“Oh my, what a waste of my time that was; another hour I won’t get back. Why do we let these meetings use up our time?”, “I know, I really don’t get any real work done most days!”
Note: This is the first of a 2-part Blog. The first part deals with meeting analysis and measurement, the second on exploring actions we can take to improve the value of meets, for the effort required. The second part sets out ideas for change and action.
If you work in anything other than a small company, I bet the above exchange has occurred between you and a colleague, or friend, more than once. This blog runs through an exercise and some ideas, to review your recurring meetings. We will look for opportunities to make more effective use of your time in each. We may even move your time to zero for some by looking at them as growth opportunities for other colleagues.
Start with a holistic view of your recurring meetings
The first step is to get a list of recurring meetings that you attend. If you use a computer-based calendar (like Outlook, Google Calendar, Lotus, etc…) you can use ‘views’ in the calendar view to get a weekly / monthly view that only has recurring meetings on it. Then print it, photograph it if you prefer, or copy them in a list form if needed
You should consider any other recurring events you do (taking the kids to sports, etc...) although, for those, my blog Finding more hours (or “The dark art of time manipulation?”) might be worth a read.
If you do not have an electronic source of your recurring meetings, then a more manual approach is probably needed. I would highly recommend using an A3 size page, or a couple of A4 pages (A4 is roughly 30cm x 20cm). Split it into one column for each recurrence (daily, weekly, etc) put a little square ‘tile’ for each recurring meeting in the correct column.
We're going to rate each of the recurring meetings on 2 different measures.
Let the meeting scoring commence… What effort do I]you put into each meeting?
First is to rate the level of effort or time you expend in order to participate in that meeting. Think about the effort required to prepare for it, the effort you put into the meeting yourself, and any post-meeting outputs you then produce.
For the effort on inputs and outputs, I don’t mean time on any specific tasks you get given in the meeting, I mean the effort on the recurring tasks for the meeting. Things like: preparing a report, collating the summaries from others, being ready to give a clear update, deciding, sorting out each week’s agenda, other preparation time, post-meeting notes or minutes, etc…
For the effort during the meeting, try to be honest with yourself about the actual time you are active. For example, here are some 'made up' thoughts.
Running a scrum of scrums:
May take limited preparation as the attendees will bring their problems of the day
Requires your 90-100% attention activity during the meeting
May require some post-meeting tidying up of documents/systems, forwarding of an email summary, preparation for the next day after the meeting
Contributing to a project working group:
May require you to spend time prior to the meeting gathering materials for the issues you are going raise
Maybe only a few minutes during the meeting participating
Minimal activity after the meeting
A monthly Town Hall which you attend:
Probably requires zero preparation
Minimal effort to attend, with perhaps with minimal active listening
Minimal activities afterward
Note: Multi-tasking during a meeting:
If you are expected to attend a meeting, but “dip in and out” not paying full attention mark the meeting accordingly
Knowing this is a good source of information to find inefficient collaboration meetings
We will come back to that in a later post...
Excercise:
For each meeting mark up the three measures of your effort required, using a simple low medium high scale. I recommend physically writing three letters on each meeting, from left to right across the bottom of the meeting ‘tile’.
Effort before the meeting
Effort during the meeting
Effort after the meeting
I won't set out the rules of low / medium / high; you could do that based on time spent as a mental count of “half hours”, or stress level if you prefer, or mix. This exercise doesn't need a precise answer as it is not a time and motion study. It is more to allow you to compare meetings relative to each other.
For each meeting now pick a single “low/medium/high” score for your effort required. Again, don’t get too hung up on the exactness, the input/during/output approach will help build up a ‘real’ view of the effort that each meeting takes for you.
Great – but are you getting much OUT, given your effort IN?
The other measure of each meeting takes a bit more thought. It explores the value you get out of attending or running meetings and it is more subjective.
When you consider the value of attending, or running, the meeting, bear in mind the following aspects:
How the output and success of the meeting relates to my role responsibilities and short-term objectives or tasks
How the success of the meeting drives areas of personal growth I have identified
How attending the meeting allows me to increase my exposure in the firm, with clients, etc…
Mark any meetings that are deemed mandatory but not directly related to your success. This is a concept we will explore later
Having considered the above, mark each meeting on a low/medium/high for the ‘overall’ benefit of attending. Mark any mandatory meetings with a star, or something as well as the ‘benefit’ marking.
I have set out some example thoughts using the same meetings from the ‘What do I put in?’ section, above. The statements are not what ‘should’ come from each meeting; they are written to illustrate the exercise.
Running a scrum of scrums – High Value:
I must work hard in this to make sure all the scrum masters and Tech Leads gets their issues raised
It works well, the success of the wider teams involved in our program is maximised
Allow me to practice Agile training in this new role I have secured
Ensures I am well versed in the detail of issues, to respond in the Steering Group when asked
Contributing to a project working group – Medium Value:
I only speak for 5-10 mins to give my update
When the other individuals contribute, I gain limited value
If I don’t “do my bit”, I get chased for an update; it’s a bit of a tick box event
It does allow me to ensure that the problems my team are facing get raised, and actions are recorded
My style, approach, and drive is seen by a wider audience
A weekly team meeting my boss runs - Low Value (Mandatory):
This is a bit odd – we sort of give an update on what we have done
This feels like half a project update, half a chit-chat check-in – but not really one or the other
I think no one listens when the others talk
A monthly Town Hall which you attend – Low Value:
It is interesting enough
More of a ‘break’ in the day than valuable information
I do get to see others I might not see often and either say Hi or remember to reach out after on messaging
Ok – the scores are in, now what?
We will place the meetings into a simple grid and then work out some next steps.
If you have read this far before starting, and you have access to them, you might like to do this exercise by writing each meeting and the scores on a little sticky note. This is so you can physically move the meetings into the grid based on your scores for effort / benefit. If you revise the scores when you see the ‘spread’ of meetings, you can move them around the grid.
Draw a 3x3 gird on a large piece of paper:
A4 or maybe A3 – depending on the number of meetings and the stickies / your handwriting…
“Left to right” is the L-M-H effort needed
“Bottom to top” is the L-M-H benefit
So: 9 squares in a 3x3 grid
Looking at your list of meetings:
Find where each meeting should sit
Either draw a little ‘tile’ or place a sticky in the correct cell.
Also, mark each tile with the recurrence, (e.g. D – daily, W – weekly, M – Monthly, 2W, 3x – 3 times a week, whatever works…)
What we should find is a spread of meetings across the 9 squares:
Don't expect the spread to be even
However, if all the meetings are clustered in only 3-4 boxes, then you need to re-evaluate your low medium high scores to try and ‘spread’ them more
Cool – how do I make changes, then..?
I hope this has got you thinking, when you are ready to go on the next stage, covered in a separate blog.
One last thought: If you have performed this exercise on pieces of paper / sticky notes, take a photograph of the output on your phone and/or keep the paper. Out a calendar entry (ironic?!) to dig it out and refer to it in a couple of months’ time.