It’s almost 5 PM and you have almost no work done. But you have been so busy. Where is the feeling of accomplishment? Have you been in meetings all day? There it is, you have your culprit.
But right after work, you are going out with a couple of friends. Checking out this new restaurant everyone is talking about. These plans fill you with excitement.
“But isn't it yet another meeting?”
“No, it's completely different…”
“Why? Because you hate people at work?”
“No, I actually like them a lot! I always enjoy talking to them.”
“It must be something else. You hate your job.”
“No!”
Why is it that at work we “go to meetings” and never “meet someone?”
MEETINGS ARE POINTLESS
If you ever worked in a big organization, you must have been in many meetings. And you would not hesitate to call some of them pointless. Bad ones seem this way even before you go. The worst ones prove you right.
But have you ever called meeting another person pointless? It sounds a little out of place. You have to admit, it doesn't happen anywhere near as often as with meetings. “Meeting someone” seems a little different than “being in a meeting," even with the same person.
I would argue that when meeting someone, you can always name a couple of reasons for the get-together. They need not even be practical. I meet my friends because spending time with them makes sense to me in itself. I could as well be meeting an interior designer to discuss the color of my living room carpet.
CANCELING
The consequences of removing something give you insight into the value that it brings.
Think about your least favorite recurring meeting at work. Now imagine skipping it from now on forever. Does anything change? If not, I understand why it's your least favorite one.
Now go a step further. Try to imagine the same meeting disappearing from everyone's calendar. Would anyone bother putting it back in place? Is it only one person? And if that one person does nothing about it, would anyone else? You can see what I'm trying to say.
When the plan is to “meet someone,” be at work or not, not coming is plain rude. You and the other person or group set a date because you all wanted to. There is a reason to meet. If you don't meet today, you have to postpone. One exception could be people you don't want to be in touch with anymore. Which falls under the category of “having a meeting.”
#NOMEETINGS
So, do you think you could stop going to any meetings at all?
It depends on how we define “meetings,” which is what I have been trying to do by comparing it with “meeting someone.” My working definition of a “meeting” would be “an event you attend with others but not meet anyone.”
That anyone can be either a person or a group. You could be meeting a job candidate with another recruiter. You know very well why you are there. You could be talking to three developers from your team for hours in search of the best model for your domain. At the end of the day, you would know very well where that time went.
Anything I am not able to phrase this way, I will consider skipping. I don't know if you have ever tried asking people if you could skip their meetings. If you even consider that, chances are you are not needed and will hear “yes.”
SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEMS
Many junior developers don't ask for help often enough. When they get stuck, they put everything they have into solving it themselves. More senior people keep close track of time and often communicate blockers. For some reason, all of them complain about “meetings,” but do nothing about it!
It is great to help someone “solve their own problems.” My point is, “meetings” are one of those. If you complain about having too many “meetings,” try doing something about it. You can start by checking at which ones you are not “meeting someone.”
If you don't go, maybe no one will notice?
