Developing a Shared Organizational Consciousness Requires Big Fucking Meetings | Hacker News Reader

Developing a Shared Organizational Consciousness Requires Big Fucking Meetings

buildingromes.substack.com

12 pointsaadilmaan12 comments

Everyone hates them; they often are poorly run. But, in a complex, interconnected, and now remote world - I believe we need more bigger meetings not less. Just hear me out...

A project manager who likes big meetings. There's no more stereotypical combination. :)

There are two kinds of people, people who go to meetings, and people who go to meetings and then go back to work

We all have our vices! Sometimes we power trip and that’s when we become a hinderance rather than enabler of progress.

"Big Fucking Meetings" is the clickbait. This is mostly word salad that doesn't seem to get to much of a point.

I groan inwardly whenever someone uses the expression "shared consciousness" in a business context. It inevitably means that someone is trying to find a way to make themselves look important without regard to the fact that their preventing everyone else from doing the work they were hired to do.

The guy also seems to lack the depth of awareness it takes to prevent him from admitting to obvious confirmation bias:

> was surprised and happy to see my theory validated by The General who did the same thing when he assumed command...

I have systematically refused to attend a single BFM for the last four years (and there have been dozens). So far there is no detectable difference between my level of "shared consciousness" and anyone else's. I like small meetings populated by the select subset of my coworkers from whom my mind can benefit.

Good for you. Small meetings and breakout sessions are more effective than absurd BFM :). What is your ideal small size meeting, hypothetically speaking, or when does it become a crowd?

Four is my limit

Thank you for sharing that.

I have rules of thumb for scheduling meetings:

1. Don't invite managers - unless you're told to.

2. Slot 10 minutes for each non-manager.

3. Add 15 minutes for each manager.

4. Add 30 minutes each for certain people - you know who I mean.

As developers, it can be confusing for us trying to understand why managers call so many pointless meetings. Just remember Maslow's hammer: "if all you have is a hammer, every job looks like a nail."

This is a really great rule of thumb. This stems from managers wanting to play an "active" role in solution because they have been asked to "lead". It sucks. When you are brainstorming you need meetings but if you push it to thousands of people, it's just the jungle and no productivity.

Hmm, I will put this on my list of the worst piece of nonsense written to date. Not gonna lie, feeling mighty embarrassed right now. But, learning opportunity as this is probably the most honest feedback I have ever read. Much work to do still. I am genuinely intrigued - what is the right explanation for shared consciousness in business context?

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