don't waste time in meetings watch picture

One of the compliments I received a few weeks ago was an appreciation for my efficient meetings. I was never sure if anyone noticed or cared. In this spirit, when I kicked off my first program meeting with the Red Hat Ceph team last week this is the essence of how I introduced my style of meetings,

I move quickly and I don’t mess around. If I move too quickly, slow me down or create a new topic for discussion at the bottom of the shared document.

In general, I don’t use meetings to collect status. Meetings are to make decisions, resolve problems, and coordinate next actions.

I err on the side of assuming that each person here knows what they are doing and are getting it done. I also assume that if neither of these things is true you’ll contact me privately, get help from somewhere or raise it here.

Make sense? Any questions?

There weren’t any questions.

The first meeting finished 15 minutes early so I scheduled the next one for 45 minutes instead of an hour.  That might not work, but I’m going to see if it’s possible on a regular basis.