A quick tip o' the day, that really has nothing to do specifically with software development – but is none the less a very good tip.
Meetings can be awesome and useful, or they can be useless and wasteful at best. There are a couple reasons;
- Any meeting over 30 minutes is absolutely wasteful. Too much is happening and most will fall in the gutter by the time the next meeting comes around.
- Too many topics are being covered. Attack particular points that can and will be covered and acted on. Too many topics just means more complacency and lack of activity. i.e. lower productivity.
- People get bored. Bored people means lower productivity.
- People get frustrated. Frustrated people mean lower productivity.
- If a meeting can cover key points in 5-30 minutes than management is overdoing the key conversation points.
How does one resolve this problem? How does one make sure they stay productive and help keep things moving?
- 5-30 minutes, 30 being an absolute maximum.
- 3 bullet point topics. No more, maybe less.
- Talk on the point, stay on the point, don't stray.
- Once the three points are covered, summarize the meeting verbally, and break up to accomplish action items.
That's how simple it is. Wash & repeat.
