[HN Gopher] Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule (2009) ___________________________________________________________________ Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule (2009) Author : feross Score : 32 points Date : 2021-07-28 17:56 UTC (1 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.paulgraham.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.paulgraham.com) | kokanator wrote: | This is so true I can't believe I am finally reading 12 years on. | | We have tried various things, work blocks, no meeting days, etc. | without ever really understand what the true root of the issue | is. | | I am curious how others have solved this dilemma in a very | business driven world where things are to be managed. | briandilley wrote: | Here's how we do it: | | - Get rid of as many standing meetings as you can, and then get | rid of more of them (1 a week is max) | | - At the end of every standing meeting, ask the group "Do we | still need this meeting?" | | - If you feel you need a regular standup, do it on | slack/whatever-you-use instead and asynchronous | | - The non-makers still need to be able to communicate with the | makers, provide a clear chain of communication so that the | smallest number of makers are disturbed in an ad-hoc fashion, | preferably only 1 (usually a tech lead / engineering manager) | PragmaticPulp wrote: | > I am curious how others have solved this dilemma in a very | business driven world where things are to be managed. | | As an engineer-turned-manager, I try to be respectful of | people's time when it comes to meetings. | | Basic meeting courtesy is mandatory: | | - Schedule meetings at convenient times for everyone, | preferably around natural breaks like lunch time. 1PM meeting | after lunch before everyone gets back to work is good. 10:30AM | meetings that break up people's morning are bad. | | - Send a short agenda for the meeting in the invite. No agenda | = no meeting is a good rule. Request agendas from others when | invited to a meeting. | | - Stick to the agenda and respect people's time. If a | conversation goes on more than a few minutes but only concerns | a few people, either have them take it offline or add it to the | bottom of the agenda so you can cover it after everyone else | has been dismissed. | | - Keep things as predictable as possible. It's much better if | everyone knows that meetings are generally scheduled around | lunch time, always come with an agenda, and that off-topic | discussions will be discouraged. Don't keep people guessing | about whether or not a meeting will be productive. | | Finally, some employees can benefit from a little coaching and | mentoring about how to get back in the groove. If someone is | struggling to get anything done on days with meetings, they | will likely benefit from some coaching about how to best manage | interruptions and get back into the workflow. They can also | benefit from increased accountability around those days, which | doesn't have to be painful if handled correctly. Some people | have some "learned helplessness" around interruptions at other | companies where they don't bother doing anything on days where | meetings are on their calendar. Training this out of employees | and setting healthy but reasonable expectations is very | important. | PragmaticPulp wrote: | I remember this article being very influential to me when I read | it over a decade ago. This entry in particular resonated with my | younger self: | | > I find one meeting can sometimes affect a whole day. A meeting | commonly blows at least half a day, by breaking up a morning or | afternoon. But in addition there's sometimes a cascading effect. | If I know the afternoon is going to be broken up, I'm slightly | less likely to start something ambitious in the morning. I know | this may sound oversensitive, but if you're a maker, think of | your own case. | | Over the years as I've gone back and forth between IC and | management, adjusted my working schedule after having kids, and | generally improved my self-control habits, I no longer identify | with this part of the essay. | | In retrospect, this essay told me what I wanted to hear at the | time: That I was a _maker_ and that my _managers_ just didn 't | understand that my lack of productivity was actually their fault | for scheduling a single 1-hour meeting in the middle of the day. | I thought meetings should be someone else's job, not mine, and I | ate up every excuse to despise them. This essay included. | | The reality was that my company at the time didn't have an | excessive number of meetings, nor were they poorly run. Some | companies really do have a ridiculous number of poorly-run | meetings, but it's not the norm at well-run engineering companies | in my experience. (If your company is all meetings and no work, | it's time to change jobs). | | Eventually I started making an effort to get back into the groove | quickly after interruptions. When I get back to my desk, I pause | for a moment and make a deliberate effort to recall where I left | off. I decide what I'm going to work on before I unlock the | screen. I resist the urge to pull up my e-mail or HN or Twitter | or Instagram for "just a few minutes" before getting back to | work. And to my surprise, it worked! If I put some minimal effort | into it, I can get right back into the task I was working on, | even complex ones like debugging complicated programs. | | PG talking about "spirits" dictating our productivity now reminds | me of a famous quote that has been attributed to various authors | at different times: | | > I write when I'm inspired, and I see to it that I'm inspired at | nine o'clock every morning. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-07-28 19:00 UTC)