tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53723652024-03-13T12:17:03.124-07:00FacetationA record of my former academic pursuits. Now, a digital commonplace book about things that are interesting to me: knowledge-worker productivity, document management, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, physical culture, and whatever else appeals to me.George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.comBlogger618125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-21797906527876086402016-05-08T19:37:00.001-07:002016-07-07T09:21:33.598-07:00Reading List... or Listening List as it may be<div class="MsoNormal">
I just stumbled across something on line that purported to
be a list of books that Bill Gates things I should read… okay. I’m actually
looking for an interesting list so here goes (with relevant library links):<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
· Epic measures (OverdriveEBook, OverdriveAudioBook, HooplaEbook, <a href="https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11588157">HooplaAudioBook</a>)<br />
· Business Adventures (<a href="https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/1860332">OverdriveEBook</a>, <a href="https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/1874506">OverdriveAudioBook</a>, <a href="https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11558331">HooplaEbook</a>, HooplaAudioBook)<br />
· For the Love of Physics (OverdriveEBook, OverdriveAudioBook, HooplaEbook, <a href="https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11162701">HooplaAudioBook</a>)<br />
· SuperFreakonomics (OverdriveEBook, OverdriveAudioBook, HooplaEbook, <a href="https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11586325">HooplaAudioBook</a>)<br />
· The Magic of Reality (OverdriveEBook, OverdriveAudioBook, <a href="https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11432586">HooplaEbook</a>, HooplaAudioBook)<br />
· Mindset (<a href="https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/74637">OverdriveEBook</a>, OverdriveAudioBook, <a href="https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11403141">HooplaEbook</a>, HooplaAudioBook)<br />
· Moonwalking with Einstein (<a href="https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/584477">OverdriveEBook</a>, <a href="https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/349154">OverdriveAudioBook</a>, HooplaEbook, HooplaAudioBook)<br />
· What If? (<a href="https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/1638306">OverdriveEBook</a>, <a href="https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/1903935">OverdriveAudioBook</a>, HooplaEbook, HooplaAudioBook)<br />
· Thing Explainer (<a href="https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/2405056">OverdriveEBook</a>, OverdriveAudioBook, HooplaEbook, HooplaAudioBook)<br />
<br />
And a few others that I should probably listed to because everyone else has:<br />
<br />
· The life-changing magic of tidying up (<a href="https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11248905">hoopla</a>)<br />
· How to lie with statistics (<a href="https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11577487">hoopla</a>)<br />
· Sway (<a href="https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11419112">hoopla</a>)<!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
And some more:<br />
<br />
Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War<br />
The Great Bridge -- book. https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/286587<br />
Hyperion,<br />
Product Strategy for High Technology Companies by Michael McGrath,<br />
Wolf Hall -- https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/292182<br />
Cloud Atlas -- book. https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/556354<br />
High Output Management<br />
The Phantom Tollbooth -- book. https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/520281<br />
Sapiens -- book. https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/1690806<br />
Start With Why -- https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/483554<br />
Dead Wake -- https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/1771251<br />
Hot Seat: The Startup CEO Guidebook by Dan Shapiro<br />
The Night Circus -- https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/509211<br />
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russel --<br />
Creativity Inc. by Pixar Co-founder Ed Catmul -- https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/1336015<br />
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August -- https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11608882<br />
Leadership and Self-Deception by the Arbinger Institute -- https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11397858<br />
I Am Pilgrim<br />
The Geography of Genius by Eric Weiner -- https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/2198303<br />
Sam Walton — Made in America<br />
Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior<br />
The Better Angels of Our Nature -- book. https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/592227<br />
Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of Blackberry<br />
The Guns of August -- https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/10026366; book. https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/256490<br />
Alexander Hamilton<br />
The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness<br />
Getting More: How to Negotiate to Achieve Your Goals in the Real World -- book. https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/480257<br />
You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory is Mostly Fiction and 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself<br />
What Technology Wants -- https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11035075<br />
Good Strategy, Bad Strategy -- https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11419199<br />
Of Dice and Men — The Story of Dungeons and Dragons and the People Who Play It<br />
Turn the Ship Around: The True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders<br />
Ogilvy on Advertising<br />
The Whole-Brain Child -- book. https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/559892<br />
Your Brain at Work -- https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11586474<br />
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future -- https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11589051<br />
Thing Explainer -- book. https://lpl.overdrive.com/media/2405056<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-53670385774006093562016-04-21T08:58:00.003-07:002016-04-21T08:58:39.413-07:00 What do Industry Analysts Actually do?I know the answer but I've never actually written it down for clients, prospects, etc. What does the <a href="http://www.analystrelations.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/iiar_best_practice_paper-who_are_analysts.pdf">IIAR </a>say?<br />
<br />
"Analysts are frequently deemed to be important because they influence sales of ICT products, but very analysts do so directly. They offer a wide range of services, from advising end-user organizations to measuring market penetration and producing best practice guidance, all of which deliver benefit in what can be a complex and confusing space."<br />
<br />
Analyst activities include:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Provide telephone-based advice to clients</li>
<li>Gather intelligence for future industry reports</li>
<li>Sift through vendor marketing and press reports</li>
<li>Call on peers to discuss issues and share views</li>
<li>Respond to briefing requests with vendors</li>
<li>Deal with vendors' internal inquiries and requests</li>
<li>Participate in sales support activities</li>
<li>Research and draft industry reports</li>
<li>Peer review of research prior to publication</li>
<li>Prepare conference and seminar presentations</li>
<li>Public speaking, webinars and podcasts</li>
<li>Attend vendor briefings by telephone or face-to-face (F2F)</li>
<li>Attend vendor, analyst and public conferences and events</li>
<li>Interact through blogs, forums, and social media</li>
</ul>
<br />
The analyst shared sense of purpose: "to increase the success rates of their clients, to help technology add value and make a difference in what is still a nascent and fast moving industry."<br />
<br />
Analysts make a difference. Between and 40% and 60% of ICT buying decisions are influenced by analysts.George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-26916901775368101832016-04-19T06:47:00.000-07:002016-04-19T06:47:20.271-07:00How much do consultants get paid?Hmmm.... this is a tough one because the answer is "it depends".<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.quora.com/How-much-do-top-management-consulting-firms-charge-clients-per-consultant">Quora</a> has a good thread on the topic with the following insights:<br />
<br />
"<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">I believe an average benchmark for good consultants are about US$300/hour. For a classic consulting team in MBB (one partner, an engagement leader and 3 associates), a 3 month engagement is about US$1M."</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">So, let's back this up and assume that a consultant is about the same position as Robert Half's <i>Practice Manager</i>: </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">$125,000 - $173,500 (median ~ $150K). This rate assumes 2000 hours per year or $75 per hour. So, to get to our hourly rate we're probably looking at a factor of 4x hourly rate to get to the consulting rate.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Let's test this out. Robert Half has the median salary of a DBA at $120K or $60 per hour. So, our consulting rate should be about $240/hour. <a href="http://www.dba-oracle.com/consulting_prices.htm">This provider</a> gives us $275... not bad. What does Dice.com say? Hmmm... maybe not the data I'm looking for.</span></span>George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-56818784822186459842016-03-09T10:28:00.004-08:002016-03-09T10:28:46.628-08:00What works in long form LinkedIn posts?Not questions as titles apparently. It's a good question and there are a lot of ideas out there on the intarwebs.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/47537/~/tips-for-writing-long-form-posts-on-linkedin">This author</a> suggests concrete advice for people entering the field, future projection, industry problems, necessary skills, changes to an industry, and advice for career advancement.<br />
<br />
Here we have some advice on how to "<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20120906170105-29092-the-7-secrets-to-writing-killer-content-on-linkedin">crush it as a LinkedIn writer</a>." The tips are basic: write what you know, write often (800-2000 words), remember your audience, pay attention to the headline, use the news for ideas, attribute, and share.<br />
<br />
And here we get a <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/linkedin/everything-you-need-to-know-about-publishing-on-linkedin">SlideShare presentation on this stuff</a>. Same stuff.<br />
<br />
Here's <a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/linkedin-publishing-beginner-guide">a decent guide</a>. I particularly like its insights on titles: how-to posts ("How to Establish your Brand Message"), listicles ("8 Ways Social Marketing Benefits your Brand"), add specific numbers. What doens't work? Question posts ("How do you...").<br />
<br />
More images are better than none. Thursdays and Sundays get the best bump.<br />
<br />
Some <a href="http://okdork.com/2014/09/09/linkedin-publishing-success/">more good insights</a>: titles between 40 and 49 characters; 8 images is best (at least one at the top); don't add videos or other assets; how-tos and lists are best; question posts aren't great; five headings lead to best usage; long form content is good 1900-2000 words... that's a lot of words; use neutral sentiment (via AlchemyAPI); Fleisch-Kincaid 80-89; promote via other networks, particularly Twitter; likes are important; add a call to action ("let me know if you like the post"); publish on Thursday.George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-65375721392001566232016-02-20T13:49:00.007-08:002016-02-20T13:49:43.856-08:00Sport managementI am -- despite my best intentions -- developing an increased interest in the operations of the kids' diving club. I should probably know something about this whole world of sports and recreation management. Some references:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Pedersen and Thibault (Eds). Contemporary sport management (5 ed.) At UWO.</li>
<li>Watt, David C. Sports management and administration (2 ed.) At UWO.</li>
<li>Masteralexis, Barr, Hums (2011). Principles and practice of sport management. At UWO.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kirsten_Holmes/publication/226527377_Pressures_on_the_UK_Voluntary_Sport_Sector/links/558cd9f608ae1f30aa80bd13.pdf">Pressure on the UK voluntary sport sector</a> ()</li>
<li><a href="http://nsw.baseball.com.au/Portals/29/Pathway%20Data/Adolescent%20Rentention/Examining%20Adolescent%20Sport%20Dropout%20and%20Prolonged%20Engagement%20from%20a%20Developmental%20Perspective.pdf">Examining adolescent sport dropout and prolonged engagement from a development perspective</a> ()</li>
</ul>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-30371431036034598862016-02-17T19:06:00.000-08:002016-02-17T19:06:14.175-08:00What correlates with NHL salaries? Particularly Kadri's...I have an ongoing research question in mind: <i>"How much should the Leafs pay Nazem Kadri?"</i> There's a few parts to this question:<br />
<br />
1 -- How good is Nazem Kadri?<br />
2 -- How do we determine if a player is good?<br />
3 -- How does goodness impact player salary?<br />
4 -- How do GMs set player salary?<br />
<br />
I'm really dealing with the fourth question here. How do GMs set player salary?<br />
<br />
<b>Data</b><br />
<br />
I recently stumbled across Robert Vollman's bit 'ole spreadsheet of every stat you can imagine for NHL players. I ran some regressions to determine what actually predicts player salary. This approach would be considered <i>fishing</i> by data purists but I'm okay with it. I'm focusing on data from 2014/2015. Ideally, I'd replicate findings with a split sample or across multiple years... but I'm not.<br />
<br />
<b>Approach</b><br />
<br />
A few considerations:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Rank</b>. I'm not actually concerned about the actual metrics. I'm working with their ranks. For example, does the player with the 17th best GAR and 17th best TOI get the 17th best salary? This approach addresses some of the underlying issues with data linearity and normalcy.</li>
<li><b>Full-time NHL centremen</b>. I've reduced the set to centres who have played at least 15 games in 2015/2015.</li>
<li><b>Limited ELCs</b>. I've eliminated players who were drafted in 2012, 2013, or 2014 to minimize the impact of ELCs on overall cap hit.</li>
<li><b>Cap cost</b>. I'm not actually looking at salary. Specifically, I'm just exploring "Cost of player against salary cap (over 82 games)."</li>
</ul>
<div>
<b>Findings</b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Raw correlations indicate that a whole lot of stuff correlates with cap cost. The best indicators seem to be related to actual TOI and overall useage. This finding isn't surprising. Better players will be both better paid and play more. The best scoring predictor actually seems to be assists. Let's crunch all this data into a regression model to see which factors survive.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The following measures contribute uniquely and significantly to cap cost:</div>
<br />
<div>
<ul>
<li>Rank.IPP -- Percentage of all team goals scored on the ice on which the player got a point</li>
<li>Rank.PS/G -- Point Shares per Game</li>
<li>Rank.OGIT -- Offensive ice time</li>
<li>Rank.GVT/60 -- GVT per 60 minutes played</li>
<li>Rank.FO GAR -- Face Off Gar</li>
<li>Rank.Days -- Number of days player counted towards the salary cap</li>
</ul>
<div>
Whoa. I probably couldn't have predicted that these are the metrics that would really count. The model accounts for about 63% of the variance in <i>Rank.Cap cost</i>... which actually isn't too bad.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here's the regression formula:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Rank.Cap Cost = -24.44 + 0.116 Rank.IPP + 0.416 Rank.PS/G + 0.291 Rank.OGIT - 0.292 Rank.GVT/60 + 0.149 Rank.FO GAR + 0.547 Rank.Days</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Notice that GVT/60 is actually negative while Point Shares is positive! This analysis seems to indicate that GMs actually way undervalue GVT. It's also interest that face offs entered only as a component of GAR. It's interesting that drawn penalties doesn't seem to factor directly into any part of this analysis.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, how did this model work out for our friend Kadri last year? His Rank.Cap Cost was 83 and the model predicts that is should be 81. Not bad considering that there is very little actual monetary difference between the 81st best paid player NHL centremen and the 83rd best.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Now I just have to figure out what Naz's current metrics are for the 2015/2016 season!</div>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-15509850264985772312015-12-29T16:56:00.000-08:002015-12-29T16:56:04.807-08:00DPLA's guide to digitizationWish you had a curriculum for digitization? <a href="http://dp.la/info/2015/10/07/new-self-guided-curriculum-for-digitization/">DPLA has it.</a>George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-46807193927339527342015-12-29T16:45:00.001-08:002015-12-29T16:45:21.917-08:00Rare book podcastsCall me crazy, but these podcast look pretty awesome. The Rare Book School is making many lecture recordings available for download. <a href="http://rarebookschool.org/programs/lectures/">Rostenberg's lecture on Hooke from 1982</a> looks particularly interesting.George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-29218046832104695372015-10-16T14:31:00.001-07:002015-10-16T14:31:34.297-07:00Training 2015/10/16 #033-- test!<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
This one seemed to
come up on me quite quickly. Apparently I wasn't reading my email or something.
