Yesterday I pitched my first ever complete game at Yahoo. Not that this has anything to do with baseball – I just completed 9 straight back-to-back meetings. This must mean I’ve finally “made it” as a manager.
From 8:30 am to 4:30 pm I shuffled from conference room to conference room. Here’s a few simple tips for getting your own complete game:
* Make sure you’re double or triple-booked throughout the day. My game was almost ruined by the inevitable couple of meetings that were cancelled.
* Be on the lookout for “spontaneous meetings.” Sometimes you might just be in the right place in the right time and find out you’re “needed”.
* Have your laptop with you and on at all times. This not only makes it easier for people to find you to invite you to spontaneous meetings, but also dismisses any inkling to head back to your desk. Sadly, sometimes I think I get more done sitting in a hallway waiting for a meeting to start than I do at my desk.
A few months ago I pulled out the DVD drive in my laptop and and replaced with an extra battery. That lets me go at least 5 hours straight. It’s a bad sign when I need to go get my power cord in the middle of the day.
The amazing thing was that when I finally arrived at my desk at 4:30, I was completely caught up on email and I had actually written and deployed some code. That’s the miracle of wifi and a bunch of meetings where I was seeing the same presentation I’ve already seen several times before.
Considering the space crunch we’ve had at work of late, perhaps I should start renting out my cube. Here’s the ad:
Full-size cube, next to window. Power, docking station, 20in LCD, ample desk space. Free parking nearby (before 11 am). Hardly used.
Congratulations? I guess….
What do you call it when you have only one meeting, but it runs from 8am till 5pm?
I call for a yahoo revolt against any meeting that begins and ends on the hour. We all need coffee breaks and bathroom breaks.
Begin the meetings at 7 mins pass and end at 53.
I’ve always felt that face-to-face meetings should be spaced far enough apart so that a person traveling from the farthest office would be able to make the meeting.
This means that you need at least 10 minutes to allow folks who may be walking from the building across campus.
The wise general notes that you work for a multi-national company and the time might be a little longer than that.
Did I mention that I’m a big fan of tele-meetings since those come with mute buttons?
I’ll take the window cube. I’ve been meaning to get one of those for about 7 years now.
There is a serious problem when you are in a meeting that has a presentation that you have seen “several times before”.