If there is one truth to the corporate environment that rings the same everywhere, it's that no one cares about your timelines and deadlines, except for the one person who gave it to you.
Every project will have members who work at their own speed, and nothin you say or do can get them onto the projects intended speed. To say its frustrating is an understatement. I've lost count on how many late nights and weekends I've had to pull because a dependent deliverable came in so late that my deliverable was due within a day or two.
There should be a solution, but in a new world corporate order where no one has any real authority over anyone else on the project, there is no remedy. Personality will only get you so far, and returning the favor will only make you look bad, because they will talk about it.
The only hope is to climb to a rung where you are the one who can slack off and not worry about other people's timelines.
Showing posts with label meetings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meetings. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Meetings and the Law of Diminishing Returns
On any given day I am involved with at least three meetings, and other days my Outlook calendar is a solid wall with me having to eat lunch at my desk. All of these meetings have one thing in common: They have too many people attending.
Corporations are a collection of competing groups, and each group thinks they are the most important group in the room. Once a group gets wind of something, they feel compelled to get their representatives in the room to have their two cents heard. This causes even an hour long meeting to end up being far too short to have everyone's opinion heard and cataloged.
When I am the meeting organizer I corner the project sponsor's representative and get the list of people who's areas will be impacted by the project. Those are the only people I want in the room when the details are being discussed. It's amazing how fast the details get worked out when a small group of experts come together. Once a good set of requirements is worked out, the announcement goes out about what's changing.
This is where the big meeting is required, but only the one. Get the requirements into everyone's hands with the expectation that it will have been reviewed before the big meeting. Keep the agenda to a Q & A session, and you'll find that most questions are just simple clarification questions. Everyone gets their two cents and the project gets to stay on track.
This of course doesn't always work. Some people are tenacious, and will find a way to weasel into every meeting. If you keep with it though, even eventually the most tenacious person will get the hint.
Corporations are a collection of competing groups, and each group thinks they are the most important group in the room. Once a group gets wind of something, they feel compelled to get their representatives in the room to have their two cents heard. This causes even an hour long meeting to end up being far too short to have everyone's opinion heard and cataloged.
When I am the meeting organizer I corner the project sponsor's representative and get the list of people who's areas will be impacted by the project. Those are the only people I want in the room when the details are being discussed. It's amazing how fast the details get worked out when a small group of experts come together. Once a good set of requirements is worked out, the announcement goes out about what's changing.
This is where the big meeting is required, but only the one. Get the requirements into everyone's hands with the expectation that it will have been reviewed before the big meeting. Keep the agenda to a Q & A session, and you'll find that most questions are just simple clarification questions. Everyone gets their two cents and the project gets to stay on track.
This of course doesn't always work. Some people are tenacious, and will find a way to weasel into every meeting. If you keep with it though, even eventually the most tenacious person will get the hint.
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