Fortunately, I had a few days of warning and then the opportunity for a private
immediately before the test. Here's what I learned:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Front fall and turn on back, tap and kick offender's
knee, and standing up in base</span> -- you get pushed from behind and fall on
your face. Do a forward breakfall. Turn onto your back and kick out (tap) with
your top foot. Bring that leg back and plant it. Post behind you with your
opposite-side hand. Push off your hand to effectively heel strike your
opponent's ankle with the lower foot. Bring this same foot back behind your
same side hand to stand up in base.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Spinning back fist</span> -- pretty much what it
sounds like. Remember to move your whole body to generate force.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Rear two handed choke, step back arm circle and figure
four</span> -- they have you in the reverse zombie choke from behind. Step back
with one foot and throw your elbow back. Wrap *both* of their arms.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Kotegaeshi Nage from straight punch</span> -- step off
the line and block the punch. Grab their wrist. Keep turning with a tenkan to
break their posture. Rotate back the other way, palm strike their face, and
keep turning the wrist. Control the arm that you have and keep your opponent
moving.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Front bear hug (arms free) make a frame, and knee to
groin</span> -- so, you're in a front bear hug with your arms free. Get your
forearm across their neck and build a frame to create some space. Swing a leg
back and knee them in the groin. Krav maga would also have you stomp the instep
and bite the neck...</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Rear bear hug (arms trapped) hands up, aiki otoshi</span>
-- you're in the rear bear hug. Make some space with your hands by making
double Fonzies out at about 30-degrees. Step to the side and then step behind
your opponent. You can then bring your opponent down by either grabbing their
legs and lifting or by using a sokumen iriminage move.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Rear bear hug (arms free, opponent lifts you up) run,
leg hook</span> -- they lift you us. Make a running motion with your legs to
force you opponent to drop you. You can then hook a leg with your yours so they
can't life you. Or you can move to the next technique.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Rear bear hug (arms free) ankle pick and pull up</span>
-- this move continues from the last. Step out a bit so that their foot in on
either side of your own. Stick your bum out to make some space, grab their
foot, and lift. You basically try to lock that knee and they will drop. There
are a variety of leg locks from this position.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Full nelson: aiki otoshi into arm-lock finish</span>
-- you're in a full nelson. Lock your hands in front of your forehead to both
protect you if you both fall forward and to lock your arms. Step a bit to the
side and then step around their hips. Again, you can use a sokumen technique or
grab their legs.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Knife: side slash to head with Americana</span> --
step into your partner's attack and block with both hand. The knife side (or
outside wrist) stays near the knife. The inside hand comes behind their forearm
and you form a gable grip. Your partner is now essentially in a shiho nage
position. Pull them to the outside and they will go down. Take a gokyo on the
knife holding hand and put the rip cord to get them to drop the knife.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Knife: belly stab, moving target and blend with escort
position</span> -- the first technique is really just ikajo osae. As the knife
is coming in, step off the line and tenkan to keep them moving. Then you can
pin their arm using ikajo.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Knife: attacker pulls back</span> -- same start as
above but they pull back the knife. You keep the movement going and wrap them
up with an udegarami. Again, it's very shihonage-like.</div>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-36836035467914102822015-10-16T14:30:00.001-07:002015-10-16T14:30:47.947-07:00Training 2015/10/02 #032-- review<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Back to normal
training. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
We worked on a few
different things that I may have forgotten. The first was a come along
technique.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Come along from shoulder grab</span> -- so your
partner is facing you and grabs your same-side shoulder or the front of your
jacket. Basically, they grab your collar same-side. Swing your same side arm up
from inside and out over their arm (i.e., a whizzer). Come down on top of their
elbow so that their elbow rolls to the inside. Step in to get your hips close.
Establish a figure-four with your other hand to maintain the position. You need
to keep their balance broken so push their opposite shoulder with your other
hand. The mechanics are very much like an americana so it's a should lock with
some control over their posture.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Come along from back grab</span> -- basically, this
move is the same thing but the position is a little bit different. They grab
your shoulder from behind. This has to be an opposite hand grab. For example,
if they grab your left shoulder with their right hand. You need the room to step
back and swing over their arm to trap that elbow and get the come-along.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Wrist turn techniques</span> -- I forget what these
things are called. I should really remember… but I don't. I've written about
them in the past. Someone grabs your shoulder from behind, same side (or both
sides). Pry into their hand and rotate your hips, turning the wrist. The tweak
that we added was really about positioning of the other hand. Use your other
hand to create a big wheel. That's all good.</div>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-44141693110422031372015-09-29T07:17:00.000-07:002015-09-29T07:17:55.097-07:00Effective productivityProductivity is an element of my theoretical curricula devoted to being a better knowledge worker. Chris Bailey provides a <a href="http://lifehacker.com/10-lessons-i-learned-from-a-year-of-productivity-experi-1584800618/1733434839">top ten list of lessons learned in productivity</a>:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Work on the highest leverage tasks first. Focus on those that deliver the most value because they provide the best return for time and attention.</li>
<li>Effectiveness is boring. Basically: eat well, sleep enough, and exercise.</li>
<li>Question blanket advice. No approach will work for everyone all of the time.</li>
<li>Form good habits.</li>
<li>Productivity = Time + Energy + Attention</li>
<li>There are hundreds of tactics. Learn a few of them!</li>
<li>Working too hard and too long isn't actually more productive.</li>
<li>Know <i>why</i> you want to get something done to stay motivated.</li>
<li>Be kind to yourself.</li>
<li>It's not about how much you produce; it's about how much you accomplish.</li>
</ol>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-43519214363728122522015-09-28T10:49:00.002-07:002015-09-28T10:49:48.905-07:00Challenges of disruptionClayton Christensen has come under some fire (summary <a href="http://leevinsel.com/blog/2015/9/16/snake-oil-for-the-innovation-age-christensen-forbes-and-the-problem-of-disruption">here</a>). It seems that his theory of disruptive innovation is flawed. At the very least, the examples that he uses to articulate and demonstrate his theory don't actually show what he intends.<br />
<br />
Goldstein, in <i><a href="http://chronicle.com/article/The-Undoing-of-Disruption/233101/?key=QD4hdgZuYCAUNyswaGtEYDxTbXxrOEt7MnVOOnxybl5UEQ==">The undoing of disruption</a></i>, claimed... actually, I don't know. I can't get access to it. Nuts.<br />
<br />
Jill Lepore, however, provided some details in a <i>New Yorker</i> article called "<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/23/the-disruption-machine">The disruption machine</a>." The author opens with a glorious image that provides counter-point to our pervasive techno-enthusiasm:<br />
<br />
"In the last years of the nineteen-eighties, I worked not at startups but at what might be called finish-downs. Tech companies that were dying would hire temps—college students and new graduates—to do what little was left of the work of the employees they’d laid off. This was in Cambridge, near M.I.T. I’d type users’ manuals, save them onto 5.25-inch floppy disks, and send them to a line printer that yammered like a set of prank-shop chatter teeth, but, by the time the last perforated page coiled out of it, the equipment whose functions those manuals explained had been discontinued. We’d work a month here, a week there. There wasn’t much to do."<br />
<br />
Fantastic.<br />
<br />
Lepore goes on to describe the phenomenon of disruption and mentions the New York Times innovation report, which I actually quite like! The author goes on to make an important observation: "Replacing 'progress' with 'innovation' skirts the question of whether a novelty is an improvement: the world may not be getting better and better but our devices are getting newer and newer."<br />
<br />
Even better:<br />
<br />
"The idea of innovation is the idea of progress stripped of the aspirations of the Enlightenment, scrubbed clean of the horrors of the twentieth century, and relieved of its critics. Disruptive innovation goes further, holding out the hope of salvation against the very damnation it describes: disrupt, and you will be saved."<br />
<br />
Many of Christensen's case studies do not actually illustrate his theories. Furthermore, his Disruptive Growth Fund was a bust. "Disruptive technology can reliably be seen only after the fact."<br />
<br />
As an analytical approach, disruptive innovation is a historical approach that seems to ignore survivor bias. It ignores the case studies of organizations that have attempted to be disruptive and have failed spectacularly.<br />
<br />
It seems that disruptive innovation isn't so much a strategy or even a theory, as it is a means of storytelling, a way of creating shared awareness and goals. There might, however, be some merit in the idea. I suspect that organizations often become blind because they are <i>all-in</i> on a particular approach or strategy. In essence, they end up locked into a local optima in a fitness landscape and are unable to perceive or explore alternatives. There is something to be said for A/B/n tests that enable some degree of hypothesis testing.<br />
<br />George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-42216065171395170162015-09-14T07:50:00.002-07:002015-09-14T07:50:56.248-07:00Paper Rules! At least for design tools<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
It's hard to beat
paper for brainstorming according to a recent study on Design Tools (n = 4000+): <a href="http://tools.subtraction.com/index.html">http://tools.subtraction.com/index.html</a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sJeZHzO0_f0/VfbeyFkcJEI/AAAAAAAAKbE/pDkQBx4xPRI/s1600/2015%2B09%2B14%2Bdesign%2Btools.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sJeZHzO0_f0/VfbeyFkcJEI/AAAAAAAAKbE/pDkQBx4xPRI/s320/2015%2B09%2B14%2Bdesign%2Btools.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Brainstorming and Ideation</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">64% pencil and paper</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Wireframing</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">27% Sketch (Bohemian Coding)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">19% Illustrator</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Interface design</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">34% Sketch</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">29% Photoshop</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">15% HTML/CSS</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">12% Illustrator</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Prototyping</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">38% HTML/CSS</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">18% Invision</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">11% Other</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Project Management</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">67% Other</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">37% Slack</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">31% Trello</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">25% GitHub</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">22% Basecamp</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Version Control and File
Management</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">51% Dropbox</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">39% GitHub</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">30% Google Drive</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-33370033645207895842015-09-04T11:17:00.002-07:002015-09-04T11:17:47.531-07:00Training 2015/08/21 #031 -- positional review<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
We really just went through various escapes from different positions.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Mount</span> -- I used the typical ones. Block an arm and a leg; upa and roll. Elbow knee escape. Etc.<br />
<br />
