Meeting about Meetings
The subject of meetings in some corners of Corporate America has been very well documneted. I only revisit it to tell a story about what's going on in my little corner of that world.
We now have so many project “stand-ups” going on that all the key players cannot attend the meetings where their presence is required.
Long time readers of the Hobbled Runner will recall the famous Koosh Ball incident. Newer readers need only know that a stand-up is a short (usually 15 minute) meeting to check on progress of ongoing projects. Some meeting leaders enforce the standing only rule, but most allow sitting. Since most of these stand-up meetings involve our “partners” in India they take place in the early dawn Minnesota time which is early evening “over there”.
An example of how bad it's gotten: A colleague of mine told me she has 6 conference calls daily between 6:30 and 8:00 AM most days.
I really can’t complain because I have only one 7:15 meeting every day – with an additional 7:45 thrown in on Wednesdays.
Because of the problem of two many meetings, one of my stand-ups this morning started 10 minutes late (we had to wait for those "running" or dialing from stand-up to stand-up). Once under way we took up the topic of "too many meetinngs". As we listed off all the meetings currently underway that have contributed to this problem, I learned of two I should be attending but had never even heard of! Great move John – you now have two more meetings on your calendar!
Anyway, the problem is "Too Many Meetings".
The solution: We will soon be holding a meeting about these meetings in an effort to solve the problem consolidation or cancellation of existing meetings.
We now have so many project “stand-ups” going on that all the key players cannot attend the meetings where their presence is required.
Long time readers of the Hobbled Runner will recall the famous Koosh Ball incident. Newer readers need only know that a stand-up is a short (usually 15 minute) meeting to check on progress of ongoing projects. Some meeting leaders enforce the standing only rule, but most allow sitting. Since most of these stand-up meetings involve our “partners” in India they take place in the early dawn Minnesota time which is early evening “over there”.
An example of how bad it's gotten: A colleague of mine told me she has 6 conference calls daily between 6:30 and 8:00 AM most days.
I really can’t complain because I have only one 7:15 meeting every day – with an additional 7:45 thrown in on Wednesdays.
Because of the problem of two many meetings, one of my stand-ups this morning started 10 minutes late (we had to wait for those "running" or dialing from stand-up to stand-up). Once under way we took up the topic of "too many meetinngs". As we listed off all the meetings currently underway that have contributed to this problem, I learned of two I should be attending but had never even heard of! Great move John – you now have two more meetings on your calendar!
Anyway, the problem is "Too Many Meetings".
The solution: We will soon be holding a meeting about these meetings in an effort to solve the problem consolidation or cancellation of existing meetings.
Comments