Do you think we waste most of our productive time in online meetings while working remotely?

Question

You need to attend more meetings for collaboration while working remotely compared to when you work at the office. Do you feel that most of your productive time is wasted arranging and attending these lengthy meetings?

Richa Sharma · Accepted Answer

I think the issue with online meetings and remote working is, it always requires scheduling a time and day to discuss something, no matter how small. But otherwise, you're probably at one table or a tap away to discuss quick things.

You would prefer to discuss a group of things at once for an online meeting because of the lack of physical proximity, and you don't know when the person will be next available. So I'm not sure of a waste of time, but there's a communication gap. I'd think twice before scheduling an online meeting and avoid it as much as possible.

Divya · Answer

Not really. Travelling is an equal waste of time

sajan kashi · Answer

It depends what type of meeting you are jumping into..

No. 1 - Unplanned, unstructured and mostly out of context talk (you might end up wasting a time here)

No. 2 - Planned, with clear objectives (This will help you brainstorm, you will end up with a discrete conclusion #fruitfull)

Sharon Har-Noy · Answer

In some ways yes, but I do feel more time is wasted in similar  meetings and chitchats when working in the office. So overall I find remote work more productive and am happy to deal with the on-line meeting (even when they are less productive).

Abid Unnisa · Answer

This absolutely depends on what is your work. I mean I am in a GTM team and I need to collaborate to discuss ideas with the team. So that is really important. But maybe if you are from a sales team or a developer then constant collaboration may not be required.

Thats what I think atleast.

Frankie Zhang · Answer

@abid_unnisa agree.

Frankie Zhang · Answer

@richa_sharma07 Nice touch. Totally agree. Sometimes you just need those meetings to make sure everyone's on the same page, so that the project can be proceed smoothly.

Grace Bulman · Answer

I think if the meetings are on the shorter side, they can really be a productive way to communicate. However, as meetings drag on longer than, say an hour, I believe they can be a waste of time. Especially through losing the interest and focus of attendees.

Answer

Yes. If I go on principle, that is the 80/20 rule. Only 20% of the meetings we attend virtually move the needle for whatever we are trying to achieve. I guess that's why Ray Dalio came up with a couple of ideas on how to make professional meetings more productive (You can read it here:https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/03/... or https://www.petercook.blog/home/...) Not to mention that the virtual nature of the meeting makes things worse. It's quite tough to have someone's attention in physical presence, virtually this only gets worse.

Mehran Najafi · Answer

Yes definitely! One way I tackle this is scheduling meetings in the second half of the day. Usually the first 4-5 hours of my day are best for deep focus work requiring a lot of brain power. I think that coupled with only scheduling in absolutely-necessary meetings can bring about some changes in your overall work flow.

Andrei Măguleanu · Answer

@divya14 that doesn't mean that meetings aren't.

Uma Venugopal · Answer

One word: YES.

Richa Sharma · Answer

@frankie_zhang I agree.

Tariq Waseem · Answer

Yes, we do

Qudsia Ali · Answer

@richa_sharma07 I agree; having scheduled meetings make it easy to manage both work and meeting and not end up doing nothing all day other than attending meetings. Thank you for sharing.

Do you think we waste most of our productive time in online meetings while working remotely?

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