<b>Side control</b> -- we reviewed some of the options from here:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Push the elbow and sit up to avoid getting into the position.</span></li>
<li>Play dead and stay protected until your opponent postures up and gives you space (a la Roy Harris).</li>
<li>Hold their head and tricep (if they have the cross face) and just hold on until they aggressively posture up and out (a la Ryron).</li>
<li>Attack with the choke. Keep your hands inside (Home Alone). Make space by pushing up into their throat like a typical elbow-knee escape. Reach around their head with the other arm to go for an Ezekial choke from bottom. Lock in with three fingers into the elbow. Alternatively, if you're holding their head Ryron-style you could set up a baseball choke from the bottom. Again, use three fingers.</li>
<li>Attack with the arm bar. Keep your hands inside (Home Alone). Hip bump to make space. Curl up and get your outside leg in front of your opponent's head. Extend your legs for the arm lock. If you miss and they move to north-south, move your Home Alone hands further up your face to protect the choke (a la Firaz)</li>
<li>Hip escape to guard. Get your arm under their throat to make space. Upa and push on their hip to recover guard, half-guard, or at least a butterfly hook (a la Roy Dean)</li>
<li>Escape to knees. Stay up on your side but keep your top leg up as a support. Keep your hands in (Home Alone). Bring your bottom leg under your top leg to switch your hips. Come onto your knees and either drive through the single leg or do a wrestler's sit out and take the back.</li>
<li>Invisibility roll. You're stuck in side control and they have the full cross face with the shoulder of justice. Uncomfortable. Try to make yourself as "invisible" as possible by minimizing the surface area of your chest. Get onto a hip if you can and start pushing your opponent down towards your hips. Bridge up and over like an upa escape while trapping their cross-facing arm.</li>
<li>Iriminage roll. I don't know what else to call this one. It's like the invisibility roll but you go the other way. Basically, push into your opponent. When they push back, roll the other way bringing your open-side arm through their armpit/head (kind of like iriminage). Take side control and sit through to kesagatame.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">
<b style="font-size: 11pt;">Back mount -- </b></div>
<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">The scoop. This is taught by Saulo Ribeiro. When they have your back, start moving down towards their feet and defending the choke with your hands. Kick out one of their hooks and try to pin their leg with your butt. Grab the thigh/hip/leg of their opposite side to control that leg and roll through into side control.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">Back slam. Same basic idea but in this case your are basically bridging back hard to force them to carry your weight. Keep sliding around until your back is towards the floor. Kick out the hook, control the opposite leg, etc.</span></span></li>
</ol>
</div>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-46642890536160102792015-09-04T08:19:00.000-07:002015-09-04T08:39:49.181-07:00Oh, my aching back!Yeah, my back has been giving me some grief. For the last two months I have been waking up like the Tin Man and just generally feeling weak. Finally, Claire badgered me into seeing a physio. The assessment basically said that I have nothing overly wrong other than been old and tight. Awesome.<br />
<br />
So, intervention one:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>McKenzie method (kiwi)</li>
<li>Knees to chest and side-to-side</li>
<li>Cobra</li>
<li>Repeat every morning and several times per day</li>
</ul>
<div>
Intervention two:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Mulligan method (another kiwi)</li>
<li>Do something about the awesomely bad external rotation in my left hip</li>
<li>The Mulligan method looks pretty cool and it seems like Kelly Starrett has put together a few ways to get a similar (although probably muted) effect without the intervention of somebody else. See:</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/inKpTU_TFrU/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/inKpTU_TFrU?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
Intervention three:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>O'Sullivan method (yet another kiwi)</li>
<li>Do something about some of my screwy movement patterns</li>
</ul>
<div>
That is all.</div>
</div>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-69235461445870645832015-08-23T18:58:00.001-07:002015-08-23T18:58:15.337-07:00Training 2015/08/21 #030 -- more knee on belly and some takedowns<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
We reviewed a few
other things today after some warm up rolling. I was almost choked out after
giving up my back but managed to get that almost mythical foot lock after my
partner put me in a body a triangle. So that was cool.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Koshi Nage</span> -- this one felt better than it had.
I was a bit confused about the arms but it’s the lagging arm that goes high.
Just think: if your trying to put your opponent all the way across your back
you have to use that arm and overstep. Keep your hips close!</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Side control</span> -- we talked a bit about the
process of getting into side control. Basically, shoulder of justice and then
pin the back of their gi and the material of their pants at the hip. Then slide
your knee across.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
We also reviewed the
side control attacks and they all went well.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Standing self defenses</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Headlock (bent over) hip and knee hold, scoot under to
arm-lock finish</span> -- so you're in the stand bully headlock. Reach around
and control their far hip by cupping their hip bone. Block the outside of their
other knee with your other hand. Step around toward the front so you're almost
facing them and then drop onto your butt. Your partner will fall back over your
leg and you will roll on top but you are probably still in a headlock. Put your
forearm across your partner's throat and make a frame. Saw back and forth to
pry open the headlock. If they are really strong, move so their elbow is up
above their head and you will get control of the arm. There are a few options
here but we practiced getting the upright armlock. We have started using
gokyo/goose-neck to get the submission.</div>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-81086314453945084672015-08-23T18:57:00.002-07:002015-08-23T18:57:30.021-07:00Training 2015/08/14 #029 -- knee on belly, kimuras<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
It had been a few
weeks so there was lots to work on. We just started picking things off the
syllabus.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Ground transitions</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Side control to knee
on belly -- this one is pretty basic. Keep a tight side control with a lot of
pressure on the far elbow. Bring your inside knee across their belly. Pin the
back of their gi at the neck with your upper hand and posture up. Ensure that
they can't grab your other leg by keeping it out wide beside their head. You
can now transition grips.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
You can also move to
the other side. Keep pressure on your partner and switch knees back and forth.
You can swing to the other side by basically pivoting with both knees in their
belly button. Not nice.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Mount to rear mount</span> -- this is really like a
kids game. Open your mount on one side to encourage them to roll. An experience
practitioner will hip escape but a novice will roll. Keep them rolling and stay
with them. Get them to basically roll into your rear mount.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Guard hip bump sweep to mount</span> -- we have done
this one before. Start from getting choked in your guard. Pray, swim, and snap
their wrists down. Keep control of one side. They might come forward. That's
okay. Open your guard and make some space. As your opponent sits up, go with
them. Reach your non-controlling hand over across and over their shoulder and
grab the trap of their far side arm. Post behind you with the hand that had
wrist control. Sweep out the arm while extending your hips. You really need to
be deep with your hips to get it to work.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Knee on belly to near side arm-lock</span> -- you get
knee on belly and your opponent tries to push you off. Control the pushing hand
and then step over their head. Straighten the arm and get the standing arm bar.
It will be very hard for your partner to hip escape. Even if they push you over
you can still get the belly down arm lock.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Knee on belly to far side arm-lock</span> -- you get
knee of belly and your partner tries to push off your knee. They will make this
triangle shape with their far arm. Scoop through that triangle to control that
far arm. Now you have options such as the upright kimura. In this case, I think
that we're looking for that traditional arm lock. Swing the leg that isn't on
their belly around their head. Really try to get your toes into their back.
Slowly sit down and lie back. Don't let any space open up. Squeeze your knees.
You should be able to get a shoulder lock. You can then extend further and get
the arm lock.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Knee on belly escape</span> -- swipe knee and move
hips. You know that pushing them off will get you arm locked. So what do you
do? Use your near side arm to control their knee and then hip escape out from
under. Be quick to get a knee in to retake guard.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Bottom guard to kimura finish</span> -- start with
your opponent choking: pray, swim, and whip their hands down to the mat.
Simultaneously, use your guard to full them forward and break their posture.
Control one wrist. Open your guard and spin out from under your partner toward
the controlled wrist. Bring that same side leg up over their back and keep
their posture broken. Get the kimura grip and push their arm up. You might have
to hip escape a few times to get the right body position.</div>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-12221300703186586022015-08-23T18:56:00.001-07:002015-08-23T18:56:15.123-07:00Training 2015/07/17 #028 -- shihonage<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
This one was mostly
review on shihonage. I remember there was a lot about moving your body, getting
full extension, etc. But now, it's gone. Nuts.</div>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-36612198427763774082015-08-04T19:41:00.001-07:002015-08-04T19:41:19.728-07:00CampingWe've recently returned from our first RV camping tent. I've done some back country camping but this trip was my first real experience with RV/car/serviced camping. A few thoughts:<br />
<br />
<b>RV Camping</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>You still need outdoor cooking gear i.e., a propane stove</li>
<li>An electrical burner would be helpful</li>
<li>Condiments, including salt, pepper, steak spice, sugar, and maple syrup</li>
<li>A lighter for the stove pilot light</li>
<li>Bigger and better pans and pots</li>
<li>A table cloth</li>
<li>A bug shelter for the picnic table</li>
<li>A lantern</li>
<li>Clothes line + pins</li>
<li>Hatchet</li>
<li>Chairs</li>
<li>Baby seat</li>
</ul>
<div>
<b>Service Camping</b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Tents (3x3-man would be good)</li>
<ul>
<li>Sleeping stuff (duvets + puzzle mats)</li>
</ul>
<li>Bug shelter for the picnic table</li>
<li>Tarp</li>
<li>Extra rope</li>
<li>Water supply</li>
<ul>
<li>Hose with shutoff</li>
<li>Basin for washing</li>
<li>Drinking water dispenser</li>
</ul>
<li>Electrical stuff</li>
<ul>
<li>Extension cord</li>
<li>Splitter</li>
<li>DVD player?</li>
<li>RCA cable extension?</li>
</ul>
<li>Fire</li>
<ul>
<li>Lighter</li>
<li>Fire starter</li>
<li>Irons/sticks</li>
</ul>
<li>Propane stove</li>
<li>An electrical burner would be helpful</li>
<li>Condiments, including salt, pepper, steak spice, sugar, and maple syrup</li>
<li>Cooking utensils</li>
<ul>
<li>Pot with lid</li>
<li>Big pan with lid</li>
<li>Kettle</li>
<li>French press for coffee</li>
<li>Pressure cooker + can for baking</li>
</ul>
<li>Dishes</li>
<ul>
<li>Plates</li>
<li>Bowls</li>
<li>Cups</li>
<li>Cutlery</li>
<li>Travel mugs</li>
</ul>
<li>A table cloth</li>
<li>A lantern</li>
<li>Clothes line + pins</li>
<li>Hatchet</li>
<li>Chairs</li>
<li>Baby seat</li>
<li>Laundry soap</li>
<li>Dish soap</li>
<li>Bug dope</li>
<li>Sunscreen</li>
<li>Outdoor games: balls, frisbee, electric car, etc.</li>
<li>Warm clothing</li>
<ul>
<li>Fleece</li>
<li>Pants</li>
<li>Wind and water proof jacket</li>
<li>Toque</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div>
Another thought is packing. Everything for camping should be packed into clear bins, including clothes.</div>
</div>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-34602948902941507682015-07-13T13:42:00.004-07:002015-07-13T13:42:43.030-07:00Taking meetings -- other stuff<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
*** Other Literature
***</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Now I have a stack
of other stuff that may have some value. I'm going to start in no particular
order and skim aggressively.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Seibold (1979).
