how do you keep a meeting on track? more project mgmt than programming butttt.....
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Having a meeting with another IT person in another team that supports my team. If it was just the other individual and I. Things would be over in 30 minutes tops. Butttttt.... Boss wants to be part of the meeting. Wants to be "in" the discussion. Thoughts on how I can keep the meeting moving along so we cover the items we need to cover? I already moved the big ticket item to last instead of first. Put that last on the agenda.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
You have a premeeting with the important person where you come to an agreement on how to solve the problem. If you are already in agreement it's much quicker to guide the meeting to the desired result.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
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Having a meeting with another IT person in another team that supports my team. If it was just the other individual and I. Things would be over in 30 minutes tops. Butttttt.... Boss wants to be part of the meeting. Wants to be "in" the discussion. Thoughts on how I can keep the meeting moving along so we cover the items we need to cover? I already moved the big ticket item to last instead of first. Put that last on the agenda.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
Right on the agenda, state how much time is allocated to each topic. Leave some slack time at the end of the meeting but have a reason for leaving after that. Unless someone doesn't want to reach the big ticket item, this should help keep things on track.
Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing. -
Having a meeting with another IT person in another team that supports my team. If it was just the other individual and I. Things would be over in 30 minutes tops. Butttttt.... Boss wants to be part of the meeting. Wants to be "in" the discussion. Thoughts on how I can keep the meeting moving along so we cover the items we need to cover? I already moved the big ticket item to last instead of first. Put that last on the agenda.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
Have the meeting a half hour earlier than you tell the boss.
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Having a meeting with another IT person in another team that supports my team. If it was just the other individual and I. Things would be over in 30 minutes tops. Butttttt.... Boss wants to be part of the meeting. Wants to be "in" the discussion. Thoughts on how I can keep the meeting moving along so we cover the items we need to cover? I already moved the big ticket item to last instead of first. Put that last on the agenda.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
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"We'll discuss this offline"
GCS d--(d-) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
I HATE this statement! no we won't discuss elephant turds behind anyones back. Either we get it hashed out so everyone is on the same page or we aren't grown adults and we shouldn't be working.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
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Have the meeting a half hour earlier than you tell the boss.
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To be honest I'm not very good at meetings, and I tend to ask a lot questions sometimes, which derails the agenda. I don't mean to, I'm just not good at meetings. I'm great left to my own devices, with a little bit of one on one. However, I had to get good at certain kinds of meetings because I was often a team lead. If *I* control the direction of the meeting within the scope of updating other people on the progress of a project I do okay. Beyond that, it's hit or miss. It's a skill I've never really mastered. Sorry, I'm one of the ones that's guilty of making them run over. For my part, I do everything I can to avoid them in the first place. :laugh: Edit: It sounds like your boss is kind of like me, except harder to get rid of. :-D
Real programmers use butterflies
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"We'll discuss this offline"
GCS d--(d-) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
It is SOP for our shop to discuss all topics offline that would turn a 30 minute meeting into a 7 day seminar event. it works and it works well. The best part is, we all get to stay as adults.
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Having a meeting with another IT person in another team that supports my team. If it was just the other individual and I. Things would be over in 30 minutes tops. Butttttt.... Boss wants to be part of the meeting. Wants to be "in" the discussion. Thoughts on how I can keep the meeting moving along so we cover the items we need to cover? I already moved the big ticket item to last instead of first. Put that last on the agenda.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
1. time is money, the longer you are in a meeting the more it costs the company. you need to make that clear. 2. have a clear agenda and list of topics. 3. have a clear meeting duration. (15mints, 30mins, 1 hours, whatever make it clear) (goes with point 2) 4. don't invite more people to the meeting than necessary. 5. if meeting takes longer than expected, allow unnecessary people to leave. It's OK if your boss wants to participate and ask questions and take part of the discussion. If your boss want to be involve, he needs to understand the points above.
CI/CD = Continuous Impediment/Continuous Despair
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To be honest I'm not very good at meetings, and I tend to ask a lot questions sometimes, which derails the agenda. I don't mean to, I'm just not good at meetings. I'm great left to my own devices, with a little bit of one on one. However, I had to get good at certain kinds of meetings because I was often a team lead. If *I* control the direction of the meeting within the scope of updating other people on the progress of a project I do okay. Beyond that, it's hit or miss. It's a skill I've never really mastered. Sorry, I'm one of the ones that's guilty of making them run over. For my part, I do everything I can to avoid them in the first place. :laugh: Edit: It sounds like your boss is kind of like me, except harder to get rid of. :-D
Real programmers use butterflies
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"We'll discuss this offline"
GCS d--(d-) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
We'll discuss this offline = You have no say in this, so I want you to shut up
Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing. -
but I imagine once you hear something logical you would go oh ok I get it.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
hopefully :laugh:
Real programmers use butterflies
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Having a meeting with another IT person in another team that supports my team. If it was just the other individual and I. Things would be over in 30 minutes tops. Butttttt.... Boss wants to be part of the meeting. Wants to be "in" the discussion. Thoughts on how I can keep the meeting moving along so we cover the items we need to cover? I already moved the big ticket item to last instead of first. Put that last on the agenda.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
The fact that it's a "meeting" (between only 2 people) means it's some kind of event ... compared to "got a minute?" The (unwritten) rule is: no one talks to anyone above their pay grade (without another pay grade around).
