22 Lightweight Communication: Are You Always in Meetings? #

Hello, I am Zheng Ye.

Today, let’s discuss a topic that many programmers often encounter in their daily work but can be troublesome: meetings.

The Headache of Meetings #

Once, I overheard two programmers chatting. A senior programmer said, “Nighttime is better, I can focus solely on coding.” The younger programmer, puzzled, asked, “Can’t you write during the day too?”

The senior programmer sighed and said, “I wish it were that simple. But I have so many meetings during the day, and I don’t have the time for coding! So, I end up working overtime to write my code.”

This conversation sounds a bit disheartening, but this phenomenon is indeed widespread in the daily work of programmers, especially those with experience working in large organizations. It almost becomes their fate. These programmers believe that too many meetings hinder their ability to write code.

Don’t think that I’m criticizing meetings. Meetings themselves are not the problem, because the purpose of meetings is to bring people together to solve problems. But please think about how many of the meetings you’ve attended actually solved any problems.

Meetings are meant to solve problems, but in reality, many meetings don’t solve any problems. This is a strange contradiction.

Think back to the meetings you’ve attended. Were there any particularly effective ones? In my professional career, the most effective meetings were usually used for information synchronization. For example, when a leader announces something, this type of meeting doesn’t waste much time. The message is conveyed, everyone receives it, and the meeting ends.

So, what are the characteristics of ineffective meetings? Nearly all of them are discussion-oriented, with different attendees chiming in and derailing the agenda. Time ticks away while discussions go on and on.

Let me give you an example. I once attended a review meeting for a new deployment plan. The team leader wanted to gather all the stakeholders, including teams that might be affected, testing, operations, and more. The small meeting room was packed with people.

The team leader began explaining the plan, but within just a few minutes, the leader of one of the downstream teams stood up and asked, “Why are we doing it this way? I’m concerned it will affect our system.” The person presenting had to pause and explain. As they explained, more details emerged, and both parties started back-and-forth discussions. What was initially a review meeting had turned into a technical discussion.

The colleagues from testing and operations originally came to listen to the technical plan so they could prepare for their work. They looked helpless as they watched the discussion unfold because they knew that without a finalized plan, everything would need to be revisited later.

Sound familiar? Why does this happen? Because they chose the wrong mode of communication.

Meetings are a heavyweight form of communication, most likely the most significant aspect of our daily work. They carry a strong sense of ceremony, which means people tend to take them more seriously. Moreover, meetings usually involve many people, especially those who aren’t directly relevant to the topic.

Think about how many times you’ve been completely focused during a meeting. If you can maintain high attention, congratulations, you are participating efficiently. But most of the time, you might be daydreaming because the discussion may not be relevant to you or it may have become too technical to understand. The only reason you’re sitting there is because the facilitator hasn’t announced the end of the meeting.

Using such a heavyweight mode of communication, like meetings, to discuss problems is like using a sledgehammer to kill a chicken. It’s inappropriate. So how do we solve this problem? It’s simple—use a sharper tool for the task at hand.

Lightweight Communication #

In reality, people who actively participate in discussions during meetings do not feel that they are a waste of time because they are highly engaged and enter a state of flow, where time passes quickly. Those who feel that meetings are a waste of time are often the ones who do not participate.

In other words, one of the reasons why meetings leave such a negative impression is that there are not many people actively engaged in the discussions. Therefore, let’s change our perspective and bring together those who are truly engaged in the discussions.

So, the first action item to improve meetings is to reduce the number of participants in the discussions.

Some may say that their discussions involve multiple topics, each requiring different participants. In that case, what you should do is find the relevant individuals separately to discuss each topic, instead of bringing everyone together.

You may have noticed that when discussing action items, I used the word “discussion” instead of mentioning the word “meeting”. As I mentioned before, meetings are a heavyweight communication method. Therefore, we tend to choose a lightweight communication method, such as face-to-face communication, which reduces the pressure on each individual.

Compared to the format of meetings, face-to-face communication is limited by attention and cannot involve too many participants. Because there are relatively fewer participants, each person will be more engaged.

So, our second action item is to have face-to-face communication when discussing matters.

Once we understand these improvement methods, we can modify our own behavior. If there is a question that needs to be discussed, what I should do is individually reach out to the relevant individuals to discuss the specific topics they are concerned about. Then, I can summarize the results of these discussions and seek everyone’s opinions. Only when there is a consensus among everyone, will I choose to hold a meeting.

