Meeting are ^evil^
They take up all your time and nothing useful ever come out of it.
Spent all my morning in meetings and I cant think of anything useful out of them. Every thing in the meeting could have been done with exchange of e-mail. Fine sometimes when you need to design things.. it is better.. but other then that.. they are pretty useless.
I used to think like you too – what can be done in a meeting that can’t be done through an email discussion ? I found out later that the real reason, at least in today’s age, is that most people are simply not comfortable using email for discussions (like on mailing lists, usenet or IRC) – they have to see your face to face. Period. I also found that most people who belonged to this category are typically the manager types. Also, non-CS based people who just can’t handle large volumes of email etc. I think meetings are pretty useful when done in moderation but taking it to the other extreme can be really painful 🙂
That being said, I have to admit that they can get _really_ boring 🙂
Off-topic, but…
Why don’t you pick up some of these when you return ? 😉
Totally depends on the leader/ coordinator… if he/she has a genuine agenda *and* commands enough respect .. meetings can be short, sweet and extremely effective.
stand up meetings
extreme programming folks hold only standup meetings.
The idea being that people tire sooner and are less
prone to ramble on if they are standing up rather than
in a comfy chair.
Re: Off-topic, but…
I am waiting to find out how to grab them. Will get a bunch if i can get hold of some
that works in the ideal world. When you are trying to talk to a company about security isssues, its very irritating when the marketting people pop in and without understanding what the issue is, just keep making a big fuss about everything
Re: Off-topic, but…
Me too! Me too!
US size medium or size 42.
put me in charge 😉