Our team is testing a new way to work.
Most people know that I hate meetings. It’s become a running joke around the office actually.
I don’t just hate meetings to hate them. I hate them because most of the time they are unproductive, poorly run, and just a waste of valuable time.
With that in mind, you will probably be surprised that this new way to work involves several people in a room all day. Sounds like a meeting, right?
Here’s the thing: We’re not together to meet. We’re together to work. Big difference. And, we’re only working on one thing. Just one.
So when someone says, “We need to write a script for that video” or “Hey, we need an outline for that,” it doesn’t get assigned as a follow-up item. Instead, I fire up a Google doc and start writing. Clayton joins in and begins to edit in real time. Simultaneously, Christy is designing a mock-up of our new resource, Pablo is tweaking part of the webpage that this new video will live on, and Zac is…well, Zac had to leave early.
Last week was the first time we tried it, but the results were very encouraging. Solid productivity. We accomplished a lot by intentionally focusing our combined effort on one thing.
I love to see a room full of Mac’s!
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Bryson Moore Reply:
September 1st, 2011 at 1:49 pm
@Brandon – Me too. Brings a smile to my face and warms my heart.
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I love it when someone fires up their laptop and completes a task right in the middle of a meeting. This looks like a great tool for people who work on their own part of the time, like teleworkers. Doing this once per week could wipe out a pile of deliverables. Rather scrum-ish.
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Bryson Moore Reply:
September 1st, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Colin, I agree! It’s a great way to connect people who don’t see each other very often to get some meaningful work done. We started scheduling these once a week here.
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Great post! It worked well for us to work this way in Strategic Management class (as well as other group projects over the years at JBU). With all of the technology available, there is no reason not to do this in many workplace environments.
Keep us posted on how it works out for you all at the Center!
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Bryson Moore Reply:
September 1st, 2011 at 2:21 pm
Will do. Thanks Lawson!
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“I don’t just hate meetings to hate them. I hate them because most of the time they are unproductive, poorly run, and just a waste of valuable time.”…. AMEN!
Drives me crazy to have a meeting just to have a meeting. There shouldn’t be a meeting without a outline of what needs to be accomplished, not just a list of topics to cover. That could be done in an email or phone call. Meetings should be used to REALLY get something done. I love your interactive meetings with everyone working on the task in real time. That is great. Thanks for sharing this post.
Mark
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