Story Analytics

Blogathon Workspace, 11:30 AM

With all due apology to John Cleese, for he has produced educational videos by the same name, but I just love the title and had to use it!

In the video, John Cleese has a dream where he gets summoned to court for not following the meeting etiquettes, for not setting a clear agenda, not informing participants in advance of the purpose and so on.

I hate meetings. I would love for my Outlook calendar to resemble more of a football field than a checker board cluttered with meeting invites, many of which end up being double-booked.

Often if we’re busy with something, we try to attend the meeting by joining in on the conference call while working on something else. Bad.  (more on that on multi-tasking, coming up)

These days, I’ve managed to reduce the number of my meetings unless I’m absolutely necessary to participate. I have a one-on-one chat. I use Instant messaging heavily. And phones occasionally. I try to clarify things in an email if possible.

If a meeting is indeed required, it needs to follow a clear agenda. The organizer sends out an email stating the purpose, and what they intend to achieve in advance. If they don’t, I either try to get more background about the meeting, or ask if I’m really needed.

People’s time is precious, and needs to be respected.