Meetings: The Enemy of Productivity

Let's say, hypothetically, you've been invited to a meeting. Sitting around the table are six of your company's employees, with an average pay-rate of R150 an hour. The meeting lasts two hours. That meeting has just cost your company R1800, plus the extra coffee, print-outs and Choice Assorted biscuits, as well as the lost time that could have been spent doing actual work. Was it worth it?

How often do these sorts of meetings actually produce valuable outcomes? Have you ever suspected that some people arrange meetings all the time because they don't have enough work to do?

There are plenty of ways of optimising meetings (such as setting a time-limit, removing the chairs from the room and so on), but since this is a technology blog, I'm going to look at some technological alternatives to having meetings.

When looking for a technology to replace the need for a meeting, let's first look at what the meeting is about.

The Team/Company Announcement (aka the "Town Hall" meeting)

Most companies don't have these too often... maybe once every few months or so. But do we need to have them at all? What's the point of gathering all those expensive people into one room anyway? To give them all the same message at the same time, right?

Isn't there an easier, cheaper way of getting a message out to a large group of people simultaneously?

Well yes: email.

Email is effectively free, and all your staff should have access to it. (If they don't, how are you still in business? It's 2010!) Sending one email costs the same as sending 100 000 of them, and each employee can take the time to read through it when is most convenient for them, without disrupting their busy days.

Of course you may be concerned that your message may not convey well in text format... you'd really rather your staff get to see your face and hear the tone of your voice. This is a valid concern, and fortunately there's a solution to that too: video.

With the webcam on your laptop (or even the camera on your smartphone), you can record a video message (doing multiple takes, if necessary) and put it in a place where your staff can access it and view it at their convenience. If you have an Intranet site, you can post it there. If you don't, you can post it on a free video-hosting site like YouTube and send the link to your staff (just be sure to set the privacy options correctly).

YouTube is a particularly appealing option, since it gives you the ability to provide your staff with a public discussion board on the video page, where they can engage with you and each other about the message you were trying to get across.

The Collaboration Meeting

These sorts of meetings tend to be roughly equivalent to telephone calls in terms of the kind of conversation that takes place. The added benefit of being in the same room together is the ability to share references: printed documents and other visual aids. But how often does actual work take place in a forum like this?

More likely, two workers will have to have several such meetings in which they bring each other up-to-speed on their respective progress, and share input to help each other move forward. Are these constant interruptions really the best way to do that?

Other than the obvious way to share documents with each other, email, there are a few technologies that can provide a more integrated two-way communication flow, particularly when it comes to collaborating on documents. Document collaboration tools are ubiquitous now, and if your company has something like Microsoft SharePoint Services or Google Apps, you probably already have access to them. My personal favourite (and a good example of what these things can do) is Google Docs.

Google Docs collaboration

In Google Docs, you can create a document in your document library and "share" it with your colleague. Once you've done that, you can both have the document open at the same time, and can edit it together in real time. Google Docs even has a built-in Google Talk client that lets you chat with your fellow collaborators in real-time, and right inside the document window!

Whether the document is a proposal, presentation or manual you're co-creating, or a task-list for work happening in another application, a tool like this would probably eliminate the need for most of those meetings. In fact, there's no real limit to the number of collaborators who can share the same document - your whole team could be editing the same task list at once!

The Project Meeting

In my own experience, these are probably the most time-consuming meetings in any given company. They generally require the presence of each member of a project team, even though most of them are only involved with one small part of the project, and don't really need to know, in detail, what's going on in the rest of the project.

So for however long the meeting lasts, probably a substantial portion of the attendees are effectively wasting their time: sitting around with no real contribution to make, and having to listen to people talking about things that don't really interest or concern them.

Now that's not to say that there's no value in these sorts of meetings, but wouldn't it make more sense if those people were able to carry on with actual work during the parts of the meeting that don't affect them directly?

Skype Conference Call

One old-school solution to this is the conference-call, although newer tools have made these easier and more productive. Tools like Microsoft Lync and Skype allow multiple participants to join in on an audio conversation while sitting at their desks (or on the road via their smartphones), carrying on with other work. They can even do it while wearing comfy headsets so they don't have to hold that old phone up to their ear or annoy their coworkers by using a speakerphone.

These tools even allow you to share an image of your computer desktop with the meeting, in case you need to demonstrate something to the group, and they have an accompanying text-chat that allows you to send things like addresses, names, numbers and links through to everyone or to one person at a time.

The One-on-One Meeting

Although two co-workers who sit close to each other would correctly surmise that a quick face-to-face would likely be a quicker and cheaper alternative to a phone call or Instant Messaging session, what if your workers aren't close together? Do you really want them to drive across town for no reason other than to have a meeting?

What if they could get all the benefits of a face-to-face meeting, without having to leave their desks?