Making meetings more successful: plans, formats, and procedures for group
problem-solving. <span style="font-style: italic;">Journal of Business
Communication</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
It gives us an
estimate that between 7 and 15 percent of personnel budgets are dedicated to
meetings. Most important, the article gives us a list of tactics for group
decision making:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Problem census</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Rational reflection</span></li>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="a">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">What is the
problem?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">What are the causes?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">What the criteria for an
adequate solution?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">What are the possible
solution?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">What is the best solution?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">How shall the solution be
implemented?</span></li>
</ol>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Brainstorming</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Buzz groups</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Nominal group technique.
Members work alone to create lists and then reconvene to share. Further
individual work may be used to sort them, etc.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Delphi</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Listening teams. Groups may
be assigned to listen for particular things during a panel discussion or
presentation (e.g., causes, etc.).</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Role playing</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Two-column method</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">RISK. Participants are asked
for input on particular challenges and risks of agreed-upon solution.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">PERT</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Eilon (1968).
Taxonomy of communications. <span style="font-style: italic;">Administrative
Science Quarterly</span>.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The author produces
an interesting taxonomy of interactions that can be used to monitor
interactions, resulting in cool charts that look like:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-left: .375in; margin: 0in;">
Unfortunately,
it’s difficult to create a takeaway from this paper. We don't for example, get
common patterns of communication, etc. It's a cool tool… but I don't how to
apply it. Maybe somebody has figured it out in the last 50 years!</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-left: .375in; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
McCowan et al.
(2002). Modeling human interaction in meetings. <span style="font-style: italic;">IDIAP
Research Report.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I think that I have
seen this thing before. Oh yeah. It didn't help me then either. Next!</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Miranda &
Bostrom (1999). Meeting facilitation: process versus content interventions. <span style="font-style: italic;">Journal of Management Information Systems.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Apparently process
interventions are effective; content interventions are not… at least in terms
of group support systems. The implications are, however, a bit mysterious.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Jorgensen (2010).
Meetings that matter: conversational leadership in today's organizations. <span style="font-style: italic;">Reflections</span>. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
More numbers
(without a source): professionals spend 25% of their time in meetings;
department managers spend 40%; executives spend 80%. The article basically
advocates for a systems thinking approach where people use a meeting with <span style="font-style: italic;">Fifth Discipline</span> ideals. The basic approach is
"conversational leadership," borrowing foundations from Malcolm
Knowles's adult learning models, Deming's TQM ideas, Edward Schein's ideas of
process consulting, Robert Greenleaf's servant-leadership model, and Senge's
stuff.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
In this model, the
goal of a meeting is learning and outcomes include personal or team structure
change; changes in thinking, acting, interacting; etc. Use FOCUS:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">F -- follow the Five
Guidelines for Learning Conversations</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">O -- open with Check-in and
Context, Purpose, and Outcome (CPO)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">C -- clarify each agenda item
with CPO</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">U -- use
Closing-the-Learning-Loop protocols</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">S -- support safe space</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Check-in could
include: "what is most pressing for you?" or "What did it take
for you to come to this meeting?" Use the check-in to ground people and to
show respect for what is going on with the participants. Ground people in what
they are about to do.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The Five Guidelines
for Learning Conversations include:</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Listen for
Understanding</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">.
Listen openly and with respect. Listen to yourself.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Speak from
the Heart</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">. Speak
to contribute to the conversation, not to fill space or have your position
heard.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Suspend
Judgement</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">.
Suspend any certainty that you are right.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Hold Space
for Differences.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">
"Don't counter with 'but'"; contribute with 'and'."</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Slow down
the Inquiry</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">.
Take time to digest.</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
CPO:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Context -- how does today's
meeting fit into larger ongoing efforts and vision</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Purpose -- why are people
meeting?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Outcome -- what can
participants expect?</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
George's thoughts:
Context should generally link back to an ongoing project, corporate objective,
or business process; Purpose should be of the form: "[We need to] Develop
a timeline for the xyz project"; Outcome should be of the form: "[At
the end of the meeting, we'll have] Created a rough draft of the WBS."</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Each item of
conversation should really be brought through the discussion points of <span style="font-style: italic;">conversation</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">clarity</span>,
and <span style="font-style: italic;">confirmation</span>. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br />
Now, on to something a bit more academic:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Leach et al. (2009).
Perceived meeting effectiveness: the role of design characteristics. <span style="font-style: italic;">Journal of Business Psychology</span>.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
This paper basically
reports on two studies that involved asking people about what works -- and what
doesn't -- within meetings. It involved a solid methodology and a decent n
count. Best practices included the use of an agenda, minutes, punctuality, appropriate
facilities, and the use of a chair or leader are important. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
It seems that the
use of (and completion of) an agenda, punctuality, and decent facilities are
particularly important factors. Factors such as the meeting type, length, and
the number of participants are non-factors for perceived effectiveness.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
This article was
actually quite interesting and has led to a variety of other citations for
similar work.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
McGlory (2000). Time
well spent? <span style="font-style: italic;">Strategic finance.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Hmmm… not much new
in this one.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Caruth and Caruth
(2010). Three prongs to manage meetings.<span style="font-style: italic;">
Industrial management.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Prepare. Control.
Evaluate. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Barske (2009). Same
token, different actions. <span style="font-style: italic;">Journal of Business
Communication. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
So this is all about
the use of the phrase OK in German business meetings. Next.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Rogelberg et al.
(2012). Wasted time and money in meetings: increasing return on investment. <span style="font-style: italic;">Small Group Research</span>. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The title is good
and apparently this comes from a special issue. The authors cite some numbers
-- organizations devote between 7% and 15% of personnel budgets to meetings; in
1995 Xerox (with 25,000 employees) spent $100.4M on meetings. Other studies have
demonstrated that 1/3 of time in meetings in considered unproductive and that
2/3 fail to meet their stated goals. The problem is a big one:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
"Based on the
authors' informal surveying of dozens of HR leaders in Fortune 500 rims,
shockingly, organizations do little or nothing to assess the return on its
investment or to take substantive steps to assure that investment is a good
one." </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The authors propose
a three step process:</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Assess the organization's
investment in meetings.</span></li>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="a">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Determine hours
spent in meetings and combine the number with the encumbered salary
costs.</span></li>
</ol>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Assess return on meeting
investment.</span></li>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="a">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Employees
complete a survey on effectiveness and value of meetings.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Observers can watch meetings
for assessment.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Determine a percentage for
unnecessary and ineffective.</span></li>
</ol>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Implement a change strategy.
Important topics of consideration include:</span></li>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="a">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Productive and
counterproductive leader and participant behaviors</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Meeting preparation and
follow-through</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Meeting scheduling</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Appropriateness around
number of meetings</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Existing and quality of
training regarding meeting facilitation</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Satisfaction with quality
and quantity of shared information</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Feedback regarding
performance in meetings</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Decision-making approaches
used in meetings</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Participant evaluation of
others</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Leader evaluation of
participants</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Participant evaluation of
leaders</span></li>
</ol>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Evaluation could be
built into performance reviews as specific skills or as alignment with core values.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Best practice
guidelines: </div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Amazon's "two
pizzas" -- a meeting should not exceed the number of people that
could be fed by two pizzas</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Intel's posters -- each room
is decorated with:</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Do you know the purpose of
the meeting?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Do you have an agenda?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Do you know your role?</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-left: .375in; margin: 0in;">
Every
Intel employee takes a course on effective meetings.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Allen et al. (2012).
Employees' feelings about more meetings: an overt analysis and recommendations
for improving meetings. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I wonder if this was
actually published? It's another study that basically asks people how they feel
about meetings. Not surprisingly, when those meetings have a clear objective
and share relevant information, people enjoy them. Employees are unhappy with
meetings if they constrain resources such as time. The study relies on
Hobfoll's notion of Conservation of Resource (COR), that is "a stress
model which suggests that people strive to retain, protect, and build resources
and that a potential or actual loss of those values resources is a threat to
their well-being."</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Marshall et al.
(2015). A new model for high value meetings. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Published? EUROMA?
I'm not sure. But the authors do provide some UML diagrams… and they talk about
the "E^2 model":</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GFlVqMzr9LI/VaQiciweX2I/AAAAAAAAKH4/TRNZylDoTCI/s1600/2015%2B07%2B13%2B05%2Btaking%2Bmeetings%2Bother%2B03%2Bmodel.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GFlVqMzr9LI/VaQiciweX2I/AAAAAAAAKH4/TRNZylDoTCI/s320/2015%2B07%2B13%2B05%2Btaking%2Bmeetings%2Bother%2B03%2Bmodel.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The authors are chasing a concept they call
ROIOT (Return on Investment of Time). And then we don’t really get much else.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Allen,
Lehmann-Willenbrock, and Landowski (2014). Pre-meeting talk: the impact of
pre-meeting communication on meeting effectiveness. <span style="font-style: italic;">Journal of Managerial Psychology</span>. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
People talk before
meetings. It could be small talk, meeting preparatory talk, work talk, or shop
talk. The authors did a study to explore the impact of these factors on overall
meeting success. It seems that only small talk is associated with overall meeting
success. This finding might be due to shared values, group cohesiveness, etc.
Apparently small talk had better correlations than open communication,
task-oriented focus, systematic approach, or the timeliness of the meeting. The
finding is particularly relevant for individuals who aren't extroverted.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Standaert et al.
