Why Work Doesn’t Happen at Work – A World Without Meetings?

14 thoughts on “Why Work Doesn’t Happen at Work – A World Without Meetings?”

  1. I’m not sure I understand the concept of “passive” collaboration. People collaborate in many different ways.

    I would agree, though, that “meetings” are not synonymous with collaboration. Meetings tend to be inefficient since rarely do all attendees share the same priorities and many times these priorities are not even effectively planned with respect to how they will be addressed by the meeting.

    If the meeting’s goal is collaboration (or exchanging information, or making a decision collaboratively, or something else) I would have to agree that there may be more effective ways to collaborate — and this is where technology might be able to help.

    1. Hi Dennis! I think that “passive” in this context means collaborating with other folks at your own pace, without requiring an immediate answer / reaction / prompt, etc. etc. It’s more along the lines of you deciding how, when, and with whom you would want to engage; according to your timeframe and everything else. That’s how I saw it while watching the video presentation itself…

      I really like your point about the different points of view and priorities from meeting attendees, highlighting the issue of “negotiating”, which I think is an important aspect of collaboration we always keep taking for granted, but which we probably shouldn’t; in your comments it looks like for most of those knowledge sharing activities meetings would be redundant… That’s actually been my experience as well! 🙂

      Thanks a lot for dropping by and for the feedback! Greatly appreciated!

      1. The problem with many meetings is the lack of advanced planning. Is there a clearly defined objective? Are the right people invited to the meeting? Who are the decision makers? The preparation goes both ways – participants also need to do their homework and be prepared to discuss the topic at hand.

      2. Like your post. I saw Jason ted talks too and found it provocative in a good way: knowledge work had to change for sure. May I suggest that “passive collaboration” could be replaced by “asynchroneous collaboration” which looks like more positive than “passive”…or this is just a cultural point of view?

  2. Great idea! A new series of “A World Without Meeting” would be great!!
    I hate endless discussions and prefer short “working session”, where a small group focus on one task. Work on it, make a progress and stop when it is time is up.
    Maybe, we can make use the
    Pomodoro Technique for such working session, have two 25 min. with a break in between.. 😉
    Anyway, Luis! We shall seriously find ways to walk the talk!!

    1. Oh, before anyone get me wrong, I want to say I love “meeting people” face-to-face. And, to some extend, well prepared meetings or events with good followed-up are welcome.
      In reality, most tasks in day-to-day meetings can be done in “passive” manners on a 2.0 platform. Yes, we shall start to cancel such meeting.

  3. I love TED talks and the iPad app for them 😉

    Provocative yes. However in Spain people love meetings Luis. Even when there is nothing to talk about. How do you get around the ingrained nature of that.

    @cheechin The Pomodoro meeting sounds like a great way to focus attention. I use the Pomodoro technique for everything

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