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I'm a manager of 12 software engineers at a giant software company. Thanks to the podcast and other training materials, I've succeeded at spending a good chunk of my time thinking about the future, resolving would-be blockers, and planning long-term for the team.

Here's where I'm struggling: I don't know the right way to arrange time with the team to discuss this stuff, without interrupting them and creating "just another meeting".

A few ideas:

- Bi-weekly 30m meeting/presentation

- Weekly 15m meeting/presentation

- Taking 10m at the start of sprint planning

- Trying to do it more informally

 

What has worked for you?

US41's picture

I hold a staff meeting weekly. Each week a different member of the team serves as the meeting facilitator and host. They rotate who is in charge of the meeting. I am a participant. 

The meeting is not a cascade of information that should have been an email. Instead we use the meeting to problem solve. 

If there is a new system, the person most familiar demonstrates how to use it. If someone is facing a difficulty, that goes in the meeting for everyone to help. Any requests from upstairs go into the meeting. Sometimes there is a guest speaker who helps us understand a new requirement of us or how to perform some work better. Sometimes the guest is there so we can harvest best practices.

Dont let bad meetings or grouchy employees scare you away from doing your job. 

US41's picture
Seathe's picture

Interesting.