(2015). An empirical study of the effectiveness of telepresence as a business
meeting mode. <span style="font-style: italic;">Information technology
management.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Apparently,
telepresence is a bit better than audio- and video-conferencing but is no
better than face-to-face. The article does, however, gives us a good list of
"communication objectives":</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8L9TfQVLZjg/VaQidLlRUEI/AAAAAAAAKH8/zgOUeTzbfZ8/s1600/2015%2B07%2B13%2B05%2Btaking%2Bmeetings%2Bother%2B04%2Bobjectives.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8L9TfQVLZjg/VaQidLlRUEI/AAAAAAAAKH8/zgOUeTzbfZ8/s320/2015%2B07%2B13%2B05%2Btaking%2Bmeetings%2Bother%2B04%2Bobjectives.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
In short,
telepresence is better than audio- and video-conferencing for: building trust
and relationships; communicating positive or negative feelings; giving or
receiving feedback; clarifying concepts, issues, or ideas. Interestingly,
audio-conferencing is best for "routine exchange of information."
Perhaps this finding is an example of Conservation of Resources.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Allen et al. (2014).
Understanding workplace meetings: a qualitative taxonomy of meeting purposes. <span style="font-style: italic;">Management Research Review.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Apparently the
authors have developed a taxonomy for meeting purposes. This should be
interesting.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l2wVOWGoQB4/VaQidQpeYUI/AAAAAAAAKHw/BLfq5NZwuqM/s1600/2015%2B07%2B13%2B05%2Btaking%2Bmeetings%2Bother%2B05%2Binteresting.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l2wVOWGoQB4/VaQidQpeYUI/AAAAAAAAKHw/BLfq5NZwuqM/s320/2015%2B07%2B13%2B05%2Btaking%2Bmeetings%2Bother%2B05%2Binteresting.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
These numbers could
be averaged out based on the overall size of the economy to get some sense of
overall economic contribution. I'm sure the Bureau of Economic Analysis would
give us some numbers. Regardless, "routinely discuss the state of the business,"
"discuss quality, policy, and compliance," and "discuss on
ongoing project" seem to be the most relevant.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Cohen et al. (2011).
Meeting design characteristics and attendee perceptions of staff/team meeting
quality. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Some more numbers on
what makes a good meeting:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Punctuality</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Appropriate space,
refreshments, decent temperature and lighting</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Formal agenda available ahead
of meetings. A formal agenda not made available is not different from not
having an agenda!</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Smaller meetings are of
higher quality</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Use of a facilitator wasn't
correlated with quality unless the meeting was large</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Almost done. Here's
the last one:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Stray et al. (2013).
Obstacles to efficient daily meetings in agile development projects: a case
study. <span style="font-style: italic;">ACM/IEEE International symposium on
empirical software engineering and measurement</span>.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Common challenges of
agile meetings include:</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Meetings are too long (22
minutes vs. 15 minutes)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Reporting to Scrum Master vs.
equal sharing</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Meetings involved pre and
post overhead</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Negative attitudes to
meetings</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The article also
poses some potential solutions to these challenges that are primarily relevant
for agile processes.</div>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-47995047874300897722015-07-13T13:38:00.001-07:002015-07-13T13:38:07.814-07:00Taking meetings -- HBR<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
*** HBR ***</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Let's move on the
HBR stuff. It's always interesting. I will try to start from the oldest stuff
and work forwards to see if we can detect any evolution in approach. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The first HRB
article is from 1969 and was written by Prince: "How to be a better
meeting chairman." It leads off with a great quote: "<span style="font-style: italic;">Robert's Rules of Order </span>provide a canon of
regulations and procedures that can be applied to any meeting, but in the
context of the intimate, creative 'think' session that has become an important part of the management
process in the present-day business world, they may be more than a little
anachronistic."</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The research
typically draws on groups of seven or fewer since seven is "the maximum
number of people that can work together productively in a meeting." These
types of meetings have four key challenges:</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Objectives are vague, even if
there is an agenda.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Meeting chairs might
discourage creativity.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Chair prejudices may limit
conversation or problem-solving.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Meetings have a high level of
antagonism.</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Approaches for
fixing these issues include:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">The rotating chair</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Stating the problem -- that
is get the statement written down</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Temporary shelving i.e., the
parking lot</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Spectrum policy -- people
have to provide a spectrum of responses including both positive and
negative considerations</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Restate (and operationalize)
the problem. This is kind of like a five whys exercise.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Vacation time -- take a
specific break from the problem to explore something completely different
(e.g., Give me a striking image from the world of weather? A thunderhead.
Why is it dangerous? Etc.)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Toward the solution -- return
to the list from the vacation and use it to inform discussion on one of
the problem statements</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Rotate the chair during a
meeting</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Leadership principles:</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Never compete with the
members</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Listen</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Don't permit anyone to be
put on the defensive</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Use every group member</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Keep the energy high</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Keep the members informed of
where they are in the process</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Keep your eye on the expert</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Don't manipulate the group</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-left: .375in; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Roger A. Golde gives
us an article from 1972: "Are your meetings like this one?"</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The article notes
that managers spend up to 50% of their time in meetings. It discusses a case…
but it doesn't give us much that is tactical.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Anthony Jay's 1976
article seems to be more on point: "How to run a meeting." Here's a
great quote:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
"Certainly a
great many meetings waste a great deal of everyone's time and seem to be held
for historical rather than practical reasons; many long-established committees
are little more than memorials to dead problems." </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
So, what are the
purposes of a meeting:</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">They define a team, group, or
unit.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">They enable a group to
revise, update, and to what it collectively knows.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">They enable individuals to
understand the aim and goals of the group</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">They create a commitment in
the participants</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">They enable a manager to </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">lead</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">, not just be reported to</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">They are "status
arenas" to establish hierarchies</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The author gives us
a size grading for meetings:</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Assemblies</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> with 100 or more people who
just listen</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Councils</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> with 40 or 50 people who
mostly listen and occasionally contribute</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Committees</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> with up to 10 -- at most 12 -- who speak
on equal footing under the guidance of the chair. Most meetings are of
this type ("the bulk of the 11 billion meetings" that take place
in the US every day)</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
There are also
different types of meetings:</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Frequency</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> -- daily, weekly, monthly,
ad hoc, irregular, quarterly, etc.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Composition</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> -- do participants work
together? Do they work in parallel? Or are they strangers?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Motivation</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> -- do participants have a
common objective?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Decision
process</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> -- how
to participants come to consensus and make decisions?</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
In general, there
are a few different general knds of meetings: </div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: italic;">Daily
meetings</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"> for
people with common objectives that make decisions by general agreement.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: italic;">Weekly or
monthly meetings</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">
for people on parallel projects where there is some competition and where
the chair will likely make decisions</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: italic;">Irregular,
occasional, or "special project" meetings</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"> for people who have little
relationship except for the project promoted by the meeting. Every member
essentially has a veto.</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Best practices:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Before the meeting</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Define the objective. Every
item on the agenda can fall into one of the following categories:</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Informative-digestive.
People need to be informed of something important.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Constructive-originative.
Management wants input and ideas.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Executive responsibilities.
Management wants people to take responsibility.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Legislative framework.
Ratification of policies, procedures, etc.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Making preparations.</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">People. Who should attend?
No more than 12. It might be necessary to have multiple meetings.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Papers. The agenda should
have enough information that participants can prepare some views and
opinions ahead of the meeting. Consider marking each item "for
information" or "for discussion" or "for
decision." Also consider supporting documents and the order of the
agenda:</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="square">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Early part of the meeting.
Lively and creative. Good for items of broad interest and concern.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Start with items that
unify members.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Don't dwell on the
"trivial but urgent" items.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Meetings break down after
two hours. Ninety minutes is best.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">If meetings go long,
schedule them before lunch or the end of the day to establish an end
point.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Supporting documents
should be brief.</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Chair's job.</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Focus on the achievements
of the meeting.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Minimize contributions in </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: italic;">constructive-originative</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"> meetings.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Chairs must develop skills
for moving the meeting along: leaning forward, staring at the speaker,
raising eyebrows, etc.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Two types of leadership:
"team" or "social" leader; and "task" or
"project" leader.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Structure the discussion:</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="square">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">What is the topic?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">What is our objective?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">What is the challenge?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">For how long has this
challenge existed?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Can we explore the causes
for the challenge?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Can we provide a
diagnosis?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Can we provide a treatment
plan?</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Conducting the meeting:</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Deal with the subject (as
above). The chair might have to establish a working group or terminate
the discussion if it is unproductive.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Deal with the people.
Punctuality is important so list late comers in the minutes. Consider
seating arrangements. Control the garrulous and encourage the silent.
Protect the weak. Encourage ideas and innovation. Don't quash
suggestions. Close with an achievement.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Following the meeting:</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Send minutes with time,
date, location, chair; names of all present; all agenda items and
decisions reached; assignment responsibilities; time meeting ended; data
and time of next meeting</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-left: 1.125in; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-left: 1.125in; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The next selection
is a little bit more modern. Paul Lovett wrote "Meetings that work: plans
bosses can approve" in 1988. The point of this article is really to
demonstrate that the meeting is more important that the plan. Specifically,
managers need to use a meeting to get a plan approved. They have to answer the
questions:</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">What is the plan?</span></li>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="a">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Terse statement
followed by a list of actions.</span></li>
</ol>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Why is the plan recommended?</span></li>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="a">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Get support: rate
of return, ROI, etc.</span></li>
</ol>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">What are the goals?</span></li>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="a">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Focus on the unit
of measure, not numerical values</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Use a chart to compare as-is
and to-be</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Consider a list of
milestones</span></li>
</ol>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">How much will it cost to
implement?</span></li>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="a">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Address capital
costs, operational costs , and HR costs</span></li>
</ol>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
We then jump forward
in time to 2003 with "The board's missing link" by Montgomery and
Kaufman. This article is basically about the interaction between shareholders,
boards, and executives. Interesting, but irrelevant for what I need.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Michael Mankins gave
us "Stop wasting valuable time" in 2004. He reports on a study
conducted by EIU and Marakon on executive perceptions. In short:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Executives spend 21 hours a
month in leadership team meetings</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Agenda setting is unfocused
and undisciplined. In most cases, the agenda is recurring or it is ad hoc.
Meetings are often crisis-driven. Less than 5% of respondents reported
"rigorous and disciplined" process.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Little attention is paid to
strategy</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Most meetings aren't
structured for decisions. They're built for "information
sharing" or "group discussion."</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-left: .375in; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Strategies for
improvement:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Deal with operations separate
from strategy. Use different meetings.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Focus on decisions, not
discussions. Distribute information early using standard templates. The
cover sheet should articulate why you're asking someone to read something:
for information, for discussion and debate, or for decision making.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Measure the real value of
agenda items. </span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Get issues off the agenda as
quickly as possible.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Put real choices on the
table. Present a variety of options for a problem (at least three).</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Adopt common decision-making
processes and standards. </span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Make decisions stick. Use
performance contracts.</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-left: .375in; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3WhwzWUEKv8/VaQhkai5pXI/AAAAAAAAKHI/bFVquUv79T0/s1600/2015%2B07%2B13%2B04%2Btaking%2Bmeetings%2BHBR%2B01%2Bcontracts.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3WhwzWUEKv8/VaQhkai5pXI/AAAAAAAAKHI/bFVquUv79T0/s320/2015%2B07%2B13%2B04%2Btaking%2Bmeetings%2BHBR%2B01%2Bcontracts.png" width="124" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Birkinshaw and Cohen
gives us a 2013 article called "Make time for the work that matters."
