05
Thu, Dec
6 New Articles

The Day Meetings Swallowed the Earth

General
Typography
  • Smaller Small Medium Big Bigger
  • Default Helvetica Segoe Georgia Times

 

Does it ever seem to you that you go to work just to go to meetings and not to actually work? Yeah, the line forms to the right, pal. But is it really that way, or is it all in your head?

Raise your hand if you feel that you just aren’t involved in enough meetings in your work life. Hmmm, just as I thought, only a few hands raised. And I really think most of them are confused and actually want to leave the room for a few minutes.

Unless you’re working in a monastery, copying ancient manuscripts so that when the Vikings (no offense to Vikings, they are a swell bunch of fellas, and not to indicate that Vikings are only men, there are women Vikings too) come pillaging again, we won’t lose the last copy of Richard Castle’s latest book, you probably attend more than your share of meetings in a given work day.

We’re Collaborating. Hurray!

We all know where this whole collaboration push has come from (blame Silicon Valley billionaires and people who write articles), but everyone has sure bought in. Individual offices and even cubicles have disappeared from most offices so that we can just be constantly collaborating.

Not that there’s something wrong with collaborating. Done properly it is probably one of the best ways to cross-pollinate our ideas and to run them up the flag pole to see if anyone declares war.

But being collaborative is not the same as being “meeting bound.” And unfortunately, one of the most important ways in which companies today seek to be collaborative is to have a ton of meetings involving everyone they can find.

I personally am not sure that I agree with this perspective. Most meetings have more to do with a committee structure than they do with collaboration, and sometimes the output of a committee is quite sub-optimal.

We Have to Be in the Know

One of the most important reasons that meetings have begun to run wild is the need to “keep everyone in the loop.”

Part of this is nice, a sincere effort to make sure that everyone has the visibility they need to know where the company/project/whatever is going and how it’s doing.

Unfortunately, and pardon me if you feel I am overly cynical, the corporate/organization environment is sometimes a life-size “blame game.” If a project is successful, then the credit generally goes to the people at the top. And I mean the real credit: promotions, bonuses, that sort of thing. And if the project does not go well, then the hunt for responsible parties begins. Oh, we disguise it as “making sure this doesn’t happen again,” but for the most part we are looking for victims.

That sounds like a mean-spirited, vigilante process, and I don’t mean it that way at all, but the truth is, if things go south, the organization will look to see who dropped the ball. So from both directions, above and below, people are drawn to meetings because no one wants to be left out of the “decision chain.”

That is, from above, managers tend toward inviting everyone they can think of because they don’t want to be the manager who forgot to involve the infrastructure architecture security team. And, from the bottom, when line people hear of an initiative, they will not run from a chance to be part of it because who knows what their involvement might be.

The result is we all have lots of meetings that chew up our time. But they do more than take up time.

The Real Downside of Meeting Mania

Of course, the obvious thing we think of when we look at the downside of meetings is the lost time. Let’s face it, if you spend six of your eight hours in meetings, that doesn’t leave much time for anything else. Or maybe it doesn’t really matter. After all, when you’re in a meeting, aren’t you really working?

I don’t know. You tell me. Honestly, what are most of us doing frantically while the meeting is going on? Why email, of course. We’re checking it, reading it, replying to it, sending it, and checking our fantasy teams. So, that’s working, right?

That’s actually an excellent question. When we’re doing email, are we working? Or are we just responding to someone else’s needs? If emailing is working, then why do so many business efficiency and “habits of highly well-paid people” advise us to turn off email except for a couple of times during the day?

For the purposes of this article, I am going to say that emailing is not working, at least not working with a capital “W.” It is mini work for the most part, housekeeping kinds of things. It is our way of staying in the loop and being proactive without being truly proactive.

Part of the reason for that is the way most of us handle our email. That is, multiple times. A visual representation of most people’s inbox would look like the kind of messy desk that is no longer allowed at most offices. But that is another article for another day.

The bottom line is, unless this is your meeting, organized and called for by you, chances are any time spent on it will just be deducted from the time you have in the day to do your real job, the one that is going to make your mark in the organization.

Lost Concentration

One of the most dangerous meeting scenarios, in terms of your productivity, are serial meetings separated by discrete time intervals. For example, maybe you have a meeting from 9-10. Then another from 11-12. Theoretically, you should be able to use the time from 10-11 to do your own work. Will you?

I don’t have any hard facts, but my observations are…no, you probably won’t. You might mean to, but chances are it will take 15 minutes or so after the meeting and the inevitable after-meeting conversations to get back to your work space and get back on track with something different. And then you will have one eye on the clock because you know you have a meeting coming up in just few.

I could be wrong, but I’ve got a better than even feeling that you will end up frittering away that hour. You might do some small tasks, some relatively unimportant ones, but it is unlikely that you will tackle something of great importance. And it is those great-importance things that are, or should be, the reason you are at work.

Better Decisions?

But we make better decisions in meetings, don’t we? I mean a dozen heads are better than one, right? It’s the synergy of people working together that helps bring things home.

I have to admit, I did Google this to see what was out there, but it was mostly junk about how to have good meetings. To my mind, that’s sort of like saying “how to have a nice murder,” but I have spent a lot of time in meetings, especially over the past two years, and I may be just a bit jaded.

