You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? Now with 3x more gears...

[PaperBagger'14]

Initially when Covid hit AB and the shutdowns began, my company switched to teams fairly quickly and seamlessly. However there were days I would have 3+ teams meetings, most of which could have been an email. Joe Blow C-level wants to connect about new strategies for refining our Covid response protocol and how can we synergize that using our existing apps?

Here’s an idea, if they call in and say they’re sick, they don’t come to work. The end. If they have a positive test, see ya in 2 weeks.

[GirlySports]

I think there are also people who are trying to prove that hybrid and remote works so the more virtual meetings the better. Because there are still the old grey hairs out there who don't believe in it.

Pre-pandemic, I had floated out that my team (finance) could work hybrid. We can process your invoice without seeing you. It was an absolutely no, not a chance. Then the pandemic hit and IT was scrambling, they literally brought VPNs and Zoom that day (2020-03-17).

Now we proved that it works but somehow a lot of execs still feel that hybrid doesn't work and make people go back, some for 5 days again. I think it's mostly for job security. You can't manage people when they're not in front of you!

So teams meetings are being pushed to prove a point.

[Doctorfever]

For me it really hasn’t changed. Same amount of meetings, but these meetings are now in-person and on teams. So people have the choice to do what is most convenient. Saves people driving to a meeting that can be done via teams.

I have attended some meetings vis teams that I would not have attended if it wasn’t available on teams, but those are optional meetings.

[Ped]

I have nothing against Teams meetings. They are far preferable to meeting in person. I have to attend an airport safety meeting once a week, and its on Teams, and people are starting to suggest we meet in person again and I'm like no, by the time we meet I'm already at home, thanks.


What I have an issue with is people booking teams meetings for absolutely no reason when just an email will do. They seem to think, oh, we have this teams thing, we can see each other more often or something. But I don't need to see you. After you book us, I'm probably never going to talk to you again, and I certainly don't care what you look like. Just stop wasting time.

[Weitz]

People need to get better at declining meetings. I decline them all the time when I know it’s going to be useless. It usually results in an email and the problem is solved.

[woob]

Some days I welcome meetings that I know I’m not going to be super involved in, as it means I can zone out and do other work uninterrupted. And it also means when people come into my office randomly, I can just point to my headphones and continue my work.

[puffnstuff]

My most used phrase about declining meetings is 'oh yeah, i have something else then, must have just forgot to block that off. Send me an email after though, thanks'

[The Fisher Account]

Teams is such a game changer when you work at a large corporation.

I'm still shocked how we managed to have meetings with 50+ people cross-departmentally before.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by The Fisher Account

Teams is such a game changer when you work at a large corporation.

I'm still shocked how we managed to have meetings with 50+ people cross-departmentally before.

There is likely no reason to have a 50+ person cross departmental meeting.

My meeting rule is a meeting must have an objective stated, an agenda, documents to review in advance and minutes of the meeting afterwards to document decisions. If not it’s not important enough to have the meeting. An effective meeting is one where the pre-work has been done. To often meetings are used to assign the work.

[The Fisher Account]

Originally Posted by GGG

There is likely no reason to have a 50+ person cross departmental meeting.

My meeting rule is a meeting must have an objective stated, an agenda, documents to review in advance and minutes of the meeting afterwards to document decisions. If not it’s not important enough to have the meeting. An effective meeting is one where the pre-work has been done. To often meetings are used to assign the work.

Okay but I work in the real world

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by The Fisher Account

Okay but I work in the real world

My philosophy is, if I am not in the “to” header of an email, I treat the email as an “fyi”. Any meetings that don’t list me as “required”, I respond as tentative and may or may not attend. If any action items arise, I am sure I will be notified.

[MoneyGuy]

The nice thing about online meetings is you can pretend to care and pay attention and no one needs to know. You can even leave for a bathroom break or a beer (generally).

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by GGG

There is likely no reason to have a 50+ person cross departmental meeting.

