Chief Roadblock Remover and Learning Enabler | Software Development Expert | Leadership and Career Coach | Writing The Tech World With Milan newsletter | Building great products, building great teams!
๐ช๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ข๐ฃ ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฑ๐๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ. ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ In recent research from Microsoft, researchers confirmed that ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ-๐๐ผ-๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฎ๐น ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐ณ๐๐น. But they also find out that there is a simple remedy - short breaks. Researchers asked 14 people to participate in video meetings while wearing a cap to monitor the electrical activity in their brains. They participated in two different sessions of meetings. On one day, there attended four half-hour back-to-back meetings; on another, the four half-day meetings were divided into 10-minute breaks. The research showed ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐๐: ๐ญ. ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ผ "๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐" ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐. ๐