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un-boring meetings Sebastian Deterding (@dingstweets) Alibis for Interaction November 11, 2016 cb
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un-boring meetings
Sebastian Deterding (@dingstweets) Alibis for Interaction
November 11, 2016 cb
chapter 1
Introduction
are meetings boring?
big, long, informational department meetingsbooooooo-ring (in case you wondered)
constant, small in-team ‘meetings’ during productionnot boring at all
when are meetings
boring?
Meetings are boring when we don’t give or receive something we find relevant.
observation
so how do we cut straight to the relevant bits?
we can’t.
teaser
the problem is not how we do meetings. it’s that we do them.
teaser
“Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context – a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.”
eliel saarinen
there are organisational contexts that make meetings both (1)
unavoidably boring and (2) unavoidable.
teaser
how do we redesign organisational contexts to avoid doing (unavoidably
boring) meetings?
the real question
but first, some hygiene
meeting design does matter*
* Links at the end
meetings≈games: goals+rules+players+material define possible results
most meeting literature reiterates the same basic rules with the same
clear goals One defined purpose that only a meeting can achieve clear rules The right and tight agenda with time boxes, participants, roles, activities clear feedback Ongoing visual documentation, record-keeping of decisions, actions, insights sportspersonship Commitment and mutual care
basic meeting result in mind
chapter 2
Shared ground, or: Why meetings must be boring
1. To share & deliberate information & concerns 2. To deliberate, make & share decisions
why do we meet?
3. To solve problems 4. To nurture social relations
• getting to know each other • being seen • catching up • …
Officially recognised
Workshops are better formats
Often an inofficial agenda, though meetings are poor tools to achieve it
All I know All you know
What’s relevant
What I know is relevant
What you know is relevant
What we know is relevant
extending shared ground
?
but what if we don’t know what we already know?
?
i’ll tell you stuff i didn’t know you know or find irrelevant
?
you’ll tell me stuff you didn’t know i know or find irrelevant
?
and if we both come with colleagues who share ground with us …
“Some of you will already be familiar with this, but …”
“This may not be relevant to everyone here, but …”
common give-aways
what matters is mutually known shared ground
!
game jam: small, co-located project team
Continuous incidental info-sharing Continuous shared decision-making
Many quick, focused 1-on-1 conversations
Large known shared ground!
uni: big, dispersed, differentiated org
Infrequent cross-group info-sharing Unclear cross-group decision-making
Few, long, oversharing many- to-many meetings
?Small/unknown shared ground
The larger, more dispersed, and functionally differentiated the host organisation, … the less frequent incidental information-sharing, … the more unclear decision-making authority, … the more participants at the meeting (3+), …
… the more meeting participants are structurally predisposed to say and
hear things they find irrelevant.
… the smaller the known shared ground,
chapter 3
Accountability, or: Why we still meet
if shared ground was all …
… we could do it by e-mail… or wiki… and we all just read or skip as needed.*
* a.k.a. “knowledge management”
and then …
“Sorry, I didn’t see that e-mail, maybe it landed in my spam folder/you know my inbox/…”
accountability in real life: legal serving
accountability in real life: witnesses and signatures
accountability in digital life: read receipt
to act, we need accountable shared ground
mutual presence
I know You knowthatYou know
thatI know that
etc.
“Well you can’t say you didn’t know.”
“You were at the meeting. You had the chance to say something then.”
common give-aways
1. Meetings are unavoidably boring in groups with little known shared ground and …
2. we can’t ditch meetings because we need accountable information and decision-sharing.
3. Ergo, despair?
what we learned so far
chapter 4
Advanced meeting avoidance
1. Meetings are unavoidably boring in groups with little known shared ground and …
2. we can’t ditch meetings because we need accountable information and decision-sharing.
3. Ergo, despair?
hack #1: increase known shared ground
hack #1: increase known shared ground
social streamscolocation
delegation to teams
1. Meetings are unavoidably boring in groups with little known shared ground and …
2. we can’t ditch meetings because we need accountable information and decision-sharing.
3. Ergo, despair?
hack #2: institute alternative accountable sharing practices
hack #2: institute alternative accountable sharing practices
purpose
Social streams, newsletters, …
nice-to-know information
accountable information
Read receipt black boards
simple decision
Doodle.com
informed decision
Silent briefing
problem solving
nurturing social ties
Workshop Alibis 2017 :)
???
chapter 5
Summary
good meeting rules make meetings more productive and less boring …
?
but with unknown shared ground, we’re bound to bore each other.
and in big, disperse, differentiated organisations, and in groups of 3+, unknown shared ground is unavoidable.
?
we stick to meetings because they are our default for producingaccountability in organisations
so: meet less (boringly) by establishing more known shared ground …
social streamscolocation
delegation to teams
… and institute alternative ways of achieving accountability …
purpose
Social streams, newsletters, …
nice-to-know information
accountable information
Read receipt black boards
simple decision
Doodle.com
informed decision
Silent briefing
problem solving
nurturing social ties
Workshop Alibis 2017 :)
???
(or other purposes you care about).
