A quick vent about meetings

Feels a bit like sending Macy's customers to Gimbel's.

Here’s something fun: we’re bringing together some data leaders at early-stage startups to jam on data stacks and storytelling (but ultimately just complain about ad-hoc requests and updating dashboards). If you (or a friend) are the first analytics hire at a startup, register here.

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If you’re working in the asynchronous communication space, it can be easy to get frustrated by the competitive alternative you’re up against: the live meeting.

Because I am out here trying to evangelize the async world, I’ve become obsessed with trying to better understand and analyze live meetings. What makes them work? What makes them fail? What kinds of meetings are there? Why do we get so frustrated with them?

Complaining about meetings with co-workers is probably the most common convo around the Bevi.

But, every once in a while, there is a meeting that is…awesome. Actionable, efficient, on-time, and had a sprinkle of entertaining pre-meeting banter. Ok, they’re not all bad. I really like John Cutler’s take on meeting optimization in “The Beautiful Mess”. He argues that we should be product managing our meetings the same way we product manage our actual products:

But most companies treat meetings as an afterthought. If the meeting were a product, no one would buy or renew. There's no product-market fit, and it doesn't solve a problem. People show up at meetings, get no value, complain about the meetings, and treat the whole thing like an intractable Gordian knot.

Harsh but true.

What meetings on your calendar do you look forward to? Which would you renew? Which would you cancel?

Happy weekend,

Raman at Rhetoric

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📚 What’s made me a better storyteller this week

This piece was a wild ride, mostly because I’m programmed to find the “good guys” and “bad guys” in any story, and this one was artfully convoluted. “Los Angeles-based Trilogy Media took “scambaiting” to a new level, but some claim they’re gaining viral fame at others’ expense.”

This is a reflection from a researcher, but the lessons will resonate deeply with all of us grappling with problems that require creative, innovative solutions. Here are the strategies Andy Matuschak has found most helpful when trying “to cultivate deep, stable concentration in the face of complex, ill-structured creative problems.”

A bit of history about the government agencies who have become Twitter icons. Somewhere in here is a lesson for those of us struggling with brand voice.