AIBU to say 9 zoom meetings in a day is just too much

[Youngatheart00]

Just looked at my work diary and that is what awaits me today. The rest of the week is just as bad. I just feel like crying. I hate it so much

OP can you establish why you are being invited to so many meetings?
Is there someone in your organisation that feels the need to keep everyone online to ensure they are "working" (which they obviously are not as they are online in pointless meetings)?
When I was project managing, I had a brief catch up with the team over coffee first thing in the morning. We had 1 weekly project meeting and 1 monthly reporting to senior management meeting as standard in our diaries. Anything else was arranged ad hoc.

And finally, to echo Saltines, do you need to attend these meetings in person or can you ask other people to represent you and report the tasks/actions/outcomes?
Many years ago I used to go to departmental meetings instead of my boss (who was an idiot) because they were held in a language I speak, that he didn't, and he found them boring.

Definitely follow @VictoriaLudorum guidance - I would add, you do those things but also make sure you ask for an agenda before you accept a meeting. I’d get your own manager on board - your workload is becoming unmanageable so you are being proactive to keep what you do meaningful.

I went on a course last year that helped with this. It might take a while to fully feel comfortable with it, but trust me it’s worth it!

I’m a PA and have found the number of calls scheduled for my teams have gone crazy in the last year. Previously they would all have been travelling most days with the exception of WFH Fridays. Now people seem to want to schedule calls to appear busy.

What has worked well for me is making sure everyone has an hour for lunch in their diary each day which is non-negotiable. Meetings are colour coded so I can see immediately what is client focused and what is internal. Half an hour prep time is diarised for each client call and 30 minutes at the end of each day allocated as “download time”. No meetings before 8am or after 6pm.

This is usually me. I’ve had to be brutal while the kids were at home, which means my diary going forwards is much clearer. I try to work to a few principles though.

1. Prioritise and delegate. Understand what your team are good at and have them handle meetings related to that.

2. Use technology. Teams is great for collaborating, not just calling!

3. Protect your day. Mark out lunch, make space to do work. Book an hour for a meeting, but don’t use all of it talking - be clear that actions will be done in that time too.

All that still ends with me having terrible weeks with 30+ hours of meetings, but it’s nowhere near as bad as it was.

Real world "Management by meeting syndrome" is one of the things that led to me having serious burnout a few years ago, and my never, ever, ever wanting to be in a management role again. Zoom, Teams, etc have just made it more visible, is all. (For the record, it was in a beyond crazy HE environment with people in charge who would have made the Joker look sane.) At least you can turn your camera off on Teams meetings.

Oh I hated it when I had those kind of days. Some days it was literally every half an hour was another meeting. They even ended up trying to schedule so much in that I didn't get lunch breaks. I started just putting in an hour a day where they couldn't schedule anything in because whenever I told them to leave an hour, they couldn't grasp that concept. I had to do the minutes for all meetings too, and write them up after to send out. I was late finishing most days thanks to them.

The company couldn't understand why I left... Being well paid doesn't necessarily mean you are intelligent sadly. But it's hilarious how many of them there think they are the equivalent of Einstein.

you're the senior one? Make the decision that there are at least, say, 3 hours in the day with no meetings (zoom or otherwise) to get things done?
Do you delegate? Do you trust your team to do their jobs?

Can you review the last load of meetings and point out where particular meetings could have been emails?

Do you use an agenda and stick to timings or does everyone talk all over everyone else and drag it out?

So many questions...

I refuse to do more than 3 Zooms a day, unless an emergency crops up
People can call or email otherwise.

@dementedma

I refuse to do more than 3 Zooms a day, unless an emergency crops up People can call or email otherwise.

That attitude wouldn't fly at my organisation.

@dementedma you'd be looking for a new job if you worked in my organisation!

Holy God! That’s insane! Every meeting an hour op?

Yeah this is my world too. Varies from actual meetings that would have been a meeting in RL to training sessions, team catch ups and just slots to try and collaborate and work out issues. I worked every evening last week to try and do focus work.
Don't know the answer but any optional wellbeing session or inspirational Women's Day session gets immediately deleted.
Also I have a good desktop speaker to rest my ears from headphones.

I'm working on several projects so the meetings do build up.

Are you able to do some of the meetings while going for a walk? I find it makes me so much more productive if I get fresh air and am not staring at a screen. It doesn't work for all meetings e.g. if I am chairing or need to use or take notes, but catch-up/corporate meetings seem to work well.

@uma if it's one where I don't need to take notes I'm usually doing other work at the same time, or watching something presented on screen.

I'm now reading the excellent tips on this thread though. Slack?

No
that is incompatible with human life

I am freelance and so a little bit more in control of my own destiny (or 11 bosses depending how you are looking at it on any given day of the week)

I block out 1 whole day per week - no calls. sometimes a second. Meetings start at 10 past the hour and never more than 45 mins unless its a workshop type of thing - then 1 hr 30 max. If you can't do an agenda for it, it can't be a meeting. No more than 4 zooms per day.

