I read a post from Ryan Carson where he mentioned a tip from 37signals on how to use campfire to manage people and what they’re up to. When someone arrives at work, he/she types “[IN] this is what i plan to get done today” and right before he/she leaves, “[OUT] this is what i got done today”. It forces you to think about your daily activity before getting started and look back to what you actually accomplished when you’re done. Weekly review meetings might then become easier, since you could use the campfire archives to see planned vs. completed tasks for each day of the week.
It seems like a good solution to the problem of managing what’s getting done, but of course, it wouldn’t work for everyone. Some people prefer to not have to report or check-in at all, but the reality is there needs to be some sort of accountability for progress. I think it’s interesting (and clever) to use a chat room to manage employees and tasking. It’s unobtrusive, too.
Personally, I couldn’t come up with an ideal fix for task management. There are too many variables, and someone will always be somewhat disappointed in the solution. I’ve tried several different methods, and they all have their ups and downs. The one thing I do know is I don’t really like meetings.
Comments
Interesting idea. I read a book Monday called the “Five Dysfunctions of a Team.” It is a great read because it uses a fuctional story to describe a team, but one of the themes was that meetings have to have drama and conflict. They have to be engaging. So having set lengths and agendas don’t really work. Here is an interview.
My experience has been that often people don’t want to engage in conflict because they don’t trust that the conflict isn’t personal or they aren’t secure in their own abilities. That is a critical component, those in the meeting need to be secure enough to look past themselves and engage. Then the meetings become productive and fun.
I agree. I dislike meetings, also. I’ve found that the best thing to do is really the simplest: make a list. I always make a list of things that need done and I just go straight down it. If something stalls, I move on to the next.
I’ve not yet used Campfire – but it looks interesting. I’ll have to give it a go.
Lee—I agree, meetings should be engaging. But the “whatever you want, you’re the boss” mentality usually steps in, so the conflict gets pushed aside. Plus, conflict with a boss is traditionally something employees like to avoid. Personally, I have no problem with conflict and would never take something as silly as that to heart. And I can see your point about set lengths and agendas, too.
Nick—Yes, pen and paper usually ends up being my choice. But once I turn a page in my notebook, I never look back. So if I need a clean page for a sketch or something, odds are I’m going to forget about that list. I know “that sounds like a personal problem,” because it is. Pen and paper really works well for me, but not in a notebook. Maybe I should try single sheets instead.