They note that knowledge workers spend 41% of their time on "discretionary
activities that offer little personal satisfaction and could be handled competently
by others." They offer a solution: "Knowledge workers can make
themselves more productive by thinking consciously about how they spend their
time; deciding which tasks matter most to them and their organisations; and
dropping or creatively outsourcing the rest."</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
There are ways of
outsourcing work or making things more efficient. For example, an initiative
may ban email on Fridays, limit the lengths of meetings, or ban internal
PowerPoint.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X5eD5fG-b8g/VaQhkcVMwPI/AAAAAAAAKHM/1FkILl17BrM/s1600/2015%2B07%2B13%2B04%2Btaking%2Bmeetings%2BHBR%2B02%2Bpowerpoint.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X5eD5fG-b8g/VaQhkcVMwPI/AAAAAAAAKHM/1FkILl17BrM/s320/2015%2B07%2B13%2B04%2Btaking%2Bmeetings%2BHBR%2B02%2Bpowerpoint.png" width="198" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Assess tasks using a
basic survey. Rate each task on a scale of 1-4 on the following questions:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">How valuable is this activity
to the organization?</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">It contributes significantly
to the overall objectives (4)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">It contributes in a small
way (3)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">It has no impact, positive
or negative (2)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">It has a negative impact (1)</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">To what extent could I let
this go?</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Essential. This takes top
priority (4)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Important. I need to get
this done today (3)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Discretionary. I'll let it
go if time allows (2)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Unimportant. I can cut this
immediately (1)</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">How much personal value do I
get from doing it?</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Definitely keep. It's one of
the best parts of my job (5)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Probably keep. I enjoy this
activity (4)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Not sure. This task has good
and bad points (3)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Probably drop. I find this
activity somewhat tiresome (2)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Jettison. I dislike doing it
(1)</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">To what extent could some
else do it on my behalf?</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Only I (or someone senior to
me) can handle it (5)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">This task is best done by me
because of my skills and responsibilities (4)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">If structured, this could be
handled by someone junior to me (3)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">This task could easily be
handled by a junior employee or outsourced (2)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">This task could be dropped
(1)</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
A score of less than
10 indicates that the task could be delegated or eliminated. Low value tasks
should be dropped, delegated, or redesigned. </div>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-51662150887401651992015-07-13T13:35:00.003-07:002015-07-13T13:35:34.391-07:00Taking meetings -- books<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Now, on to the big
topic: meetings. Why do we actually attend meetings? How do we make them less
painful?</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
And here's a great
quote on meetings: "I’ve yet to see a résumé—and I hope I never do— that
lists “attends meetings well” as a skill. Yet attending meetings ends up being
a key component of many jobs. And it’s stupid." <a href="https://medium.com/@monteiro/the-chokehold-of-calendars-f70bb9221b36">https://medium.com/@monteiro/the-chokehold-of-calendars-f70bb9221b36</a> Mike Monteiro</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
"Why are you
letting other people put things on your calendar? The idea of a calendar as a
public fire hydrant for colleagues to mark is ludicrous. The time displayed on
your calendar belongs to you, not to them."</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
In short: Meeting's
suck. Let's get some more background. I've done a bit 'old dump of research.
I'll review the book chapters first, then some HBR wisdom (oldest to newest),
followed by other papers not otherwise sorted.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
First up:
"Meetings," from the <span style="font-style: italic;">Managers desk
reference</span> (no year or publisher apparently). It starts with the types of
meetings: staff, department, sales, team, special committees, task forces, and
projects. It also notes that initiatives like teamwork, employee involvement,
quality, and participatory management necessarily force meetings to occur.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
There are a series
of pitfalls with business meetings:</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Participants are unaware of
the purpose of the meeting, specifically why it was called and what the
outcome should be.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Participants are not given an
agenda detailing issues, items, or reports to be given.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Leaders let meetings go
astray and off agenda.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Meetings are tedious and
long.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Particular individuals take
over and dominate.</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
There is a taxonomy
for reasons why meetings occur:</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Obtaining information. Report
givers must be good presenters and listeners should question and provide
feedback. If there is no expectation or opportunity for feedback, there
should be no meeting.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Decision making or problem
solving. Complex decisions may need consensus, deliberation, and a
recommendation or solution.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Motivation. The outcome of
the meeting should be excitement and interaction. </span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Innovation. Meetings can be
effective for generating new ideas.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Announcements. Meetings are
good alternatives to memos. They afford visual demonstrations and provide
an opportunity to address questions and concerns.</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The chapter goes on
to describe the characteristics of a good meeting:</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Participants feel like they
belong.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Broad participation.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Clear path of discussion,
shaped by a common purpose, agenda, and prepared participants.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Managed conflicts.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Both tasks and morale is
considered.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The group has input in the
process of scheduling, operating, etc.</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Leaders have a set
of responsibilities with appropriate meetings:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Select the right attendees.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Circulate a realistic agenda
(potentially a tentative agenda followed by a revised agenda). Set
expectations for how participants should prepare.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Set the time and place.
Typically, Monday mornings, Friday afternoons, and immediately post-lunch
are bad as are rooms that are crowded, hot, or that have poor acoustics.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Run a good meeting:</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Involve the attendees. The
leader should talk less than 25% of the time.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Ask questions to stimulate
discussion.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Avoid input killers by
treating people as inferior, inexperienced, etc.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Stay on track</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Summarize</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Give assignments</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Distribute minutes or notes</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
There are
specialized types of meetings:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Problem Solving:</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Describe the problem</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Discuss history, causes, and
effects</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Suggest many possible
solutions</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Identify the best solution</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Make recommendations</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Brainstorming</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Present ideas as quickly as
possible</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Don't explain ideas</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Don't evaluate or analyze
the ideas of others</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Build on the ideas of others</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Record</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
It also gives some
guidance on video conferencing that seems a bit dated.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Chapter 23 of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Concise handbook of management</span>: "Making
meetings matter."</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I like the first
paragraph where it notes that meetings aren't simply about exchanging
information, "the purpose of business meetings is to be <span style="font-style: italic;">task-oriented</span>." </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Consider the
following before calling a meeting:</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Is it necessary?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Is there a purpose? Goals?
Desired outcome?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Who should lead? Attend? Who
shouldn't be there?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Is there enough material for
a complete agenda?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Has there been sufficient
preparation? Participants should know what is expected.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Are there sufficient tools in
place?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Will the meeting start and
end on time?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Does everyone know expected
rules or procedures?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">How will the meeting be
summarized?</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">What kind of follow up is
required?</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The first chapter of
<span style="font-style: italic;">Planning successful meetings and events</span>
might have some interesting information. It starts off with some perspective on
the role of the meeting coordinator and the necessary skills. It breaks down
some common meeting types, including:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Board meetings</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Sales conference</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Management meeting</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Corporate retreat</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Awards ceremony</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Holiday party</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Annual meeting</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Product launch</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Seminar</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Workshop</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Conference</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Convention</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Incentive meetings</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">General assembly/plenary</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Concurrent sessions</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Training sessions</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Team-building events</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Fund-raisers</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Special events</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
It also provides a
list of common meeting purposes:</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Much of the chapter
is devoted to large and/or formal meetings. It provides a valuable sample of a
planning timeline:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aazTvSYiLxE/VaQg7ik2DLI/AAAAAAAAKHA/SFAdDoU34BQ/s1600/2015%2B07%2B13%2B03%2Btaking%2Bmeetings%2Bbooks%2B02%2Btimeline.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aazTvSYiLxE/VaQg7ik2DLI/AAAAAAAAKHA/SFAdDoU34BQ/s320/2015%2B07%2B13%2B03%2Btaking%2Bmeetings%2Bbooks%2B02%2Btimeline.png" width="278" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Overall, this
definition of "meeting" is far bigger than the one that I'm pursuing.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I have a chapter
called "How do you manage meetings" from a 2006 book called <span style="font-style: italic;">Manage meetings positively… </span>and it's not what
I need. Perhaps I was just looking at a sidebar. Let's see what's in the actual
chapter…</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Lots of repetition
from what I have seen:</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Decide if you need meeting.
Ensure that email or conference calls wouldn't be better.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Plan: who to invite, relevant
information (including directions to the venue), contact details;
catering; delegate minute taking</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Prep the venue: tidy,
sufficient seating; flip chart, pens, etc.; power points; etc.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Stay on track: begin on time;
welcomes; turn off mobiles; etc.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Establish follow-up
accountability: agreed actions; who is responsible; deadlines; issues for
and date of next meeting</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I have another
chapter called: "Chapter 5: Making decisions in meetings." It could
be from the same book… or not. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Step 1: Decide what you want
the decision to achieve. Decision levels include:</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Strategic</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Tactical</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Operational</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Step 2: Find the information
you need. The article recommends using the "thinking hats"
method of Edward de Bono:</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">White hats -- focus on data,
look for gaps, trends, etc.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Red hats -- use intuition
and emotion</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Black hats -- look at
negatives and why something won't work</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Yellow hats -- take an
optimistic view</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Green hats -- brainstorm in
a creative, freewheeling way</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Blue hats -- control and
orchestrate the meeting</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Step 3: Outline alternatives
and consequences. Use force field analysis, pro/cons, SWOTs, etc.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Step 4: Judge alternative by
your goals. Consider decision trees.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Step 5: Decide and then
implement</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Step 6: Review the
consequences</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Now I have chapter 9
of <span style="font-style: italic;">World's Business Cultures</span>:
"Meetings and negotiations." Not surprisingly, different cultures
have different standards with meetings. Japanese, for example, have many
attendees; Germans always use an agenda; etc. I'm sure there are exceptions to
all of these rules but some attention to differences could point to some best
practices:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Always speak to the senior
decision-maker. They will be served tea first.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Distinguish between meeting
types. German firms, for example, often explicitly distinguish between
information meetings, actions meetings, and brainstorming sessions.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Agreement could be
appointment. The Japanese principle of </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: italic;">nemawashi</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"> means that everyone must
agree.</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The last book
chapter I have is from <span style="font-style: italic;">Action tools for
effective managers</span>, Chapter 30, "Keeping meetings on track."
Sometimes people will simply shoot down and block the official agenda leading
to a stalemate. Unfortunately, it doesn't provide a lot of details beyond
emphasizing the agenda, levelling with those who might undermine the agenda,
and dealing with the hidden agenda up front and immediately.</div>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-85951857955994337352015-07-13T13:32:00.003-07:002015-07-13T13:32:27.598-07:00Taking meeting notes<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Minutes are a very
specialized type of meeting artefact. They serve as a record and are associated
with a variety of social conventions. In essence, these conventions create <span style="font-style: italic;">truth</span> and limit conflicting narratives.
