Meetings

We’ve all been in them. We’ve been in good ones, bad ones, meh ones, the bottom line is that they take time and a wise man instilled in me at a young age that if you are going to take time doing something then make it worthwhile. We’re being paid for our time, so let’s not waste it.

For some folks their entire day is just meetings (those poor souls), but for most others they are on an as needed basis. As developers, we fall into the as needed category. For most instances our time is better utilized developing solutions to problems, but meetings can actually be treated as a tool to help you with your solution. A lot of developers would rather just hammer stuff out over Slack (or even worse, email). Although sometimes this is effective enough, many times a little face to face time is a better alternative.

Over the years I’ve been in all kinds of meetings and have learned and observed ways to make the most out of them. Let’s be honest, sometimes you will find yourself spacing out and will never get that last hour of your life back, but if that’s the norm, then you’re wasting your time. These different types of meetings deserve your attention, and here are some ways that I have put effort into them.

The “informational meeting” aka “lunch and learn”. We’ve all been to this one, someone has something they want to share (or the boss wants them to share) and the rest of us are there to listen. A key here is to come in with a little bit of knowledge of the subject, even just a quick Google search 10 minutes beforehand. Another thing, ask a question. The person (or people) took their time to prepare something, being met with silence is the worst outcome. At the very least, if applicable, you could be honest and give some sort of feedback.

The “top down meeting”. This is where the boss gathers their team together to relay some sort of information. This can be bad, it can be good, it can be simply informational. Again, in this situation ask a question or give feedback. A variation of this type is the “all hands on deck”, where it’s the whole company. The extroverts in the room are likely to handle the questions here, not everyone is going to be comfortable. If you aren’t comfortable speaking up, make notes and talk about it afterwards with your team or your manager.

These first few examples are kind of “fluff” meetings, probably not a whole lot of real decisions coming out of here. These next couple of examples I think are a little more important to us in the development world, these are where we can make decisions together that drive us to a good solution.

The “white flag” meeting. We see this when we are stuck, we can’t figure out an issue of maybe just at a fork in the road and are stuck on which direction to take next. When I get to this point I like to gather a handful of people I think can help us get unstuck. Many times what happens here is the context will be given and the problem stated, which is then met by…..crickets. Now this might be completely legitimate, thinking is ok but please say that is what you are doing. Be engaged, ask clarifying questions, whatever you do don’t say it’s not your problem. These are the type of meetings that I really enjoy, problem solving (or troubleshooting) is a craft I thoroughly enjoy and I believe that to be true for most developers, take pride in the fact that someone believes that you can help.

This last example I have is one that can scare some people but really invigorate others, the “battle” meeting. The term battle might be a little harsh, but it’s the best I could come up with. Basically what we have here are two opposing viewpoints, or one viewpoint that someone is trying to “sell”. Regardless of the situation the end goal here is usually to choose a path, quite possibly with some amount of compromise.

I’ve been a “combatant” in this type of meeting, in which case you need to be prepared. Don’t just come in with a bunch of gut feels, be able to get your point across with some facts. Also, be prepared to be open to any other viewpoints, the ability to compromise is a tool you should have in your toolbelt.

Sometimes this kind of discussion can go off the rails, people can be quite passionate about their points of view. In this situation I believe there is a very important role that is needed, what I think of as a “silent assassin”. This is a role that I’ve unknowingly played throughout my career, I didn’t realize it was a thing until I read an article on this type of role. In this role you can sit back and take in all the information without bias. After being silent and letting the meeting go where it goes, it becomes very powerful when you actually do speak up. One single statement might just right the ship, or it might completely bring the whole thing to a crashing halt, which probably isn’t a bad thing. I highly recommend trying this role, it can be very fulfilling.

Meetings are necessary, some might say a necessary evil but necessary nonetheless. Take the time to make them worth it, you are being paid to be there after all!