Google Talk Video Chat

Video-conferencing is no longer the domain of the large multi-national corporation. If you have a webcam (which most laptops have built-in by now) and an Internet connection, you can video-conference. Most Instant Messaging applications have a built-in video chat feature. And since both participants are sitting at their computers, they can share any and all supporting material through the other channels, as mentioned above.

Video chat can even be used less formally for remote-workers... setting up an all-day video chat session can give them the sense that they're sitting in the office, and make them feel more part of the team.

Try to Have Less Meetings

In general, like telephone calls, meetings tend to be overused because people don't think through the true cost and implications of spending all that time and effort, and what the potential gain might be.

As a rule, I would suggest implementing a policy where staff need to motivate for having a meeting - to make a case for why they need to pull everyone else away from their desks and why the other tools at their disposal aren't adequate. I think you'll find that your coffee and Choice Assorted budget may start to look better after a few weeks.

Facebook Isn't (Necessarily) The Enemy

Mentioning the name "Facebook" in a business context will likely cause a round of eye-rolling and complaints about workers wasting valuable time on what is generally perceived as a leisure activity.

This view is so common that many companies go so far as to block Facebook from their Internet firewalls, with the intent of preventing their staff from Facebooking on company time - a step that will usually drive the more resourceful staff members to find alternate means of accessing Facebook on company time.

While it's true that Facebook certainly is used as a personal, recreational toy, there's no denying the fact that your staff will be on Facebook if they really want to, regardless of what steps you take to stop them. So instead of fighting it, why not consider using Facebook to your advantage?

Tip #1: Group Accountability

The interesting thing about Facebook is that it's difficult to do anything there that your friends won't see. If you're playing FarmVille or filling in "Which Twilight Character Are You?" quizzes, your friends will usually get a notification in their news feeds about it.

If everyone in your company is on Facebook and are friends with each other, they can all keep an eye on each other. Everyone is accountable to everyone else! If Jenny in Accounting is playing Mafia Wars at ten in the morning, everyone else can see it happening. Odds are, after being called out on it the first time by Martha in the next cubicle, Jenny will probably wait until lunch time before trying it again.

Tip #2: Social Calendar

A lot of companies these days have a vibrant social calendar, filled with company braais, birthday lunches and end-year functions. Using ordinary tools like email to arrange these things can be frustrating. Designing fancy PowerPoint invitations, managing RSVPs and sending out announcements to attendees can get pretty time-consuming for whoever is in charge of arranging it. And then there's the problem of sending out the photos afterwards... it's enough to crash your email server!

Fortunately this is a problem that Facebook has already solved. Facebook Events is a clean and simple tool designed specifically for this sort of thing. Invitations can be made up in a couple of minutes, attendee lists are managed right from the event page, changes and updates are automatically sent to everyone and there's even a special place for posting the photos!

The discussion board on the Facebook Events page provides an added dimension by giving you a place for staff members to discuss the event, helping to generate excitement beforehand, and hopefully enhancing the whole experience.

Tip #3: Extra Communication Tools

Above all else, Facebook is essentially a communication platform. It has a variety of tools built into it intended for an array of different functions:

• Facebook Messages are a lot like emails, with the ability to attach links, images and videos, but using less bandwidth than an email ordinarily would because the attachment is only downloaded if the recipient actually decides to view it;
• Facebook Groups allow you to create separate communities within Facebook that can be used for private discussions - you could create one for your company, one for each department and one for each team;
• Facebook Chat is a basic Instant Messaging client built on an open standard, so it will work on most 3rd-party chat applications as well;
• Your Wall is a place you can post thoughts, ideas and interesting sites you may have found on the web. This can be announcements, questions or links to news items relevant to your business;
• Facebook Pages are like a mini-website for your brand within Facebook, with built-in communication tools that let you engage with your clients in the social space.

And so on. Facebook is also constantly updating, improving and revising their tools, so expect more useful stuff in the future.

Be Careful

One ongoing criticism of Facebook is about its privacy policies. Although that shouldn't scare you away, it's important to make sure your staff are using their privacy settings properly, so as to avoid embarrassing or awkward situations.

If you're going to be using Facebook as a tool for your business, I would strongly suggest that you encourage one or more of your staff to become experts on Facebook's privacy tools, and to train the rest of your staff on how to use them properly.

An important thing to keep in mind, especially when making a transition into the social networking space, is that this is an area where your staff have been doing all sorts of personal things up till now. They may have some embarrassing photos or other posts on their profiles that even they might not be aware of (you might have some too!). Try to keep an open mind about what you see there, but at the same time work with them to learn restraint and etiquette on how to behave properly and professionally on Facebook.

Keeping the Lines Open

Although it seems that the telephone isn't generally the optimal communication medium to use, the unfortunate reality of the situation is that most people aren't yet aware of that fact. As a result, many, if not most, businesses still need to make themselves available to clients over the phone.

