The target audience for this item was my team @ work.
If, like me, you are feeling the pressure of meeting or email overload, have a read of this article about decluttering ... there are some good ideas so worth a read! Those of you who have got to know me will have heard me express similar sentiments and we have made some adjustments to the routine meeting schedule, but still a long way to go! It is in all of our hands.
Don't get me wrong, some meetings are important but every meeting should have a purpose. They must add value. What about the other attendees? When you sit in a meeting, silently consider each of the other attendees and question for yourself why they are there. Why are you there? If you can’t answer these questions, what does that tell you?
With only a little effort, many meetings can be replaced by a quick ad-hoc short chat, why not try it?
Think carefully about the default time allotted for a meeting - do you really need an hour? Can you achieve the same thing in 30 or 45 minutes? Consider starting a meeting at "10 past" the traditional start times - this gives attendees time to get from one meeting to the next, take a comfort break or do whatever it is people do when they have a spare 10 minutes ... it will also mean you can properly start your meeting on time and be more effective immediately.
Imagine if we conducted a meeting audit? How many technology minutes are spent in meetings? I think you would be surprised!
Vendor meetings too, must have a purpose, they must align with strategy and priorities. We must be wary of giving vendors the wrong message, it is very unfair on them for us to waste their time without clear goals.
What about emails? Too many? Consider more ad-hoc face to face contact ... With less but more productive meetings, you might even have more time for this!
Let's propagate and build a culture where we enable productivity and get stuff done, not fall into the trap of too much bureaucracy hindering progress.