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it. ― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
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I HATE this statement! no we won't discuss elephant turds behind anyones back. Either we get it hashed out so everyone is on the same page or we aren't grown adults and we shouldn't be working.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
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Having a meeting with another IT person in another team that supports my team. If it was just the other individual and I. Things would be over in 30 minutes tops. Butttttt.... Boss wants to be part of the meeting. Wants to be "in" the discussion. Thoughts on how I can keep the meeting moving along so we cover the items we need to cover? I already moved the big ticket item to last instead of first. Put that last on the agenda.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
rnbergren wrote:
Boss wants to be part of the meeting. Wants to be "in" the discussion. Thoughts on how I can keep the meeting moving along so we cover the items we need to cover?
Two people talking would not normally be a "meeting". You can't really get sidetracked or have conversations that are off topic because everyone in the meeting is in fact participating. Presumably because everyone (the two people) consider all of the discussions relevant. Three people would be a meeting. And you have concerns about what contributions your boss would actually make. Thus you do not have a meeting problem. You have a management problem. Might be specific to the manager in that they are not in fact contributing anything. Or in general because all meetings in the company tend to go this way. In general businesses cannot solve process problems unless senior management actually supports and in fact demands that processes are defined and followed. If that is not the case where you are then you just deal with it. Let them babble on about their vacation plans and how their teams did. For yourself just accept it as team building. At larger companies you are perhaps more likely to be able to discuss and solve this because more managers means more of them are likely to see it as a problem. With senior level support one can have arbitrators in meetings whose role is to specifically keep the meeting on point. But there could also be causes outside of what you described here. For example the other person in your meeting has told your boss that you are a bully. Or that your demands are non-specific and outside the normal business requirements. So your boss is in fact attempting to mediate.
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So your take is that 20 people should stay on the call while the two people familiar with databases spend 20 minutes discussing the exact type of index that a problematic database table should have?
Bob: "...I still think we should be looking at our composite indexes. The ordering is all off which is really affecting performance." Tom: "Yea, but we've also got 'optimizations' I think are doing more harm than good already. That other table has a pseudo-random reverse index for heaven's sake. What's the point of that?" Bob: "True, now that I think about it that table's most common query is non-sargable too which is a major issue." Frank: "I don't really do databases, but I heard about something called a column-store..." Bob, Tom: "Quiet Frank."
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kind of funny but this actually has worked in the past
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
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Having a meeting with another IT person in another team that supports my team. If it was just the other individual and I. Things would be over in 30 minutes tops. Butttttt.... Boss wants to be part of the meeting. Wants to be "in" the discussion. Thoughts on how I can keep the meeting moving along so we cover the items we need to cover? I already moved the big ticket item to last instead of first. Put that last on the agenda.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
I'm with the codewitch on this one - avoid them like the plague. I never had any compunction asking the meeting to "move on", same effect as "discuss this offline". I also found asking if I was needed for this discussion and then leaving had a curtailing effect on senior management who liked to pontificate about irrelevant crap. Eventually I did not get invited to non essential meetings which meant I missed out on a number of social events - thank the Great Ghu.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity - RAH I'm old. I know stuff - JSOP
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Having a meeting with another IT person in another team that supports my team. If it was just the other individual and I. Things would be over in 30 minutes tops. Butttttt.... Boss wants to be part of the meeting. Wants to be "in" the discussion. Thoughts on how I can keep the meeting moving along so we cover the items we need to cover? I already moved the big ticket item to last instead of first. Put that last on the agenda.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
1. Have an agenda and stick to it. 2. Be ready to say "let's take this off-line". 3. Document everything, and send around meeting notes. a. If done right, this may have even stopped your boss from wanting to sit in in the first place. 4. Finally be open to listening what your boss wants, and don't forget that they are the boss. Be prepared, that last point is probably going to be the hardest one for you to follow. You made mention that the is more management than programming, the fact is the best programmers not only have good technical skills, they also have good soft skills such as managing people, and that goes both ways.
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It is SOP for our shop to discuss all topics offline that would turn a 30 minute meeting into a 7 day seminar event. it works and it works well. The best part is, we all get to stay as adults.
While I would find interesting the best implementation of a sliding mean filter in a 10uS interrupt routine, maybe the customer who just wanted an update on the development situation would love to spend his time in more proficuous activities - and so the coworkers who are working on all the rest of the software.
GCS d--(d-) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