Directors, for example, can't typically keep their own notes.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Not every meeting,
however, is as structured as a formal board meeting. We meet for a variety of
reasons including information exchange. In many of these meetings, we take
notes. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Why?</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
And, more
importantly: How?</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Are there best
practices for note taking in a meeting, particularly when these notes shouldn't
be considered minutes?</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
First, let's review
what we know about how people use information. In general, we hoard. We keep
far more information than we can possibly use and we are very weak at actually
maintaining it. We can be filers or pilers but we are generally poor at reusing
information. Recognize that most of the information we collect in our notes is
unlikely to get used. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Let's see what a
random walk through the literature on note taking has to say…</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
First, a 2002 IDIAP
white paper by McCowan et al. called "Modeling human interaction in
meetings." The study involved observation of meetings to identify typical
behaviors including:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Monologue</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Monologue with note-taking</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Presentation</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Presentation with note-taking</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">White board</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">White board with note-taking</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Consensus</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Disagreement</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Note-taking</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Discussion</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The paper
subsequently explores the use of these behaviours to automatically identify and
record information. The behaviour taxonomy is interesting but not quite what
I'm looking for.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Geoffrey Nunberg
provides some great justification for my interest in a piece from 2013
("Noted" in <span style="font-style: italic;">The chronicle of higher
education</span>)"</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
"Considering
how much attention we lavish on the technologies of writing—scroll, codex,
print, screen—it's striking how little we pay to the technologies for digesting
and regurgitating it. One way or another, there's no sector of the modern world
that isn't saturated with note-taking—the bureaucracy, the liberal professions,
the sciences, the modern firm, and especially the academy, whose residents,
transient and permanent, have more right than anyone else to claim that taking
notes is what we do."</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
He also gives us
some other awesome quotes like: "The Post-it ranks as one of modern
chemistry's two major contributions to the work of annotation, as partial
reparation the highlighter pen, the colorist's revenge on the printed
page."</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
And, in reference to
Leibniz's inability to organize his "chaos of jotting that I do not have
the leisure to arrange and mark" -- "It's my guess that he acquired
Placcius's cabinet out of the same yearning for order that drives me to acquire
new organizing systems, as I contemplate the scattered piles of notes and
papers that make my workspace look like downtown Pompeii. Though for me, in the
digital age, order seems even more tantalizingly just out of reach."</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
He also takes on
PowerPoint: "PowerPoint goes further still. Posting one's lecture slides
accomplishes the note transfer automatically, without requiring conversion to a
different filing system, once the notes have been ceremonially verticalized and
consecrated in the class session. Yet however detailed the slides are, students
seem to feel compelled to take notes on them, as if they need something to do
with their hands."</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Number has struggled
to come up with a way of organizing information to actually organize his book
efforts. He explains that "writing is 10 percent inspiration, 10 percent
perspiration, and 80 percent transitions." Despite his failings, he notes:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
"Still, I keep
trying, assembling project notes in one medium after another—Evernote, Word's
notebook view, SOHO, stickies, Google docs, and those carnets with the little
squares that I stock up on when I'm in France—to the point where my personal knowledge
base, like Leibniz's, is scattered across a farrago of incommensurable
schemes—the way my books would look if I just kept adding new shelves without
ever reorganizing the old ones. It's a little disheartening, but not a cause
for dejection as it must have been for Leibniz. If I need to find something, I
can always run a search over the whole accumulation. We need never lose track
of any thought in the age of search, only of its place in the order of
things."</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Atlantic </span>also gave the topic some love
back in 2012 with an article called "Duly noted: the past, present, and
future of note-taking" by Sebastian Stockman. It reports on the same
conference described by Nunberg and provided a nice quote by Ann Blair. Note
survive due to "long periods of benign neglect, combined with crucial
moments of careful stewardship." Another good quote by Peter Burke:
"When you take down almost everything, it becomes a disease."</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Haghverdi et al.
(2010). Note taking strategies and academic achievement. <span style="font-style: italic;">Journal of language and linguistic studies</span>,
6(1).</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Apparently the study
of note taking was initiated by C.C. Crawford in the 1920 and continues to
generate debates. The benefits of note taking include <span style="font-style: italic;">encoding</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">artefact.</span> In
general, note taking:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Improves attention span</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Improves focus on a subject</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Improves memory and recall</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Provides a mechanism for
concept organization</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Apparently people
"may forget" 50% of a lecture within 24 hours, 80% in two weeks, and
95% with a month if they don't take notes.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
There is an
extensive literature on why note-taking is potentially beneficial. There seems
to be trends towards improved effectiveness for outline formats, including
personal interpretations and explanations, concept mapping, and -- surprisingly
-- being a naïve or uneducated note taker! Not surprisingly, few students are
actually taught anything about note taking but there are a few methods:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">The Cornell Method</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">The Unified Note-Taking
System</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">The Split Page Method</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Ultimately,
note-taking should be adapted to individual needs and uses. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Quality is an
interesting concept in note taking. The number of "idea units" in
notes correlates positively with test performance. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Okay, perhaps it's
time to step back a little bit and focus on the corporate sense of note-taking.
A 2010 article by Mike Hawkins appeared in <span style="font-style: italic;">Training
</span>magazine. It's called "Help them retain what you train." It
gives us eight principles:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Invest time, money, and
effort into knowledge acquisition.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Take notes… but it doesn't
tell us how.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Synthesize notes into a
framework. Again, weak on the "how" other that the list of
"model, diagram, flowchart, cluster, picture, rhyme, acrostic,
acronym, analogy, metaphor."</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Reflect</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Discuss with others</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Apply</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Practice</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Teach</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
That kind of sucked.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I have another
article called "What's in your field book?" by Wesley Crawford, a
Purdue University professor. I've lost the rest of the reference (UPDATE: <span style="font-style: italic;">Point of Beginning 97</span>(22) from May 1997)! The
article is really about notes taken in the field on an engineering project. It
notes:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Record data exactly --
"the field book must be honest to be admissible in a court of
law"</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Keep it safe</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Leave no room for
interpretation /w legibility, etc.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Make references, particularly
when you have brought outside data or information</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Use 4H or permanent ink. Soft
pencils will smudge and ink may blot</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Set up the book in the first
few pages:</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Identify the owner</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Provide a ToC</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Number the pages (recto, top
right)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">A page for a legend of
symbols</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Set up a page:</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Use standard note forms</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Provide a north arrow</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Sketch. Lots.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Provide date, time, and
weather</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Identify people doing the
work on the left corner of the right hand page</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Record everything</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Don't crowd; use lots of
paper</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Do not erase</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Use all caps; align decimals;
use sig digs for angles (e.g., </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: italic;">042 degree 07' 31"i</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Use drafting techniques;
carry a straight edge/protractor; aim for proportionality</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Check your math</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Most of the
literature -- and there's a lot of it -- is really about learning skills. Let's take a look at a 1995 article by Cohn
et al. called "Notetaking, working memory, and learning in principles of
economics" (<span style="font-style: italic;">Research in Economic Education</span>).
The authors conducted a fairly detailed study with over 200 undergraduates to
explore the effectiveness of different notetaking styles and strategies. Their
conclusions are a bit underwhelming: "Our results suggest that, in
addition to student academic achievement, ability, and other socio-demographic
characteristics, memory and notetaking may have an effect on learning."
Wow, how's that for damning with faint praise!</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Apparently, the
technique that the authors encourage involves the lecturer presenting ideas for
about 10 minutes during which time nobody takes notes. The students are then
given 5 minutes to take notes. The instructor then summarizes and gives
guidance on what they feel is important.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Switching back to
the professional world, we have Middendorf and Macan's 2002 article from <span style="font-style: italic;">Journal of Applied Psychology</span> called
"Note-taking in the employment interview: effects on recall and
judgements." The authors used a fairly rigorous methodology to come up
with a similarly lukewarm response "taking notes is better than not taking
notes for one's cued recall of information." Ideally, those notes are
reviewed prior to decision making. Interesting, a key-points approach (i.e.,
filling in bullets in a pre-organized arrangement of headings) may reduce
procedural and judgemental notes.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Moving back to
educational settings, we have a 2008 article by Makany et al. in <span style="font-style: italic;">British Journal of Education Technology. </span>It's
called "Optimising the use of note-taking as an external cognitive aid for
increasing learning." The main conclusion is that "non-linear
note-takers were significantly better than the linear group both in terms of
quantity and quality of the learned material." So, what is non-linear
note-taking? Apparently the rate of speech is 2-3 words per second by
handwriting is only 0.2-0.3 words per second so alternative strategies are
important. The list of non-linear techniques includes:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Clustering</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Concept mapping</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Cornell system</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Idea mapping</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Instant replays</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Ishikawa diagrams</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Knowledge maps</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Learning maps</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Mind maps</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Model maps</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Pyramid principle</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Semantic networks</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">SmartWisdom</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The study compared
the SmartWisdom approach to traditional note taking and found that the
non-linear notetakers "performed on average 20% better than the linear
control group in tasks measuring comprehension and metacognitive skills."</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Haynes et al. gives
us "An analysis of notes taken during and after a lecture
presentation" (<span style="font-style: italic;">North American Journal of
Psychology -- </span>2015). This study is interesting because it considers
PowerPoint as an instructional medium. Specifically, the study reviewed actual
notes and used quiz scores. The literature review reveals the typical trends --
working memory, external storage, etc. The study basically looked for
differences due to the way in which students took notes, either during the
lecture or after the lecture. There essentially were none. The big issue,
however, is whether or not the students recorded <span style="font-style: italic;">relevant</span>
information. That's a big issue: what is relevant? This issue is more apparent
in meeting minutes where the notes have to include motions, carried
resolutions, actions, etc. The situation is much more complicated when we're
dealing with note-taking for information exchange.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
There's a brief
article in <span style="font-style: italic;">Library Media Connection </span>by
Diaz from 2014. In "A notable process: teaching critical reading via
note-taking (making)," she notes that students struggle to take notes
while reading digital texts. She suggests using an annotation approach to
facilitate critical reading of a text:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
This issue of
annotation in an interesting one. I've discussed marginalia and annotation in
the past and it was a factor in my exploration of Thomas Arundell's copy of
Ramelli. Blustein, Rowe, and Graff presented a paper in 2011 at the <span style="font-style: italic;">International conference on theory and practice of
digital libraries. </span>The title of the paper is "Making sense in the
margins: a field study of annotation." The focus of the paper is really
the review of digital texts rather than meeting note-taking but it could be
interesting. Annotations can include:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Telegraphic annotations --
non-text, underlining, highlighting, etc.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Explicit annotations --
textual notes</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Other coding
categories include audience, location, types, etc. Type categories include <span style="font-style: italic;">anchors</span> that draw attention to particular
parts of the text and <span style="font-style: italic;">content types</span> that
improve understanding of the the text. The <span style="font-style: italic;">function</span>
of marks varies by urgency and complexity:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Interpretive marks</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Problem-working (typically
near charts or equations)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Tracing progress (associated
with large blocks of highlighting indicating that the reader can't
determine relative importance)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Procedural (intended to draw
the reader back to important parts of the text)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Place-marking and aiding
memory</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Incidental (doodles;
indicative of lack of engagement)</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Not surprisingly,
the results indicate that annotation is important but highly idiosyncratic. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
This is all very
interesting but we still haven't answered the question -- how should we take
notes? It seems that there is some consensus that the Cornell system is a good
approach. Basically, it mandates that you divide the page into two columns. The
left column is called the "cue column" and the other one is the
"notetaking column." The bottom of the page is dedicated to a
"Summary" to be completed after class. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Note-taking involves
a few steps:</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Record using
"telegraphic sentences"…. Whatever that means.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Create questions following
class based on the content</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Recite. Review the key words
in the cue column and say aloud, in your own words, the answers to the
question</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Reflect. Ask: what's the
significance</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Review. Spend the last 10
minutes of the week to review all your notes</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The other approach
that has emerged is the guided notes approach where one basically starts with a
listing of key issues or bullets and fills in the details. I don't think that
the approach is completely different from a general split page approach. For example,
for a meeting, one could use a split page approach prepopulated with the agenda
as cues. This approach could also be amenable to the taking of meeting minutes.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-19138275730457467462015-07-13T13:29:00.003-07:002015-07-13T13:32:43.811-07:00Taking meeting minutes<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
What are
meeting minutes? We spend a lot of time in meetings. We take a lot of notes in
meetings. But what should we really be doing?</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I want to
start with the most structured aspect of meetings, namely meeting minutes.