At this point, the purpose of the meeting is no longer for discussions, but for information synchronization: I am planning to do this, and relevant parties have agreed. I am notifying everyone about it, and it is done.

Stand-Up Meeting #

As I mentioned before, not all meetings are bad; some information synchronization meetings are necessary.

Let me give you an example of a practice called a stand-up meeting. Many companies have adopted this practice, and it has even become a daily ritual. The general procedure is that everyone gathers in the office in the morning and starts the day with a stand-up meeting, where they sync up on yesterday’s work and discuss today’s tasks.

Some people may frown upon the idea of a stand-up meeting. If that’s the case, then most likely your team is doing it wrong.

Do you know why it’s called a “stand-up” meeting? It’s because people tend to stand for a short amount of time. Standing for too long can be tiring! So, if your stand-up meeting lasts longer than 10 minutes, then you’re definitely doing it wrong.

You may argue that 10 minutes is probably not enough time for everyone to share their updates because each person has a lot to say. But let me ask you, do you really care about what others have to say? In reality, once someone starts talking too much about something that doesn’t relate to you, your mind starts to wander.

Therefore, with a fixed total duration, each person’s speaking time is limited. So, what can you say within that limited time? I suggest you focus on three things:

• What did you accomplish yesterday?
• What are you planning to do today?
• Did you encounter any problems during the process and need help with anything?

The “accomplishments” part is meant to sync up with others and see if things are going according to plan. If you deviate from the plan, it’s important to bring it up so that the project manager can address it, as it might require adjusting the project plan.

The “planning” part is to let others know about your upcoming tasks. If the tasks involve collaboration with others, it’s essential to inform them so they can prepare accordingly.

The “problems and requests for help” part is about collaborating with others. It’s a way of saying, “I have a problem I don’t understand, and if any of you have information, please share it with me.”

All three points are related to others, and you can quickly summarize them within a few sentences and conclude. Because these matters concern others, people can pay relatively more attention.

You might ask, “What if I have a complex problem that requires discussion?” Well, I’m sorry, but that’s a separate issue. You can discuss it with the relevant people after the stand-up meeting. Don’t waste everyone’s time discussing it during the meeting. In the stand-up meeting, you just need to mention that you have a problem that requires discussion with certain people, and that’s it.

To maintain everyone’s focus, some of my teams have even used a speaking token. For example, they would use a stuffed toy, and only the person holding the “token” can speak. Then, they randomly pass it to someone else. If a person holding the token gets distracted, everyone will notice immediately.

By using interesting methods, keeping the meeting brief, and discussing matters that involve everyone, these stand-up meetings generally have good effects because they satisfy these three criteria.

A typical mistake related to stand-up meetings is when some teams turn them into report meetings. The project leader assigns individuals to take turns reporting their work to them, while the others tend to lose interest because it doesn’t concern them.

You may also have a concern that your team is quite large, and a few sentences from each person would take a long time.

When the team is large, it’s even more important to split the team into smaller groups because it’s difficult to work closely with 20 people. The Wharton School has conducted research and found that a team size of 5-12 is appropriate, allowing each individual to play an important role within the team.

Summary #

Meetings can be a challenge for many programmers, and too many meetings can even hinder your progress at work. The purpose of meetings is to solve problems, but in reality, most meetings do not effectively solve problems. This is because meetings are a heavy form of communication, and many people who attend meetings do not actively participate.

If you want to discuss issues with others, it is best to give up the idea of using meetings and instead engage in face-to-face communication. Face-to-face communication is lightweight and involves fewer people, allowing for greater participation from each person. Based on this improvement, we can transform most meetings into information-sharing sessions, which will improve efficiency.

I also introduced a special type of meeting: the stand-up meeting. The reason for using stand-up meetings is to control time. In a stand-up meeting, each person can follow a suggested format:

• What did I accomplish yesterday?
• What do I plan to do today?
• Are there any problems I encountered during the process that require assistance?

If you often organize meetings, please consider if you have not been utilizing meetings effectively. If you are frequently invited to meetings, consider forwarding this article to the organizers and encourage them to not always “discuss” problems through meetings.

If there is one thing you can remember from today’s content, please remember: communicate face-to-face more and have fewer meetings.

Finally, I would like you to reflect on any problems you have encountered at work due to meetings. Feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts with me.

Thank you for reading. If you found this article helpful, please feel free to share it with your friends.