Aditya Kothadiya's Blog

Fascinating talk by Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation at TED.

Watch it -

A few days ago, I posted my thought on Twitter -

Every single day my goal is to be “more efficient” than I was on previous day. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail. But the goal persists.

To that thought Rajesh Setty (@UpbeatNow) from Life Beyond Code replied me -

@adityakothadiya Effectiveness trumps efficiency – so why not focus on effectiveness Aditya.

I couldn’t argue with him more. Being effective is far more important than being efficient. But what exactly is the difference between being effective and being efficient? Here is what I learned from the book The 4-Hour Work Week.

What is efficient?

Efficiency is performing a given task (whether important or not) in the most economical manner.

Some people do a task with thorough thinking and planning, and do it in a most disciplined way. They strive for optimal way to do that task such that they can save resources. They do it in a way such that it will cause less rework or maintenance in the future. That’s what called doing a task in an efficient way.

What is effective?

Effectiveness is doing the things that get you closer to your goals.

Some people do only those tasks which they think are important to achieve their goals. They know that not every task is going to help them to achieve their goals. Their objective is not to do all the given tasks efficiently, but is to identify which task is more important than the other, and prioritizing them in the order of their importance. That’s what called being effective.

What should be our objective then?

So doing tasks efficiently is nothing new. It’s universal and obvious. There is no option for that. Now the real objective is to filter out only those tasks which matter to our goals most, and then do them efficiently.

What are important tasks?

Our main goal is to list down important tasks first. But we should remember, an urgent task does not mean it’s an important task. Also requiring a lot of time does not make a task important. Important tasks are the ones which we think will result maximum ROI (return on investment).

Conclusion:

Efficiency is definitely essential and important, but effectiveness is far more important than just efficiency. Since there are so many things to do, and there is so little time to do them, what we do is more crucial than how we do it.

I don’t think so. But some people seem to think so, or at least, they are quite against the whole “meeting” philosophy.

Here is something I read recently from Getting Real book -

Do you really need a meeting? Meetings usually arise when a concept isn’t clear enough. Instead of resorting to a meeting, try to simplify the concept so you can discuss it quickly via email or im or Campfire. The goal is to avoid meetings. Every minute you avoid spending in a meeting is a minute you can get real work done instead. There’s nothing more toxic to productivity than a meeting. – 37Signals.

According to me, there are times when meetings are useful for brainstorming, coming to consensus, taking  decisions, etc. And there are also times, when they are complete waste of time.

But when we think they are waste of time, they are not waste of time for all the participants. Generally they are waste of time for an individual. Some participants are active, and it’s useful for them, but some are passive, and it’s sheer waste of their time. But passive people may not be passive because of their personal trait, but may be because they get invited to the wrong meetings where their involvement wasn’t necessary.

Our goal should not be to cancel the meetings, rather it should be to make the meetings effective and efficient. Here is what I’ve learned, observed and implemented when I set or attend the meetings.

Invite only active people

Meetings are highly effective and efficient, when each member is active for at least 25% of the meeting time. And they are extremely ineffective for some people when few members are active for majority of the time, and rest members are either active for very little time (<10%) or completely inactive. So while inviting a meeting, if we know that a person is going to contribute only for 5 mins or so, then it’s better to communicate with him in his cube on 1:1 basis rather than inviting him for an 1 hour meeting.

Send clear agenda in invite

This will help to achieve the previous step. If you send a brief agenda, then at least that will help invitees to decide if it’s going to be a relevant meeting for them or not. Clear agenda also helps people to come up with some prepared mindset. During the meeting, they understand the progress of the meeting and take active participation in completing items on the agenda. If they don’t know the agenda, they don’t get the visibility of the meeting, and hence may not get actively involved in completing all items on the agenda.

Set a fixed timer

Set a fixed timer – say 30 mins or 1 hour. Don’t extend it just because there is no one outside the door to kick you out. Keep watching the clock during the meeting. Alert yourself before 10 mins only so that you can wrap up or conclude necessary things within last 10 mins.

Reject unnecessary meeting invites

Sometimes I get invited to the cross department meetings, which have almost 20-30 people on the invite list. Sometimes the agenda explains that my involvement is not absolutely necessary for such kind of meeting. When in doubt, I confirm with my manager that if it is okay if I don’t go to that meeting. I’ve learned to reject meetings, which are absolutely not necessary.

Carry a notepad

In worst case, say if you are attending a meeting which is complete waste of time, then instead of watching people’s faces and wasting time, take notes of your next action items, tasks, ideas, etc. I do this many times if I realize that I got invited to the wrong meeting, and there is not much input I am expected to add in this meeting.

Set meetings when you are bored

There are times, when you want to be alone working on your own stuff and you don’t want disturbance and interruptions. Fine, reject all the meetings if it’s possible, and focus on getting things done. But there are also times when I’m not productive on my own. Sometimes my mind gets blocked to solve complex problems or sometimes it gets distracted to other thoughts. In such situations, I end up in procrastinating those tasks. During such times, I found having meetings help me get out of my boredom, mind-blocks or distractions. I’ll go and talk to my colleagues about some issue, do some brainstorming about implementation or so. Instead of wasting time, we get pumped up by brainstorming and solving more issues by discussion. So we find meetings are very productive in such situations.

The bottom line is – it shouldn’t be either this or that approach. We should find the balance. Sometimes meetings are going to be waste of time, but sometimes they are productive as well. It’s up to us how we conduct or attend the meetings. I hope these thoughts will help you to make your meetings more effective.

What are your thoughts? How do you make your meetings productive? Or do you find them waste of time?