Split days for meetings from days for development
This post is part of 101 ideas for agile teams.
Context
Team members get distracted by a lot of meetings during the week and don’t find the time to get stuff done. There are a lot of interruptions and task-switching due to meetings.
Action
Split your workdays into days for development only and days for meetings:
On development days you do just one thing: develop. No interruptions and task-switching.
On meeting days you have pre-defined slots in your schedule, that others can use to hold meetings with you. A lot of task-switching, but no interruptions.
Please note that discussions, workshops and ad-hoc meetings of the team itself can and should happen anytime — they are part of development.
What you gain
More focus, less distraction and less task-switching.
The feeling of productivity is increased.
How to strengthen
Communicate your schedule to everyone working with you. Explain them, why you work this way.
Allow exceptions when appropriate.
Risks
Team-external meetings conflict with your schedule and you can’t change it.
Source
The source of this idea is http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html
Please help me improve this idea by providing feedback.
More ideas at 101 ideas for agile teams
Many thanks to bbv Software Services for making this blog post possible.