[quote WishingHopingThinkingPraying]@1990s I'm a master's this currently as I'm the main point of triage for the million requests that come to us. Right hand side of any slack message 'add to saved items'. It's like flagging something. I do that with any action I can't execute immediately. And come back to the whole list later in the day to blast through all requests. Keeps the stress low knowing I'll deal with them later. I've a similar set up in my mailbox. Two main folders, one for whatever emails, one for noisy emails that come from a specific service request tool. I read everything when it comes instantly and action anything I can immediately. Anything complex or needing time gets flagged to come back to properly.

I clean out my flags regularly but it means everyone gets a response in the timing they need as I'm not overwhelmed. It works brilliantly.[/quote]
Thank you for this @WishingHopingThinkingPraying. I’d been using “remind me about this later” on Slack but it was just building up. I think the approach you suggest will work better.

Appreciate it.

@Youngatheart00

Yes, when the well-being initiatives are yet another zoom meeting or email 🙈

SO MUCH THIS. We had a "work life balance lunchtime talk" which was actually after my end of work for the day as it's my half day. I did Pilates instead. We also have a "stop and stretch" 10 min lunchtime call and three coffee Teams chats per week.

I also have a Monday parent carers Zoom call, currently a Wednesday Lent study group Zoom call and we were both invited to a Saturday "pub" Zoom call. Plus DD has ballet and Beavers and DS has singing. So even out of work hours and the DCs are Zoomed out.

@VictoriaLudorum

My criteria for meetings, in whatever format, is as follows:

1. An agenda is syndicated at least 24 hours before the meeting (to allow people to prep) with the desired outcome outlined.

1a. There is a designated meeting host/moderator. 1b. There is a designated minute taker.

1. All invitees/participants have the authority to sanction the desired outcome.
2. Meetings are minuted with action items - clearly assigned to named people, deadlines and decisions. In addition risks and issues with mitigation are recorded.
3. Minutes are circulated for passive sign off, no later than 24 hours after the meeting.
4. First agenda item on any subsequent meeting is an update on the action items/risk/issue status from those responsible.
5. No meeting to exceed 60 minutes, well-run meetings allowed to end earlier, provided all agenda points have been covered.

This is great for more formal meetings.

I find my diary fills with catchup/informal meetings. For example I have a daily team catchup (very important and very useful) for which the above would be overkill. And it's only 15 minutes. So fine in theory.

Unfortunately I go to 4 daily team catchups, some of which spawn additional follow up meetings (which take the place of just grabbing a couple of people in the catchup and talking quickly to them for a couple of minutes). Plus if they are scheduled with 5 or 10 minute breaks in between times, you can't actually do anything with that time other than read a couple of emails. Sometimes it can be late morning before I've stopped "catching up". And I am ruthless about not going to catchups if I'm not involved with a particular team at the moment.

I’ve found meetings go much better if people have their cameras on. I can usually chair anything I’m running to end early, if cameras are on. If they’re not, people are generally doing something else, not focusing and the whole thing takes much longer than it needs to. I also agree with designated minute taker and having an proper agenda, even for catch ups (where I will run through what I think should be on the agenda at the start and ask if anyone has anything else we need to cover).

I note every meeting so I have a record, can add actions straight to my to do list or delegate them, and also block out time for desk work. But it is still hard going.

Especially when seniors put in a protected lunch break with great fanfare, then proceed to call me in it. I missed the call, I had (naively) left my desk for lunch.

I've got 4 today booked for an hour each but likely to be shorter, and that makes me hate my life. If I had 9 I'd have a breakdown.

@AllTheCakes

I’m on the other side of this in that I book meetings for others. The vast majority of them are necessary conversations that need to happen and it’s often quicker to have a meeting than go back and forth on email. It means people have meetings in working hours and then do their work after hours. They are compensated appropriately though and it’s common place in mother industry.

This is my work a lot of the time - it’s just normal. We’re relatively well paid though.

Sorry for my radio silence, I literally couldn’t deal with more screens. It’s been a similar day today but I’ve been able to influence my diary more for next week, which is good because I feel suffocated.

No one would expect someone to have 9 meetings in an office, which is why I think this new zoom/teams life is totally unsustainable, especially without the nice side of work - getting coffee with a colleague or maybe a glass of wine with the team after a busy week

I have to say I'm finding it really difficult to talk to friends and colleagues even if I DO see them in person. I get all rushed and mildly panicky (am I standing too close? will they think I am even if I'm not? we are both out for a walk, are we OK to stop and talk? what if I'm dropping something off, am I allowed to stay for a quick chat?) so I imagine I'll get really awkward too when we CAN meet for a chat.