Friday format: Is there life after the meeting?
Today, at 1cloud , we decided to touch upon another “sore” topic - meetings. Surely they were invented to increase efficiency, but over time they turned into a legitimate and rather sophisticated form of torture. So what are the bad meetings?
For example, they often have too many unnecessary people who are almost unrelated to the topic under discussion and frankly bored. Of course, meetings can be built in different ways. But here lies the problem: the duties of the manager include including the organization of meetings, meetings with clients and the work of employees.
/ Flickr / nate grigg / CC-BY
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Therefore, the manager spends his time with benefit . But the 8 remaining employees present at the daily one-hour rally, lose their time. And the company's money, since at this moment they do not fulfill their direct duties.
It is good if each of these 8 people receives feedback or assistance in work, and not only struggles with sleep or sends funny pictures to his colleagues in misfortune. Although the study , which we talked about in January, employees who spend more time at meetings, get a big salary.
By the way, according to Basecamp co-founder Jason Fried, only a bunch of “manager + meeting”, or M & Ms (as you already understood, from English Managers & Meetings) can be worse than meetings. He is sure that this is the most destructive power in the office, which simply does not allow employees to work.
Therefore, he proposes to abandon meetings altogether and solve questions by e-mail, and send the employees remotely. However, the extent to which unsupervised work will be more efficient and how to find out what employees actually do during the day from home is difficult to answer. Here they will have a whole working day to search and send memes, not just a meeting. Therefore, we will try to figure out how to solve the problem in less radical ways.
What kind of meetings are there? Most often, operational meetings are held, the purpose of which is to obtain up-to-date information on the current state of affairs, and meetings to solve problems or search for innovative solutions. Usually all those who are engaged in brainstorming, determining the next steps and setting goals for the future take an active part.
Less often meetings are held to inform, where the speaker is one and the other participants are passive listeners. Meetings at which decisions are made are more relevant to top management, but ordinary experts can be invited to them to argue any point of view.
One of the most widely used methodologies, scrum, is based on dividing the work period into small, limited time periods, called sprints, and redistributing managerial responsibilities among team members.
There are as many as five kinds of meetings that are included in this methodology. I am glad that not all of them should be held on a daily basis. For example, sprint planning is carried out once at the very beginning, where the overall end goal is determined and the technical implementation of the details is discussed. A review of the results of the sprint and a retrospective meeting are held, on the contrary, at the very end and their goal is to present the product and discuss the results of the team’s work.
But there are also mandatory daily meetings: 15-minute meetings, where everyone answers three questions: what has he done since the last meeting, what will he do today and what obstacles / problems does he see. Then on the same system there is a meeting at the inter-team level. As planned by the authors, it helps to identify difficulties at the initial stage, maintain a fast pace of work and strengthen the team spirit.
But why is the good idea behind the daily scrum meeting system not so effective in practice? Not all employees share this philosophy: and if the form of management itself suits almost everyone, then the daily rallies are unlikely to please most of the people. Even if they last only 15 minutes. And the main reason - the need every day to say something about their work.
The phrase “yesterday I worked on bug X, today I will work on bug Y” does not look very convincing. In order not to lose face against the background of more eloquent or active colleagues, many are beginning to embellish their achievements a little. And then the whole point of such meetings disappears.
One of the solutions is not to talk about what everyone is going to do, but about what he must do in order to achieve the ultimate goal. The edge here is quite subtle, but there is a difference - a different wording helps to think about goals and think over the work plan in more detail.
In general, there are a lot of varieties of agile-methodologies, and each of them is unique in its own way, except that their implementation in practice does not always coincide with the original goals. And all the same Jason Fried (Basecamp) generally believes that daily meetings only demotivate employees. But, no matter how many developers would like to follow Fried's precepts, unfortunately, the cancellation of meetings is not always possible. Therefore, you need to work with what we have: you can try to improve the format.
Changing the format can begin with the introduction of a clear plan, where all the topics on the agenda, the order of speakers and the time allotted for each speaker will be spelled out. Following this timing will help avoid conversations on abstract topics that always happen.
Agree, quite often, even a discussion of the choice of the color of the menu bar can go in different directions : from a scientific dispute about the effect of a certain color scale on a person’s consciousness to a debate about which programming language would be best suited for the current project. Therefore, the introduction of timing will significantly reduce the number of such discussions.
To ensure that the atmosphere remains friendly when such a tight timing is observed, special time can be allotted for jokes . For example, to invite each participant in the meeting at the very beginning to tell a joke or a short story. Such a discharge helps relieve tension, and employees begin to feel more comfortable.
