Do we have to do a video call? Aren’t there better ways to do things? (Part 1)

“Ding!” 

I’ve got mail! Bob is asking when I can meet with him and Peter. Strange. He usually Slacks me. Then I see Peter on the “CC” list. Everything is a meeting for Peter. When he wants to share some news, he calls a meeting. When he wants to discuss something, he calls a meeting. When he wants to make decisions, he calls a meeting. How annoying! I don’t understand why Peter doesn’t get that we don’t need to meet for everything. There are better ways to communicate than booking time on people’s calendars and dragging them into video calls.

I decided to send Bob a message on Slack: “Hi Bob, this meeting with Peter, what’s it about? Can that be done asynchronously?” 

Bob replied: “Oh, Peter was excited about a piece of news. He thinks you should hear it as well, hence the meeting request.” 

Bob knows that sharing information doesn’t need a meeting. I wonder why he didn’t tell Peter that. Granted, Peter is more senior than Bob and I. But then, I am never shy about telling senior management what’s what, so I reply to the email and ask Bob and Peter why they want the meeting. I’m prepared to tell Peter that sharing information can be done asynchronously. 

Turns out, Peter is very open to trying new things. 

Peter: “Alright, I’ll give it a try, Wendy. But what if I want to share the news with the whole team? Still no meeting?”

Me (Wendy): “Let me set up a private channel for you and everyone on the team. You can share news with us whenever you like. Just promise me you won’t spam us. ;-)”

One meeting request diverted! Potentially eliminated a big team meeting as well! Whew!

With this victory, I’m now on a hunt to see what other meetings we can eliminate from our calendars. Stay tuned for what we tackle next!