Your Meetings Are Unbearable: Cheat Codes From Occupy

Most work meetings are full of interruptions, repetitions and microaggressions. To make matters worse, they always seem to drag on forever. At Occupy, ain't nobody got time for that, so we adapted time-tested anarchist techniques and came up with a simple, efficient horizontal decision-making process. I would like to show you the hand gestures that go with these techniques; these alone are guaranteed to cut your meeting times in half and save 72% of your sanity.

http://www.devopsdays.org/events/2016-minneapolis/program/aj-bowen/

Transcript

1. @s0ulshake Your meetings suck. Lessons from Occupy to make them suck less.
2. @s0ulshake Hi I’m AJ • </3 authority • WikiLeaks -> Anonymous -> Occupy -> <3 </3 meetings 2
3. @s0ulshake Leaderless decision-making is hard. Left unchecked, it drags on forever. Sound familiar? 3 Here’s how we dealt with it at Occupy.
4. @s0ulshake
5. @s0ulshake Part I: [dis]agreement 5
6. @s0ulshake 6
7. @s0ulshake How to disagree during meetings? Note: words != respect. Traditional advice: “Use lots and lots of words!” 7
8. @s0ulshake Now with 50% less bullshit! How to disagree during meetings? 8
9. @s0ulshake Part II: Talking 9 2 simple rules.
10. @s0ulshake The stack 10 There are often many people who know they have something to say at a given meeting. The Stack — managed by a facilitator — is an ordered line, as it were, of those who wish to speak.
11. @s0ulshake But but but 11
12. @s0ulshake Interruptions: Some are OK. Most are not. .(We hateses thems...). 12
13. @s0ulshake 13 “Actually, the event starts at 8 o’clock, not 9” Direct Response
14. @s0ulshake 14 “When you said ‘chips’ did you mean ‘fries’?” Point of Clarification (or clarifying question)
15. @s0ulshake 15 <usually speaks for itself> Point of Order (back on topic, please.) And last, but not least, the one we’ve all been waiting for...
16. @s0ulshake 16 My personal favorite A signal designed to keep the meeting moving.
17. @s0ulshake Credit where credit is due. 17
18. @s0ulshake TL;DR: hand signals > words 18
19. @s0ulshake Congratulations! 19 Now get out there and STFU ;) Spread it far and wide pls
20. @s0ulshake Thanks! 20 Ich bin @s0ulshake aj@soulshake.net Photo credits MayItBegin Beka Noble Graham Green Hunter4620 Christian Soulliere Free Voice of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists Say hi sometime! Ask me about: • consensus • </3 leaders • the human mic • the process • the tea party