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0 pointsirontoby9y ago0 comments

"Time Boxed" needs to mean boxed on both ends. If a meeting is scheduled to start at 2:00, it starts at 2:00. Not 2:05, not when the last person wanders in, and not when the organizer figures out how to run the projector. The implied task there is that any setup should be done prior to the start time.

Nothing is more frustrating than company cultures which allow the "meetings never start on time, so I'll show up late" / "not everyone is here on time so I'll wait a few more minutes" death spiral. It's like a game of chicken to see who thinks their time is more valuable than everyone else's.

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4 comments · 2 top-level

carlisle_9y ago· 2 in thread

This is a much more difficult problem at large companies where meeting rooms can be a scarce resource, and other meetings that run long can negatively impact yours.

Having a plan for the meeting and having everybody trying to keep the meeting short helps a lot. I think if you're in a place where you need to write ground rules for meeting there's a larger cultural problem that needs to be addressed.

jermaustin19y ago

I couldn't agree more. At my company, we have a few thousand employees spread across 2 main locations in the same city and 25 smaller offices. BUT we only have 12 full sized conference rooms and 4 that only seat 5. So we end up scheduling meetings more around conference room availability than person availability, and then we have people having to walk/bike/cab/uber a mile (or more) from another location to get to this meeting on time.

Scheduling meetings around employees (especially management), vendors and conference rooms is one of the biggest challenges we face for meeting times.

JoeAltmaier9y ago

Try Sococo - virtual conference rooms. I swear, its better than everybody sitting in a physical room. You can see, hear, share docs, chat, form subgroups and regroup fluidly.

Caveat: I own stock (used to work there)

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maxxxxx9y ago

Our meetings always start late but always end right on time. Either somebody rambles for half an hour to fill the time or the meeting closes in the middle of finding a solution.

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