Weeknotes: 2022, Week 9

I’m seeing interesting responses to my leaving the company in terms of the actions the team are taking on, and it gives an insight into what everyone thought my role was and the discrepancies between what I thought it was e.g. some of the team are taking ownership of meeting organisation activities, which I did not realise were my (sole) responsibility.

Thoughts

Should it be a meeting?

Meetings can be great, they make you feel like a part of something. But admittedly they aren’t always the most efficient use of time. The phrase “this could have been an email” (and its associated meme content )is familiar to most, and this article lists three points for assessing if something doesn’t meet the criteria to be classed as a meeting:

• Meetings are presentations rather than collaborations.
• There isn't brainstorming or hands-on work to be done.
• There isn't a pressing matter that requires an immediate resolution.

Note: I love doing presentations, so this was a blow.

These all make sense, but I would add another:

• Everyone involved is confident and experienced in carrying out their tasks/role.

I have spent a lot of time recently working with less experienced new hires, introducing them to a lot of new concepts as we develop products. We meet almost daily, and it is hopelessly inefficient - consisting of a lot of waffle, digressions and presentations - but doing this offers them a touch-point, and a valuable chance to ask questions, of which there are a lot when you are new to something.

What I’ve learned...

Logic doesn't work

I listened to a couple of great episodes of the Nudge podcast, with Rory Sutherland as a guest. One point that stood out for me, is that sometimes logic isn't your friend - he gave the examples of train and air travel, where when you receive the feedback that customers want their trains and flights to be on time you may be tempted to focus all of your budget and efforts on getting everything bang on time, when really it is the uncertainty that causes the unhappiness and that the best investment would be on improving information and communication systems. He cited BA and TfL as examples.

The Real Dunder-Mifflin

I also learned about the existence of Scott Paper - a prominent Philadelphia institution who were famously moved to Florida by new ownership.

Unbelievably I can’t find one mention on the internet of this being an influence on the US version of The Office!

And finally...

I find toilets with sinks on top of the cistern perverse. So does my wife. Given thought they are no less hygienic than a normal sync but I can’t get past it - what is the mental barrier here?

Definitely time for a Twitter poll.