Another similar tool is to provide some kind of reward at the end of the meeting. Of course, if employees pay extra for attending meetings, they will be much more enthusiastic, but from the point of view of the business process, this is unlikely to be profitable. It is better to use something less expensive, which will simply lift your spirits and also relax the atmosphere a little.
A great option is cookies with predictions that can be opened by the whole team at the end of the meeting. But another encouragement will do, as long as employees feel a certain concern. And about the bonuses that are accepted in IT companies can read here .
The number of people dissatisfied with ordinary meetings is probably very large, as there are also many proposals to change the system on the Internet. We already wrote about one of the reasons in our article . Many of our readers will certainly be able to share their thoughts and suggestions on this topic.
One of the ways is guaranteed to reduce the time for discussion of all issues, perhaps it works even better than timing. The so-called stand-up-meetings are not connected with the inexhaustible flow of humor, but with the fact that the meeting is held standing.
This situation is quite uncomfortable and the employees are unlikely to be able to nod. At the same time, everyone will try to speak as briefly as possible so that the inconvenience will end quickly and you can return to your heated office chair. Another side effect is a less formal atmosphere. But plus or minus depends on each specific case.
But with the end of the meeting, the work of the manager should not end. It is very important to send out to all participants a short memo with the main points and solutions. This is the only way to ensure that employees do not miss anything important. Another way is to prohibit the use of mobile devices, but it is almost impossible to forbid a person to think about something or stop attempts at an easy nap. Therefore, the memo is more reliable. Yes, and mobile devices may well be used for the benefit: it is so easy to make notes.
In addition, experts advise to work on the errors and request feedback from the participants of the meeting with a request to evaluate different aspects (from the topic of the meeting to its format), give comments and make specific suggestions. The analysis of such reviews, of course, will take enough time, but, then, it will be possible to understand what programmers lack. But, the main thing is that these opinions are actually taken into account, and the next meetings become better.
The process of preparing and organizing the meeting itself can be applied in current work. For example, the time-blocking system is based on this approach: you need to allocate a limited period of time for work, prepare a clear plan of action and not be distracted by checking e-mail and the Internet.
In general, with proper organization of the meeting, they are more likely to benefit than harm. And finding the option that suits everyone, given the number of different methods and theories, is quite realistic today.
For example, they often have too many unnecessary people who are almost unrelated to the topic under discussion and frankly bored. Of course, meetings can be built in different ways. But here lies the problem: the duties of the manager include including the organization of meetings, meetings with clients and the work of employees.
/ Flickr / nate grigg / CC-BY')
Therefore, the manager spends his time with benefit . But the 8 remaining employees present at the daily one-hour rally, lose their time. And the company's money, since at this moment they do not fulfill their direct duties.
It is good if each of these 8 people receives feedback or assistance in work, and not only struggles with sleep or sends funny pictures to his colleagues in misfortune. Although the study , which we talked about in January, employees who spend more time at meetings, get a big salary.
By the way, according to Basecamp co-founder Jason Fried, only a bunch of “manager + meeting”, or M & Ms (as you already understood, from English Managers & Meetings) can be worse than meetings. He is sure that this is the most destructive power in the office, which simply does not allow employees to work.
Therefore, he proposes to abandon meetings altogether and solve questions by e-mail, and send the employees remotely. However, the extent to which unsupervised work will be more efficient and how to find out what employees actually do during the day from home is difficult to answer. Here they will have a whole working day to search and send memes, not just a meeting. Therefore, we will try to figure out how to solve the problem in less radical ways.
Types of meetings
What kind of meetings are there? Most often, operational meetings are held, the purpose of which is to obtain up-to-date information on the current state of affairs, and meetings to solve problems or search for innovative solutions. Usually all those who are engaged in brainstorming, determining the next steps and setting goals for the future take an active part.
Less often meetings are held to inform, where the speaker is one and the other participants are passive listeners. Meetings at which decisions are made are more relevant to top management, but ordinary experts can be invited to them to argue any point of view.
One of the most widely used methodologies, scrum, is based on dividing the work period into small, limited time periods, called sprints, and redistributing managerial responsibilities among team members.
There are as many as five kinds of meetings that are included in this methodology. I am glad that not all of them should be held on a daily basis. For example, sprint planning is carried out once at the very beginning, where the overall end goal is determined and the technical implementation of the details is discussed. A review of the results of the sprint and a retrospective meeting are held, on the contrary, at the very end and their goal is to present the product and discuss the results of the team’s work.