In medium-sized businesses where most workers are equipped with a telephone on their desk, the temptation is to use that phone not only for dealing with customers, but for internal communications as well. That's probably fine, from a cost point of view, as calling from one desk to another behind the same exchange usually doesn't cost anything.

The problem lies in the fact that, in most cases, that phone can only handle one call at a time. If one of your sales people happens to be calling a helpdesk agent to arrange a meeting, for the duration of that call, any customer calling in will be unable to reach either one of them, which defeats the purpose of having the phone to begin with.

The same is true of companies that have field agents who traditionally use their cellphones to communicate with each other and the head office. The more they need to do that, the less reachable they are to customers and prospective customers.

In a previous post, I've covered the fact that sometimes a phone call is necessary. But what about when it isn't? What tool should be used for intra-office communication that leaves the phone lines open?

Email is an option, but it's often too slow and cumbersome for a quick message exchange. SMS costs too much. The logical alternative is Instant Messaging.

For the uninitiated, Instant Messaging (IM) is a tool that allows users to communicate directly with each other via a text-based interface through a computer or smartphone. The IM application will usually be able to broadcast the user's availability (as in: Logged In, Away or Busy) which can indicate whether it would be best to use IM or some other means of reaching the person.

Odds are, many of your staff are probably already using IM between themselves, but in order to ensure a certain level of standardisation, you may want to consider formalising a policy around it, and declaring an official IM tool for everyone to use.

As with most things in technology, there are a variety of IM tools to choose from, each with its own strengths and limitations. I'll look at a few of the more popular ones.

Skype

You've probably heard of Skype as the tool used by families and friends to stay in touch over long distances via video chat. But Skype is more than just a video chat application, it's also a voice and text chat tool supporting some interesting extras like ad-hoc online meeting rooms and calling out to ordinary phones.

Wikimedia

Skype is probably the best known of the IM clients, and as a result is already pretty ubiquitous. There are Skype applications that run on all popular desktop computer operating systems, as well as most of the more popular smartphones.

The basic service is free, and the software is relatively easy to install across all your company's computers.

Google Talk

If your company runs its email hosting through Google Apps, you already have a Google Talk feature available to you (although it may need to be activated by your Domain Administrator).

Wikimedia

Google Talk has all the same features as Skype with one important exception: it's not strictly necessary to install a Google Talk application on a computer in order to use it. Google Talk can work inside your Internet browser window when you log into your Google Mail page. It also interfaces with your existing Google Contacts and allows you to launch chat conversations with those contacts even from inside an email.

Like Skype, there are Google Talk applications available for most platforms (if you feel it necessary to install one), but unlike Skype, Google Talk is built on an "open" standard called Jabber/XMPP. This means that any third-party application developer may create an application that will allow you to use Google Talk through it. So for those platforms that don't already have a native application available (such as Nokia Symbian phones), there are third-party ones that work just as well (such as Fring).

Microsoft Lync

If your company uses Microsoft Exchange for email, you should already have access to Microsoft Lync (or its predecessor, Microsoft Windows Messenger). It may need to be installed by your Domain Administrator.

Lync is the corporate version of the popular Windows Live Messenger (sometimes still referred to as "MSN Messenger").

Wikemedia

Lync supports most of the same features included in Skype and Google Talk, but with one important difference. Lync can be set up to run on your own internal server. Where Skype and Google Talk both require access to the Internet to work, Lync doesn't need it. If Internet access is limited or otherwise restricted for your company, you may prefer to go with a locally hosted alternative.

The down-side of this, of course, is that your remote workers and field agents would find it more difficult to log into Lync from their smartphones or home offices.

IBM Lotus SameTime

SameTime is IBM's answer to Microsoft Lync, and works in a very similar way. If your company uses Lotus Notes for email, you probably already have access to SameTime.

Ed Brill

Of the services listed, SameTime is probably the least supported IM service by software platform providers. Although SameTime comes built into Lotus Notes for Windows, Mac or Linux, connecting to SameTime from a smartphone can be very difficult or even impossible.

These are merely the tip of the iceberg. Other popular IM tools include AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ and Facebook Chat as well as a plethora of less popular services geared at a variety of different uses. If one of the big names mentioned above don't suit your purposes, there are plenty more to choose from.

Having tried all the ones I've listed here, my personal recommendation goes to Google Talk. I find it to have the most pleasant and consistently good user experience, and it's integration into all my other Google services makes it a pleasure to use. If I were to offer one criticism of Google Talk, it would be that there is currently no one Google Talk application that supports all the features. The desktop client supports a different array of features to the Gmail client, which is different to the web gadget and so on. Hopefully Google will release a new, comprehensive version in the near future.