My meeting rule is a meeting must have an objective stated, an agenda, documents to review in advance and minutes of the meeting afterwards to document decisions. If not it’s not important enough to have the meeting. An effective meeting is one where the pre-work has been done. To often meetings are used to assign the work.

unless your ineffective lead or manager is running it

[GGG]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

unless your ineffective lead or manager is running it

Then you manage from below and ask for the agenda of the meeting before hand and document decisions and actions coming out of it. I will gladly take notes in meetings and send them out afterwards then have nothing at all even if it’s not my meeting.

It definitely annoys people when you do it

[Cappy]

I got temp banned from the subreddit r/legaladvicecanada because people are dumb and trolls abound.

Someone was in a car accident in Calgary and the driver who hit them was from BC so they were wondering if they should go through ICBC for injuries.

The top response was someone saying it doesnt matter because Alberta is No-Fault as well - decidedly not true.

I responded saying no, Alberta is not no-fault, talk to a PI lawyer in Calgary. To which i was downvoted and then a guy from Moncton New Brunswick who posts in video game threads wanted to bet that i didnt know what "no fault" meant.

I told him he can call my office directly and go over the terms of the bet before i tell him.

They banned me because i was soliciting and offering my services (which i wasnt).

#### that subreddit. It's full of bad advice and dumb people.

/ventover.

[surferguy]

Tupperware and the Tupperware drawer/shelf.

#### that place completely

[fotze2]

I curse the companies that are eliminating the working from home during my commute. No reason 75% of these people need to come into the office every day, but I attribute to 3 things:

- Old school (white) guys who bristle at the thought of not being in attendance in person at 7 am. And yes, the new school guys trained by the old school ones just parrot the same attitude.
- All you dogfataers ruined it for the rest of people
- If I have to suffer with a commute, then damn well you need to suffer as well.

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by surferguy

Tupperware and the Tupperware drawer/shelf.

#### that place completely

When my wife and kids moved away, first thing I did was throw all that crap in the garbage with a photo of it in the garbage. I went and bought 40 of the exact size tupperware.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by fotze2

I curse the companies that are eliminating the working from home during my commute. No reason 75% of these people need to come into the office every day, but I attribute to 3 things:

- Old school (white) guys who bristle at the thought of not being in attendance in person at 7 am. And yes, the new school guys trained by the old school ones just parrot the same attitude.
- All you dogfataers ruined it for the rest of people
- If I have to suffer with a commute, then damn well you need to suffer as well.

This is the thing that I try and remind people of.

WFH is a much more complex issue than some people seem to think it is.

Your points are accurate, there is a lot that can be done with WFH eliminating the need for a commute, there is a lot of 'in office work' that can be attributed to 'The Old Guard' but there is still so much more.

I said it a long time ago, but its going to take a long, long time to iron out the kinks in WFH to make it realistic long-term for some organizations.

But also...

There absolutely were a lot of people who thought WFH meant 'Day Off' and probably just as many who really weren't suited to it insofar as they couldn't stop and just kept working and as such the work/home line got blurred.

The stories I could tell you of people who abused the hell out of WFH would probably shock some and not even remotely surprise others.

People abused the hell out of CERB and a lot of them similarly abused the hell out of WFH.

Which in turn tends to convince the 'Old White Guys' that they were right all along and galvanizes their resolve against it.

Its gonna take a long time.

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by Cappy

I got temp banned from the subreddit r/legaladvicecanada because people are dumb and trolls abound.

Someone was in a car accident in Calgary and the driver who hit them was from BC so they were wondering if they should go through ICBC for injuries.

The top response was someone saying it doesnt matter because Alberta is No-Fault as well - decidedly not true.

I responded saying no, Alberta is not no-fault, talk to a PI lawyer in Calgary. To which i was downvoted and then a guy from Moncton New Brunswick who posts in video game threads wanted to bet that i didnt know what "no fault" meant.

I told him he can call my office directly and go over the terms of the bet before i tell him.

They banned me because i was soliciting and offering my services (which i wasnt).

#### that subreddit. It's full of bad advice and dumb people.

/ventover.

This is weird. Why would you ever get yourself to a point where you are asking people to call you regarding establishing the rules of a bet about an online argument.