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Effective Discussions for
Technical Decision-Making
Allison McMillan
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👎 👎
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So
Many
Meetings
Suck
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* 71% of senior managers believe that meetings are
inefficient
* Almost 40% of employees consider unproductive
meetings to be the highest cost to their organizations
* only half of all meetings are effective, well-used, and
engaging. Even less than half when they are remote
meetings.
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Interesting
Informative
????
Confusing
Unsure about next steps
Fun
Rabbit Holes Productive
Focused
Constructive
Inclusive
Repetitive
Chaotic
Boring
Same people talking
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* Employees multitask in at least 41% of meetings.
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Engaging
Informative
Inclusive
Psychologically safe
Encouraging
Increased understanding
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Modalities
Instructions
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Modalities
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What could we do with half the time?
What could we do with twice as many people?
What can we do with only one person?
What can we do by tomorrow?
What would your favorite tv character suggest?
What would your favorite conference speaker say you
should do?
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How Might We…
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Give ideas a chance
Allow people to build on each other’s ideas
Enable creative thinking and solutioning
Foster curiosity
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Instructions
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No content
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Pitfalls
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How Might We…
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One thing I want to try
in my next technical
conversation is…
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A new-to-you approach
Silence for a bit longer than you’re comfortable with
A gut sense of the conversation direction
New ways to re-engage meeting participants
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Citations
https://www.zippia.com/advice/meeting-statistics/
#:~:text=opinions%20on%20meetings.-,Here%20are%20some%20insights%20our%20research%20uncovered%3A,of%20their%20time%20in%20meetings.
https://hbr.org/2023/06/the-secret-to-a-good-meeting-preparation
https://hbr.org/2017/07/stop-the-meeting-madness
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-surprising-science-behind-successful-remote-meetings/