Should we end meetings forever?

Meetings have taken over. It is time for a revolution. Right?

Join Dan Toomey and the Good Work Investigative News Team as we dig into our most earth-shattering corporate provocation yet: should we end meetings forever?

Thanks to Derek Thompson and Erik Shewalter for donning the spiritual trench coat with us.

Video by Dan Toomey and Henry Stockwell

#meetings #corporate #GoodWork

Subscribe to GOOD WORK here: / @goodworkmb

Should we end meetings forever?

[GoodWorkMB]

What kind of topics should we do next??

[guy_roh]

People who discuss future meetings in a meeting should all just be sent to an island where they can all live happily ever after in a never-ending meeting and leave the rest of us alone

[KRLai]

"At a surface level, you're getting paid to hangout with your friends."

Dear God.

[DJOttmar]

Meetings are very important, because being in a meeting means you do not have to work. Online meetings are even more important because while being in an online meeting, you have time to do purposeful things. Like doing laundry, taking the dog out for a walk, go to the movies, make dinner, or sleep.

[jessip]

My last job had one 10 minute group call a week to make sure everyone was still on the same page about our work project. It was great.

[longdeadchannel]

God I love this channel so much, one of my favourite things on Youtube right now. It’s always so high quality and engaging.

[kunst_p]

Meetings are a great way to feel productive without actually being all that productive. If you don't think about it too hard, it's just free productivity up for grabs

[withincode]

Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your meetings!

[chasm]

I have this IT meeting 5 times per week where they are developing a new software for a department i have literally nothing to do with. I have had about 40 of them and at no point did i contribute something meaningful and I have never been asked a single question. I have however completed multiple pokemon rom hacks on my gameboy emulator.

[davidallen]

I literally showed this in a meeting today and we were all dying 😂

Now we are spending the whole meeting watching this channel

[AmsterdamEats]

I also feel like there's a taboo on declining a meeting invite; if someone invites me to a meeting I think adds 0 value and I decline, suddenly i'm the bad guy for declining...

[mentor]

GameStop is formally closing its doors in my country, Ireland.

Maybe Eric needed to schedule more meetings.

[cdw]

i love that this whole channel is based on the fact that the work certain people insist we have to do or else society will collapse is at least partially bs work

[benjaminr]

Meeting inflation is directly related to bullshit jobs and departments seeking to validate their value in a large organization. You should do an exposé into bullshit job roles (other than consulting which you already covered).

[qs]

Having worked somewhere where communication wasn't considered necessary at all, changes weren't announced or explained, I'm firmly on the side of SOME MEETINGS ARE ESSENTIAL.

It can be really frustrating when you don't know what's going on and learn crucial information just by coincidence.

And as someone who hates unnecessary social interaction, I think the meetings should be restricted to what is necessary and essential

[Amazonitech]

I left my last job because I had meetings everyday, hated that crap. Tried to talk and tell them some of those meetings could of be turned into emails. They were like… nah. Lol and I’m like bye :)

[SGresponse]

I hold a 2 hour meeting everyday with 15 people invited to which nobody is required to come unless they need something from me. There have never been more than 3 people on the call and they usually sync with "ok, you go first, I'll just drop by in an hour". However there are rarely days when nobody comes (though often it doesn't take the 2 full hours to get through the issues). My position dictates that my time is for these invited people, so I am always there, cause my input is often needed to progress on stuff. But because they don't have to be there - they have 2 hours of time reserved to be productive without being dragged into other meetings unless they really need them. THIS is how you do meetings.

[Stelios]

This channel is like me during a meeting I actually prepared for

It’s popping off 👌

[JonahReidJessar]

This video took 3 playthroughs before I was properly satisfied that all of the great editing, writing, and performance had been appreciated. This might be my favourite yet. It doesn't matter the topic, Dan and the good work_ team can make a bloody funny piece.

[anonym]

My work started having a mandatory 30 minute morning meeting 6 months ago. New boss wanted to make us like the other districts to make us 'simpler to manage'...
Thing is, we're blue collar. Not just that, we're public sector building maintenance in rural bumfuck nowhere. Yes urban districts that are 10-15 mobile teams working out of a central base, with significant overlap in duties, can need a morning meeting to plan. But 4 teams working out of 4 separate workshops, quite a few kilometers from each other, with very little overlap in duties, does not need a daily meeting. And because we're not allowed to use personal vehicles while working, and not allowed to take home work vehicles; those based at the other facilities have to go to their facility, clock in, get their work truck, go to my facility where the morning meeting takes place, then go back to their own facility to start actually working after the meeting.

With how many hours we're wasting, we could hire 1-2 full time technicians for the price of the morning meetings and all associated travel on the clock. Imagine the government straight up hiring two people to do literally nothing but drink coffee, thats what our meetings are.
But the boss is happy.