[HN Gopher] Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule (2009)
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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.
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