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Placeholder thread for likely rant about the folly of meeting-centric culture in large organizations. https://twitter.com/vllry/status/1340911453193162753
I have a lot to say about this mess. Going to nibble on some breakfast and some thoughts first.
So for background... I work with over 300,000 people in a very large company. I'm in middle management and check a lot of privilege boxes. I'm also not very risk-averse when it comes to doing the right thing. So what's working for me might not work for you.
I've worked for very small companies, too. Like < 100 people. And I've worked at every size in between. I've seen some different ways of doing things and have some thoughts here.
Meetings: they can be very useful when there are clear objectives, someone is keeping things on-topic, and the meeting concludes when the objectives have been reached. These can be much better than email or chat for high-bandwidth, low-latency collaboration.
And I often think the very best meetings are working sessions. Not to talk about a thing, but to achieve a shared outcome while inside of the meeting.
In small companies, there's a lot more time available for heads-down work. Engineering managers can be part engineer, part manager, because they've got a lot of time not inside of meetings where they can actually contribute to building things.
But as companies grow, every team has its own agenda. Every person has their own agenda. And there's a lot of cultural push to collaborate, so somehow all of these agendas must be satisfied.
Because of this organizational scope creep, I think somewhere over the 300 employee mark is when the weight of meetings starts being felt by more employees, more heavily. And certainly at 1,000+ it's substantial. Maybe more substantial than actual work.
Here's a thought that often gets greeting with stunned silence if you raise it in the enterprise:
Do less to do more.
That is to say, limit the scope of what you're focusing on to just a couple of things and do them really well.
Do less to do more.
That is to say, limit the scope of what you're focusing on to just a couple of things and do them really well.
I know all of this other stuff seems important (team player, right?) but is it really? Or is it noise?
Like if you could name the top 3 things you need to be working on, are all of those other things anywhere near as important?
Like if you could name the top 3 things you need to be working on, are all of those other things anywhere near as important?
But all of those less important things are where the meetings live. And we accept all of those meetings because we can't imagine how we might look if we decline... or ask tough questions about the point of them.
Right now I'm lower middle management in a huge company. If I ever get higher with my values intact, I'd like to suggest one of my priorities would be to get crispy clear on what our shared goals are, redact the less important work than that.
And then... once everyone is on the same page about goals, look at decisions through that lens.
Will this meeting help us to achieve our shared goal?
Will this extra obligation that someone is trying to assign to me help us to achieve our shared goal?
If not, just say no.
Will this meeting help us to achieve our shared goal?
Will this extra obligation that someone is trying to assign to me help us to achieve our shared goal?
If not, just say no.
And it has to be safe to say no.
Senior leaders should be accountable to, you know, leading. Not leading us into side missions but leading us PAST distractions to our shared goals.
Senior leaders should be accountable to, you know, leading. Not leading us into side missions but leading us PAST distractions to our shared goals.
Side note: Sometimes I talk myself into entrepreneurial thoughts. This is one of those times.
I'd like to see a workplace culture where workers have agency to say no to meetings that aren't an effective use of their time. Or ghost out of meetings that are clearly a waste.
I do this.
I try to convince people who report to me to, also.
But damn it can be scary sometimes.
I do this.
I try to convince people who report to me to, also.
But damn it can be scary sometimes.