But there are also mandatory daily meetings: 15-minute meetings, where everyone answers three questions: what has he done since the last meeting, what will he do today and what obstacles / problems does he see. Then on the same system there is a meeting at the inter-team level. As planned by the authors, it helps to identify difficulties at the initial stage, maintain a fast pace of work and strengthen the team spirit.
But why is the good idea behind the daily scrum meeting system not so effective in practice? Not all employees share this philosophy: and if the form of management itself suits almost everyone, then the daily rallies are unlikely to please most of the people. Even if they last only 15 minutes. And the main reason - the need every day to say something about their work.
The phrase “yesterday I worked on bug X, today I will work on bug Y” does not look very convincing. In order not to lose face against the background of more eloquent or active colleagues, many are beginning to embellish their achievements a little. And then the whole point of such meetings disappears.
One of the solutions is not to talk about what everyone is going to do, but about what he must do in order to achieve the ultimate goal. The edge here is quite subtle, but there is a difference - a different wording helps to think about goals and think over the work plan in more detail.
In general, there are a lot of varieties of agile-methodologies, and each of them is unique in its own way, except that their implementation in practice does not always coincide with the original goals. And all the same Jason Fried (Basecamp) generally believes that daily meetings only demotivate employees. But, no matter how many developers would like to follow Fried's precepts, unfortunately, the cancellation of meetings is not always possible. Therefore, you need to work with what we have: you can try to improve the format.
Practical advice
Changing the format can begin with the introduction of a clear plan, where all the topics on the agenda, the order of speakers and the time allotted for each speaker will be spelled out. Following this timing will help avoid conversations on abstract topics that always happen.
Agree, quite often, even a discussion of the choice of the color of the menu bar can go in different directions : from a scientific dispute about the effect of a certain color scale on a person’s consciousness to a debate about which programming language would be best suited for the current project. Therefore, the introduction of timing will significantly reduce the number of such discussions.
To ensure that the atmosphere remains friendly when such a tight timing is observed, special time can be allotted for jokes . For example, to invite each participant in the meeting at the very beginning to tell a joke or a short story. Such a discharge helps relieve tension, and employees begin to feel more comfortable.
Another similar tool is to provide some kind of reward at the end of the meeting. Of course, if employees pay extra for attending meetings, they will be much more enthusiastic, but from the point of view of the business process, this is unlikely to be profitable. It is better to use something less expensive, which will simply lift your spirits and also relax the atmosphere a little.
A great option is cookies with predictions that can be opened by the whole team at the end of the meeting. But another encouragement will do, as long as employees feel a certain concern. And about the bonuses that are accepted in IT companies can read here .
The number of people dissatisfied with ordinary meetings is probably very large, as there are also many proposals to change the system on the Internet. We already wrote about one of the reasons in our article . Many of our readers will certainly be able to share their thoughts and suggestions on this topic.
One of the ways is guaranteed to reduce the time for discussion of all issues, perhaps it works even better than timing. The so-called stand-up-meetings are not connected with the inexhaustible flow of humor, but with the fact that the meeting is held standing.
This situation is quite uncomfortable and the employees are unlikely to be able to nod. At the same time, everyone will try to speak as briefly as possible so that the inconvenience will end quickly and you can return to your heated office chair. Another side effect is a less formal atmosphere. But plus or minus depends on each specific case.
But with the end of the meeting, the work of the manager should not end. It is very important to send out to all participants a short memo with the main points and solutions. This is the only way to ensure that employees do not miss anything important. Another way is to prohibit the use of mobile devices, but it is almost impossible to forbid a person to think about something or stop attempts at an easy nap. Therefore, the memo is more reliable. Yes, and mobile devices may well be used for the benefit: it is so easy to make notes.
In addition, experts advise to work on the errors and request feedback from the participants of the meeting with a request to evaluate different aspects (from the topic of the meeting to its format), give comments and make specific suggestions. The analysis of such reviews, of course, will take enough time, but, then, it will be possible to understand what programmers lack. But, the main thing is that these opinions are actually taken into account, and the next meetings become better.
The process of preparing and organizing the meeting itself can be applied in current work. For example, the time-blocking system is based on this approach: you need to allocate a limited period of time for work, prepare a clear plan of action and not be distracted by checking e-mail and the Internet.
In general, with proper organization of the meeting, they are more likely to benefit than harm. And finding the option that suits everyone, given the number of different methods and theories, is quite realistic today.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/321082/
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