Theoretically, there should be some sort of agreement on what minutes should
actually contain.</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
First,
the basics. The EIU's collection <span style="font-style: italic;">Essential
Negotiation </span>has an annotated glossary. Minutes apparently record: who
was present; when and where; notes on the agenda; summaries of party's main
views; commitments to review specific topics; proposals; anything agreed to...
I think we need more.</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Let's
take a look at a 2010 article from <span style="font-style: italic;">Administrative
Professional Today</span> entitled "Minute-taking: Should I write that
down?" It tells us that discussions will go sideways. Write down actions,
clarifications, or requirements. Don't record emotional reactions if someone
gets angry; document the substance of their comments. Clarify acronyms.</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Okay. A
2008 article from <span style="font-style: italic;">The Corporate Board</span> by
Beavers and Kinross provides different details ("When less is
more"). They note: "Minutes
have two purposes -- to inform and protect". There are a few questions we
have to answer:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Who is the audience? Meet
information needs without creating liability.</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Who will rely on these
minutes for protection under the business judgetment rule?</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Who else may review these
minutes? Basically, who else? The list could include investigators,
plaintiff lawyers, etc.</span></li>
</ul>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Minutes
become a record of meeting legal obligations. Consider:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Compliance with procedural
matters (e.g., date, time, and place; attendance /w quorum; purpose of
meeting; who presided; who recorded minutes)</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Identification of matters
considered. But you don't want to put in too much detail of discussions.</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Decisions made. Positive
decisions could be documented as: "RESOLVED, that each of the…"</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Recording of votes. You
probably don't have to mention who voted what but you do have to record
what was adopted or declined.</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Abstentions. Directors that
vote "no" and want their decisions to be recorded.</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Factors considered in making
decisions. Counsel may request that more detail is provided in the
minutes. Overly detailed minutes, however, may give the impression that </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: italic;">everything </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">was documented. There might
have been discussions that weren't. Another issue could be how expert
opinions or experts were qualified.
Also, include descriptions of documents and supporting materials used in
making decisions.</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Privileged discussion. Omit
them from the minutes but note that they occurred: "The board
participated in a privileged discussion on the subject matter with
counsel."</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Minutes should be the only
record. Members of a body should destroy their notes after validating the
minutes. Most courts use a "best evidence" rule so that notes
aren't admissible. Those notes can, however, be used to attack the
"competence or integrity" of a witness by asking them to explain
discrepancies.</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Read the minutes prior to
approving them. Poor minutes can be a basic attack vector. Review them
for:</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Factual inaccuracies</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Confirm dates</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Language. Concise, ambiguous
language -- "principles of good drafting" -- applies.</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
A 2006
article from <span style="font-style: italic;">The Corporate Board</span> by
Chandler and Wardwell gives more advice ("Best practices for documenting
board meetings"). The authors note that best practices for minutes
actually protect directors and owners. There are two approaches: long-form and
short-form. A hybrid strategy is appropriate. </div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Short-form
minutes are concise, easy, and contain no ambiguity. They don't, however,
provide evidence of informed decision-making. They really only capture the
actions, motion, and decisions.</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Long-form
minutes contain details about the processes and exchanged information. They
are, however, tough to draft and easy to misinterpret. Best practice is to use
a long-form approach for decisions that are likely to result in litigation or
shareholder concerns.</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Committee
meetings should also have minutes that are approved and reported to the entire
board (and referenced in those minutes). </div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Executive
sessions and privileged conversations should be documented by neither notes nor
minutes. But the official minutes can state that these sessions occurred. If
you need notes on privileged communication, they should be marked
"Confidential and Attorney-Client Privileged".</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Director's
notes should not be considered records because there will be gaps when they
were speaking or listening and they have not been approved. Retaining notes may
actually weaken overall consensus and credibility. </div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
A 2002 <span style="font-style: italic;">Office Professional </span>article by Marilyn Halsall
has a promising title: "Art of minute taking". It notes that you
probably want to start with the agenda. It notes that the agenda should split
out <span style="font-style: italic;">information items</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">action items. </span>Your notebook should have an
agenda item at the top of each page. You could prepare a skeleton based on the
agenda, motion forms, attendance lists, name tents, etc. The list of extras
could include attendance lists, pens, calendar, tape recorder, constitution/bylaws,
guide to rules of order, past minutes, and the watch. </div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Include
agenda topics, decisions on the topic, actions required on the topic, who will
do what and when, etc. Avoid:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Personal comments</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Judgements</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Adjectives</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Adverbs</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Old material</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Withdrawn motions</span></li>
</ul>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Don't
attach names unless someone wants to "go on the record." Motions
should be verbatim, moved, and seconded.
A motion is worded "that" + noun + verb. Motions can be
included in a motion binder. Include name of the organization, time, date,
place, whether the meeting was regular or special, name of the presiding
officer, secretary, attendees (or a statement on quorum for a large meeting).
Note that the minutes should be read and approved, reports of special
committees/projects, unfinished business, decisions, actions taken, next
meeting, adjournment, and signatures.</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Presentation
guidelines: heading should be centered, all caps, and should contain the word
MINUTES and name of the org.</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LN1PJcWCSl0/VaQfwETKeQI/AAAAAAAAKGc/Z0XsfleuN48/s1600/2015%2B07%2B13%2B01%2Btaking%2Bminutes%2B01%2Borg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LN1PJcWCSl0/VaQfwETKeQI/AAAAAAAAKGc/Z0XsfleuN48/s320/2015%2B07%2B13%2B01%2Btaking%2Bminutes%2B01%2Borg.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
That was
pretty good!</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Bruce
Collins wrote an article for <span style="font-style: italic;">Inside Non-Profits</span>
in 2008 called "Making minutes". Apparently, there are few statutes
mandating non-profits to keep minutes but the IRS requires it.</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Hayman et
al. produced a 2005 paper called <span style="font-style: italic;">Corporate
minute-taking: a general counsel's guide. </span>Hmmm... I'm seeing a lot of
what we have already mentioned: minutes can help, minutes can hurt, remember
Disney. It does, however, give us on guidelines:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Tell the board that minutes
are important</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Be flexible about the length</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Record the amount of time
spent on agenda items and if discussion material had been distributed
before the meeting</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Carefully note the titles of
presentations. Version control of PowerPoint can be challenging</span></li>
<li lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Avoid recording meetings</span></li>
</ul>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-left: .375in; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Elizabeth
Hinck gives us "Best practices for corporate minutes", from <span style="font-style: italic;">The Corporate Governance Advisor </span>(2008). We
get some more precedents about the importance of minutes and guidelines on
production. There is considerable repetition from what we have already seen but
there is an admonition to "reflect participation by advisors (legal,
financial, accounting, tax, compensation consultants or other
professionals)". Review is crucial and you have to demonstrate that review
is done on an ongoing regular basis. Again, we see that committee work is
important, particularly audit, compensation, and governance. The secretary may
have to ask for qualification. </div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Hinck's
gives us a new wrinkle. We need to set clear retention policies. Only the final
minutes should be contained in the official minute book along with a clean copy
of the board package and referenced materials.</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Minutes must also be
in accord with disclosure rules for publicly traded companies. For example,
should an 8-k be issued? </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Informal discussions
and executive sessions (as required by NYSE) may occur. They may not have
minutes but the decisions should be referred to in official minutes. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Let's see if I have
anything else on minutes. Here's a reference: Schwartz-Ziv and Weisbach (2013).
What do boards really do? Evidence from minutes of board meetings. <span style="font-style: italic;">Journal of Financial Economics 108</span>, 349-366.
So, 2/3 of the issues that board face are of a supervisory nature, they are
given only a single option in 99% of issues, and disagreed with the CEO only
2.5% of the time. They requested more information in 8% of issues took
initiative in response to 8.1% of them. In 63% of meetings, boards took at
least one action or did not vote in line with the CEO.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Finally, there's
"Avoiding the minutia of minutes" by Sharpe and Rose, appearing in
the December 2014 edition of <span style="font-style: italic;">Corporate
Directions</span>. Apparently the <span style="font-style: italic;">Corporations
Act 2001 </span>says that minutes must be kept as per these conditions:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Recorded in the minute book
within one month</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Signed by the chair in a
reasonable time</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Stored as a record. Current
and former directors generally have access company records and can make
copies as per typical Deeds of Access and Indemnity</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Australian
regulatory entities such as APRA, ASIC, ATO, etc. have the right to examine
books, including minutes.</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Minutes
must also be in accord with disclosure rules for publicly traded companies. For
example, should an 8-k be issued?</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Informal
discussions and executive sessions (as required by NYSE) may occur. They may
not have minutes but the decisions should be referred to in official minutes.</div>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5372365.post-41350875391632693562015-07-13T07:28:00.002-07:002015-07-13T07:28:45.340-07:00Training 2015/07/10 #027 -- koshi nage; north-south transitionAnother fun day on the mats. Warm ups were good but my back is still bothering me a little bit. Rolling was also pretty good. Certain moves that I could never find are just there now. The d'arce just keeps appearing... which is good.<br />
<br />
We also reviewed a few things from the syllabus:<br />
<br />
<b>Koshi Nage (hip throw) Double wrist grab on top, into upright kimura</b><br />
<br />
This throw is actually quite nasty and I have an impressive bruise on the inside of one of my knees to prove it! Basically, it's a type of o goshi after deploying a "y" grip break.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Your partner does a double wrist grab.</li>
<li>Use a double y grip break to control their wrists from the bottom.</li>
<li>Step in and across with your back foot (as with o goshi)</li>
<li>Bring one of their arms over your head and the other across your belly. For example, if you stepped forward with your right foot, you want to bring your right arm over your head and your left arm across your belly. Think of it like setting up a fireman's carry.</li>
<li>Step in with your other foot and keep it close. This is really just an o goshi. Step in deep for the hip throw.</li>
<li>Pop your hip</li>
</ul>
<div>
The nasty part is of this throw comes from your control of both of their wrists. It is very difficult to effectively break fall. If executing this throw on an opponent, you probably want to control both wrists. With a partner, give up your grip on the top arm so they can effectively break fall.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In drilling this move, I realized that the foot work is crucial... but when is it not crucial?</div>
<br />
<br />
<b>Side control to North South into upgright kimura finish</b><br />
<br />
This move is a transition to north-south.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Start in a tight side control. Remember to keep your cross facing hand facing down towards the mat. </li>
<li>Control their near side hip with your hip. You really don't want to leave any room. </li>
<li>Transition from the cross face to a far-side control.</li>
<li>Slide your hand under their far armpit so you can start to isolate that arm.</li>
<li>Transition around their head, stay heavy</li>
<li>Keep isolating that far arm so that they start to roll over onto their belly</li>
<li>Apply the kimura. Ideally, you sit on their head, pin the other arm under your knee, etc.</li>
</ul>
<div>
A number of other options emerged while drilling this move. For example, you can turn back the other way to get the paper cutter. Or, if you set it up from kesa gatame, you can probably get some sort of d'arce or head-and-arm.</div>
George Goodallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981025476720968100noreply@blogger.com0