productivity

To What End?

~ Taran ~ 1 Comment

Sometimes it’s worth wondering about whether something is worth the hassle. An example this week was over a parking incident. I am, at present, stuck parking between 2 larger vehicles who are hemmed in by posts on either side.

For a while, one of the owners of the spot wasn’t using theirs, so I gave the other guy much more space so that he and his wife could get in and out of the vehicle. The owner of the other spot had a stroke and wasn’t able to drive, and recently someone started using his spot – I believe his son – and with their large vehicle, with poorly painted lines, it can be a challenge to park. I completely get that.

As it happens, the newer person parked closer to my spot, and so to make space for him to get in and out of his vehicle, I ate the line a bit on the other side. We’ve all dealt with this at some point, parking isn’t something that is necessarily as exact as we would like it to be and sometimes things happen.

I didn’t think much of it.

I got a message the next day from the other guy’s wife about her having to get out of the vehicle before her husband parked, which for one incident seemed… petty. So I explained to her on WhatsApp why these things happen, which I should not have to do for anyone who has been alive for more than 2 decades these days. Her husband has been alive 6, her, maybe 4 or 5. This should not have been a thing given I’ve been parking next to them without incident for about 4 years.

Knowing the sort of people they were I stopped by the property manager’s office and started off with, “You know, in case this guy comes and talks to you…”

My instincts were right. He had been there already. No surprise, I explained it to the property manager and I explained that I will always make sure that other drivers will be able to get in and out of their vehicle – but passengers, with the size of the vehicles we’re dealing with as well as the size of the spots, may not be able to.

I got a new message from the wife, saying that they were working out ways for me to get in and out of my vehicle – which was never an issue. If I have a problem, I work it out. I haven’t run into the person using the other spot yet, but I do believe he’s trying to get used to parking in that spot and he and I have only had once issue which the married couple just won’t let go. Because she had to get out of the car before her husband parked.

Once.

At this point, I had spent an hour on the issue with messages. It seemed ridiculous to me, but the world seems ridiculous to me so when I saw my psychologist I brought it up. So we used 10 minutes of her time, and mine, talking about it, and she assured me I wasn’t being crazy about it. Now we’re looking at my time, which is now at 1 hour and 10 minutes, and her time, 10 minutes, the property manager and the administrator who I spent 5 minutes with and who the husband probably spent 10-15 minutes with… and we’re looking at an hour and 40 minutes of ‘people time’.

Over one incident. Over a mild inconvenience.

And at the end of it – I hope this is the end of it – the husband sends a message that he’ll try to park closer to the post in the future, ‘alcohol permitting’.

I wonder sometimes whether people really consider how much time they waste on stupid stuff… and how much time they make others waste on stupid stuff.

10 years ago, I would have just told them what I thought about the whole thing from the start and let it go, leaving them to sort things out on their own.

I think it’s time to go back to doing that.

This is how productive time is lost. And productive time, either for business or for personal reasons, should trump stupid every time – and we need to make it so that it is.

Take back your time.

Bring Ice Cream to Meeting Hell.

~ Taran ~ Leave a comment

Meet Piemur!
Bringing a mouse to a meeting is typically frowned upon. 

If you think meetings suck, you’re probably doing it wrong or you’re stuck with people who do – so either do it right, or find a way out of those meetings.

Most meetings suffer a lack of definition, which is the core issue. Without that lack of definition, there can be no real actions to come from the meeting. There’s always at least one person who seems to be so out of scope that everyone else in the room doesn’t smack them only because it’s considered impolite.

There should be a set time. Everyone should show up on time, arguably earlier so that people can get out of it and move on with their lives.

Some people like transcriptions of the meeting. Ask at the beginning if they want one – and if so, guess who just volunteered? If not them, assign it to someone who knows how to listen and will halt things for clarifications.

This tongue in cheek, ‘20 tricks to appear smart in meetings‘ mocks the main problem of meetings: People trying to appear smarter than they are. They actually don’t for people who have more than 3 brain cells, so if at all possible, get the ‘must prove my intelligence to everyone people’ closed off in a meeting somewhere and treat it like a cage match with no bathroom breaks.

And then there is the tyranny of the clique – where a select few talk among themselves, not allowing anyone else into their conversation.

Avoid meetings, stick to a schedule and leave when the meeting is supposed to be done. Meetings are for people who like meetings, who like appearing busy rather than being productive.

Productive people meet. Busy people have meetings.