Jim Grisanzio

WSJ: No More Angling for the Best Seat; More Meetings Are Stand-Up Jobs. Interesting article. How some companies are changing how they meet — by standing up! I like it.

Not many companies manage meetings well, though. I’ve worked at companies where managers started meetings at 5 p.m. and ran them for 3 hours and still made no obvious decisions. How that’s possible I’ll never know. No agendas, no notes, no AIs. Just people strolling in late, chatting on phones/pads, sucking on bowls of lattes, and ignoring people on conference calls. Just a pile of wasted time. One wonders where all the cash comes from to support such sloth. And why are these things always booked for an hour, too? Why not 20 minutes? Why not 40 minutes? Why not 10 for that matter? Also, sleeping in meetings tends to distract from efficiency, too. Now, I’m all for a quick mid-day nap to improve health and productivity, especially if you work around the clock on globally distributed teams, but dozing during meetings? That doesn’t work. Seep at your own desk.

Of course, all this sounds silly when compared to people doing more traditional work where the value of time is measured directly in physical labor and the visibility of stuff being built. Back when I was in the construction business digging holes for buildings (real buildings, I mean, not virtual ones), meetings were generally done standing up in the field in sorts of weather arguing with union bosses, vendors, inspectors, and customers. The mix of characters was always fascinating. Or you’d meet prior to going into the field in a dirty and drafty garage with trucks driving in and out. You had to focus because the ramifications were serious. In all my construction experiences I can only remember that wasting time was considered an extremely expensive exercise. However, in many of my tech experiences, I found it rare when people cited wasting time as wasting money. But I once knew an engineer who calculated the cost of each meeting based on who attended and the value of the subjects being addressed. He was the exception, though, not the rule. He always used to say that he’d prefer his engineers to be home sleeping instead of wasting time in pointless meetings. And I knew a CEO who’d dart into meetings and ask, “Who’s got the agenda? Who’s taking notes?” No response and he’d walk out. I like that. A lot. So, there are exceptions. Anyway, it’s good to see some techies standing up in the WSJ article. It’s good exercise.