my meeting time trying to judge how little attention I'm allowed to pay to what's being discussed. Because I usually can't just leave and actually focus on work, but I also can't pay attention because the conversation is meaningless to me (think: discussing extremely specific problems of projects I've never heard of). There's no winning move, so "try to keep an ear open for my name or other keywords while I fidget, draw, or otherwise waste time" is unfortunately the optimal strategy in most meetings, even though it's extremely tiring. Can't imagine if I had to have my camera on. Now that I've written all this out... I might just start leaving meetings and hope I don't get fired.

jrs235 2y ago
You are not alone. I'm in the same boat.
ryandrake 2y ago
If you have nothing to contribute to the meeting, and nothing you need to hear from the meeting, just don't go. Unless you're working for one of those companies who care about meeting attendance from uninvolved people (which companies are these so I can avoid them?), then nobody is going to notice or care that you're not there. I'm double- and triple-booked most time slots of most days, so I'm constantly skipping meetings, and it's just not a big deal. Even when I'm not double-booked, I am ruthless about what meetings I agree to attend. If there is nothing for me to say or hear, I just decline the meeting and get actual work done. In 25 years of working, Lumbergh has never even once stopped by my desk to say, "Yeaaaaaah, so, Peter, I notice you haven't been coming to meetings..."
- digging 2y ago
  > If you have nothing to contribute to the meeting, and nothing you need to hear from the meeting, just don't go. Unless you're working for one of those companies who care about meeting attendance from uninvolved people (which companies are these so I can avoid them?), then nobody is going to notice or care that you're not there. You've overlooked my prior point: I'm not given enough information (any, actually) to know this beforehand. I can assume, because it's very likely true, but then once or twice a month I'm missing from a meeting where my presence is actually useful. In an idealized training video, that's the moment where my manager would ask, "Hey, I noticed you've missed some important meetings, is there anything I can do?" and I'd explain the situation. In reality, at the start of the meeting they'll bug me 0 or more times until they give up (regardless of whether or not I'm needed at the meeting, because they probably don't know either), they'll never ask what's going on, and their mental model will slowly adjust to see me as more and more "unreliable and disinterested".