Effective Discussions for Technical Decision-Making

Whiteboards. Pairing. Spikes. These are the tools we use to have high-level technical conversations about ideas or approaches. How you conduct and lead these conversations involves articulating a vision and securing buy-in, while also valuing and integrating diverse perspectives and feedback from others. The goal is to foster an environment where ideas can be exchanged, discussed, enhanced, and decided on. You’ll walk away from this talk with some new approaches to get your technical ideas across and also solicit thoughts and opinions in ways that engage different points of view.

Transcript

1. Effective Discussions for Technical Decision-Making Allison McMillan
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5. So Many Meetings Suck www.allisonmcmillan.com
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9. * 71% of senior managers believe that meetings are inefficient * Almost 40% of employees consider unproductive meetings to be the highest cost to their organizations * only half of all meetings are effective, well-used, and engaging. Even less than half when they are remote meetings.
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13. Interesting Informative ???? Confusing Unsure about next steps Fun Rabbit Holes Productive Focused Constructive Inclusive Repetitive Chaotic Boring Same people talking
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15. * Employees multitask in at least 41% of meetings. www.allisonmcmillan.com
16. Engaging Informative Inclusive Psychologically safe Encouraging Increased understanding www.allisonmcmillan.com
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21. Modalities Instructions www.allisonmcmillan.com
22. Modalities www.allisonmcmillan.com
23. What could we do with half the time? What could we do with twice as many people? What can we do with only one person? What can we do by tomorrow? What would your favorite tv character suggest? What would your favorite conference speaker say you should do?
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25. How Might We… www.allisonmcmillan.com
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28. Give ideas a chance Allow people to build on each other’s ideas Enable creative thinking and solutioning Foster curiosity www.allisonmcmillan.com
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30. Instructions www.allisonmcmillan.com
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34. Pitfalls www.allisonmcmillan.com
35. How Might We… www.allisonmcmillan.com
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40. One thing I want to try in my next technical conversation is… www.allisonmcmillan.com
41. A new-to-you approach Silence for a bit longer than you’re comfortable with A gut sense of the conversation direction New ways to re-engage meeting participants www.allisonmcmillan.com
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43. www.allisonmcmillan.com allison@allisonmcmillan.com
44. Thank You! www.allisonmcmillan.com allison@allisonmcmillan.com
45. Citations https://www.zippia.com/advice/meeting-statistics/ #:~:text=opinions%20on%20meetings.-,Here%20are%20some%20insights%20our%20research%20uncovered%3A,of%20their%20time%20in%20meetings. https://hbr.org/2023/06/the-secret-to-a-good-meeting-preparation https://hbr.org/2017/07/stop-the-meeting-madness https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-surprising-science-behind-successful-remote-meetings/