In the end, I don’t know the answer to this. I think about most of the meetings I have been in over the last few years, and the key thing I zero in on is eye contact. How many of the people in the meeting that I am running (and my meetings are pretty good; I do have a bit of a sense of humor and a rye outlook on things, don’t you know) actually establish eye contact? Those that don’t are doing email. And I have to ask you, when you are doing email, how much attention are you paying to the meeting? And if you are not paying attention to the meeting, how useful are your comments and thoughts?

In the end, if 10 people are invited to a meeting, a video would clearly show that only three of them were required: the leader and the two people who actually know something.

So?

Can you imagine a company without meetings?

No, I mean can you imagine when you are sober, a company without meetings? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Somehow, there has to be collaboration. The question is, how can we do that without doing meetings the way most people do them? And that topic will have to wait until next month. But this was fun, wasn’t it? Nothing like meeting bashing to bring in a crowd.

 

David Shirey

David Shirey is president of Shirey Consulting Services, providing technical and business consulting services for the IBM i world. Among the services provided are IBM i technical support, including application design and programming services, ERP installation and support, and EDI setup and maintenance. With experience in a wide range of industries (food and beverage to electronics to hard manufacturing to drugs--the legal kind--to medical devices to fulfillment houses) and a wide range of business sizes served (from very large, like Fresh Express, to much smaller, like Labconco), SCS has the knowledge and experience to assist with your technical or business issues. You may contact Dave by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at (616) 304-2466.


MC Press books written by David Shirey available now on the MC Press Bookstore.

21st Century RPG: /Free, ILE, and MVC 21st Century RPG: /Free, ILE, and MVC
Boost your productivity, modernize your applications, and upgrade your skills with these powerful coding methods.
List Price $69.95

Now On Sale

BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS

LATEST COMMENTS

Support MC Press Online

$

Book Reviews

Resource Center

  • SB Profound WC 5536 Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application. You can find Part 1 here. In Part 2 of our free Node.js Webinar Series, Brian May teaches you the different tooling options available for writing code, debugging, and using Git for version control. Brian will briefly discuss the different tools available, and demonstrate his preferred setup for Node development on IBM i or any platform. Attend this webinar to learn:

  • SB Profound WP 5539More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT Generic IBM announced the E1080 servers using the latest Power10 processor in September 2021. The most powerful processor from IBM to date, Power10 is designed to handle the demands of doing business in today’s high-tech atmosphere, including running cloud applications, supporting big data, and managing AI workloads. But what does Power10 mean for your data center? In this recorded webinar, IBMers Dan Sundt and Dylan Boday join IBM Power Champion Tom Huntington for a discussion on why Power10 technology is the right strategic investment if you run IBM i, AIX, or Linux. In this action-packed hour, Tom will share trends from the IBM i and AIX user communities while Dan and Dylan dive into the tech specs for key hardware, including:

  • Magic MarkTRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now!  Request Now.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericForms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericIT security is a top priority for businesses around the world, but most IBM i pros don’t know where to begin—and most cybersecurity experts don’t know IBM i. In this session, Robin Tatam explores the business impact of lax IBM i security, the top vulnerabilities putting IBM i at risk, and the steps you can take to protect your organization. If you’re looking to avoid unexpected downtime or corrupted data, you don’t want to miss this session.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericCan you trust all of your users all of the time? A typical end user receives 16 malicious emails each month, but only 17 percent of these phishing campaigns are reported to IT. Once an attack is underway, most organizations won’t discover the breach until six months later. A staggering amount of damage can occur in that time. Despite these risks, 93 percent of organizations are leaving their IBM i systems vulnerable to cybercrime. In this on-demand webinar, IBM i security experts Robin Tatam and Sandi Moore will reveal:

  • FORTRA Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAManaging messages on your IBM i can be more than a full-time job if you have to do it manually. Messages need a response and resources must be monitored—often over multiple systems and across platforms. How can you be sure you won’t miss important system events? Automate your message center with the Robot Message Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAThe thought of printing, distributing, and storing iSeries reports manually may reduce you to tears. Paper and labor costs associated with report generation can spiral out of control. Mountains of paper threaten to swamp your files. Robot automates report bursting, distribution, bundling, and archiving, and offers secure, selective online report viewing. Manage your reports with the Robot Report Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAFor over 30 years, Robot has been a leader in systems management for IBM i. With batch job creation and scheduling at its core, the Robot Job Scheduling Solution reduces the opportunity for human error and helps you maintain service levels, automating even the biggest, most complex runbooks. Manage your job schedule with the Robot Job Scheduling Solution. Key features include:

  • LANSA Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.

  • LANSAWhen it comes to creating your business applications, there are hundreds of coding platforms and programming languages to choose from. These options range from very complex traditional programming languages to Low-Code platforms where sometimes no traditional coding experience is needed. Download our whitepaper, The Power of Writing Code in a Low-Code Solution, and:

  • LANSASupply Chain is becoming increasingly complex and unpredictable. From raw materials for manufacturing to food supply chains, the journey from source to production to delivery to consumers is marred with inefficiencies, manual processes, shortages, recalls, counterfeits, and scandals. In this webinar, we discuss how:

  • The MC Resource Centers bring you the widest selection of white papers, trial software, and on-demand webcasts for you to choose from. >> Review the list of White Papers, Trial Software or On-Demand Webcast at the MC Press Resource Center. >> Add the items to yru Cart and complet he checkout process and submit

  • Profound Logic Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application.

  • SB Profound WC 5536Join us for this hour-long webcast that will explore:

  • Fortra IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn: