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Comment by kabdib | Hacker News Reader

i was at a startup where meetings were stifling. i had code to write, but i was stuck in HOURS long meetings half the week while marketing and sales types droned on and on about stuff that was meaningless unless we had a product to sell. uh, guys? we have code to write

walking back from lunch with my cow-orkers one day, i realized we were passing a clock store. i went inside and bought a not-too-expensive cuckoo clock and installed it on the wall of our single large conference room

it would make whirring noises every 15 minutes. a few clicking sounds before the hour, and then CUCKOO, CUCKOO as many times as necessary. the marketing and sales folks did NOT like it, but:

- meetings got shorter and there were fewer of them

- the CEO of the company loved that clock. if i forgot to wind it, he or our admin did :-)

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This is a dadhacker post, including (especially) the "cow-orker".

Are you just reposting or are you the real dadhacker?

Because if you are, I was reading your blog since I was like 14. Sad it's down now. But absolutely great stuff that helped prepare me for today's industry :)

i'm dadhacker, yes

i may bring the site back, but it's not a priority, and i'm not sure i can write much at the moment without getting into trouble :-)

The meeting room cuckoo clock is pure brilliance.

(+ nice catch @verall)

I love this. Not only the reminders that time's a wastin', but also the unattractive aesthetic, making the meeting space a less pleasant place to linger, and maybe even taking people down a notch from their very important people meetings. The bird calling "cuckoo" could even be commentary on the discussion.

Seems like someone's ego is out of check; these tend to happen when someone needs to "hold court" or otherwise wants to feel important.

In general, your management should take care of this.

Otherwise, if they are unwilling, it requires becoming slightly antagonistic once the meeting runs long. In my case, as soon as someone mentioned another meeting I just interrupted abruptly and said, "We do not need another meeting." The groans of agreement got the point across.

Otherwise, if that doesn't work, you can do something like, "Everyone but [person droning on] needs to leave the room, now." Once everyone leaves, point out that "these long meetings are killing team productivity, morale, and are completely unneeded. Stop wasting the engineering team's time. We don't need to be here."

There's something beautifully old-school about using a literal cuckoo clock as a productivity tool

I've been stuck in meetings like that. I'd just walk out saying, "you know where to find me if my input required."

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