* photo courtesy of Nigel Maine
A colleague of mine recently sent out a challenge to find ways to improve efficiency and effectiveness of satisfying customers – “delivering more things faster”. He is looking for any suggestions, but I thought his example was a really good one, so I have posted it here.
“Are you wasting time in meetings?” If you are or feel you are then some suggestions.
1. Leave them. If you are in a meeting for communications reasons only, demand that the organizer send minutes.
2. How many people are in the meeting? Are there more than 4 or 5 in the meeting? If so then ask yourself why this is the case. Do you need to be there?
3. Why is your boss or perhaps bosses boss at the meeting? It makes more sense for a single team member to attend the meeting and update the boss on the outcomes. If the boss really wants to be there, then maybe you don’t need to be.
4. Is a decision going to be made? Who is going to make it? When? If no decision is going to be made, then the meeting may just be informational. Sure, it is good to get people in a room to brain storm and discuss ideas to move towards a decision but for these meetings you have to ask yourself it is the best use of your time to be present, or if your time is better spent on other deliverables.
5. Why are there three people from the same department attending the same meeting?. In rare cases this might be required depending on the skill set and stack holders involved. One of the benefits of a team is to permit work and tasks to be done in parallel. Could one team member attend and respond to questions and bring any questions to the other team members thereby freeing them up to accomplish other deliverables?
6. Why are you attending and not participating? Have you ever attended a meeting and realized that you are just listening and not actually participating? Although it is a good way to learn, it might not be the most efficient use of your time. Consider reading the minutes of the meeting when they are published.
7. Was there a ‘stake in the sand’ presented by the meeting holder? Why not? Meetings need to be focused on one or more goals the company is trying to achieve, otherwise why have them? The meeting holder called a meeting with the intent to accomplish something. It is important that is clear to everyone at the onset of the meeting. If it isn’t clear, then one should question the value of spending the time in the meeting.
8. Is this meeting topic a priority? How does it help the company? At the end of the day you are there to move the company forward in it’s goals and priorities. If the meeting is not accomplishing this, then resources are being wasted.
These may not all apply in all situations, however they are good guidelines and questions you can ask yourself as you agree to meetings and attend them. The more efficent you are, the better you feel about what you have accomplished, the smarter you will work and the more the company and yourself will benefit.
I had the privilege yesterday of speaking to some law enforcement personnel and forensics experts. The topic was on DNS forensics, the SSL server_name option, and working with service providers. I enjoyed the opportunity. I really like talking about network forensics, and being surrounded by smart people that are experts in their field. It also allows me to practice my public speaking which is always good.
As our house is being shown, I am working from a nearby 
