Have you ever struggled to find time for a workshop or a decent conversation? Because when you open your calendar it looks like this?

Is it full of

• 1:1s
• Status Update Calls
• Readiness Calls
• Syncs
• Standups
• Project Updates
• Weekly meetings
• Biweekly meetings

Sometimes it feels like “am I even doing any work”? I jest of course, because all these things are important.

Without 1:1s we can’t build personal relationships, which helps us find the person behind a role. Without talking as a team, we don’t really know what we’re doing and what kind great stuff we’re doing or what blocks us. Without project updates, well… there’s always an exception to every rule ;-)

My point is that there’s a point to a lot of those meetings. Without alignment and synchronisations there’s no collaboration. [enough with the bullshit bingo]

Ok, ok, it might sound like empty phrases, but there’s a very important point. I’ve long bastardised the 80-20 rule:

80% of software engineering is social and only 20% is technical

So how about we look at optimising sitting down [don’t you mean standing up] together. I’ve been part of some really great sessions where decisions were made, important questions discussed and strategies determined.

Do these meetings usually last 30 minutes?

Erm. No. When you have a 30-minute meeting, you typically have to wait for one or two people that are stuck in another meeting, some last minute cancellations because of a production issue or because you’re double or triple booked anyway.

Sound familiar?

So why are we having so many calls where we aim to discuss substansive matters in a short time? Or have to rush things because there’s a deadline? Could it possibly be that we’ve got so many meetings, that we just don’t have time to talk? With so many 1:1s, status calls, readiness meetings, when can we get together and actually talk about strategy or deep dive into technical details?

Especially when everyone’s 1:1s usually only leave 30-minute gaps in a calendar.

I managed to find a gap for the workshop in our calendars in 2 weeks time

Argh! Usually those workshops or sessions are really quite important too! One option is to just cancel some of the regular meetings to make way. But how long before we move all of those regular sessions out of the way and they become optional. I mean, if the risk review session gets cancelled three months in a row, what’s the point of having it… oh wait, that won’t end well.

The NRMZ to the rescue

So here’s an experiment that I’m proposing. Find an hour and half every day and declare that no regular, recurring meetings should take place during that time slot. If everyone moves their 1:1s, updates and weekly meetings outside the non-recurring meeting zone, then we should have more time to schedule those workshops and strategy sessions.

Will that work?

No idea, but it’s got to be worth an experiment!

Tags agile

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