Un-Boring Meetings

Meetings, particularly in large organisations, and unavoidable, and unavoidably boring. But why is that? And is there an escape?

Lecture at the Alibis for Interaction Allstars conference, Malmö, November 11, 2016.

1. un-boring meetings Sebastian Deterding (@dingstweets) Alibis for Interaction November 11, 2016
2. chapter 1 Introduction
3. are meetings boring?
4. big, long, informational department meetings booooooo-ring (in case you wondered)
5. constant, small in-team ‘meetings’ during production not boring at all
6. when are meetings boring?
7. Meetings are boring when we don’t give or receive something we find relevant. observation
8. so how do we cut straight to the relevant bits?
9. we can’t. teaser
10. the problem is not how we do meetings. it’s that we do them. teaser
11. “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
12. there are organisational contexts that make meetings both (1) unavoidably boring and (2) unavoidable. teaser
13. how do we redesign organisational contexts to avoid doing (unavoidably boring) meetings? the real question
14. but first, some hygiene
15. meeting design does matter* * Links at the end
16. meetings≈games: goals+rules+players+material define possible results
17. 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
18. chapter 2 Shared ground, or: Why meetings must be boring
19. 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
20. All I know All you know What’s relevant
21. What I know is relevant
22. What you know is relevant
23. What we know is relevant
24. extending shared ground
25. extending shared ground
26. ? but what if we don’t know what we already know?
27. ? i’ll tell you stuff i didn’t know you know or find irrelevant
28. ? you’ll tell me stuff you didn’t know i know or find irrelevant
29. ? and if we both come with colleagues who share ground with us …
30. “Some of you will already be familiar with this, but …” “This may not be relevant to everyone here, but …” common give-aways
31. what matters is mutually known shared ground !
32. 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 !
33. 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
34. 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,
35. chapter 3 Accountability, or: Why we still meet
36. 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”
37. and then …
38. “Sorry, I didn’t see that e-mail, maybe it landed in my spam folder/ you know my inbox/…”
39. accountability in real life: legal serving
40. accountability in real life: witnesses and signatures
41. accountability in digital life: read receipt
42. to act, we need accountable shared ground mutual presence I know You know that You know that I know that etc.
43. “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
44. 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
45. chapter 4 Advanced meeting avoidance
46. 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
47. hack #1: increase known shared ground social streams colocation delegation to teams
48. 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
49. 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 :) ???
50. chapter 5 Summary
51. good meeting rules make meetings more productive and less boring …
52. ? but with unknown shared ground, we’re bound to bore each other.
53. and in big, disperse, differentiated organisations, and in groups of 3+, unknown shared ground is unavoidable. ?
54. we stick to meetings because they are our default for producing accountability in organisations
55. so: meet less (boringly) by establishing more known shared ground … social streams colocation delegation to teams
56. … 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).
57. sebastian@codingconduct.cc @dingstweets codingconduct.cc thank you.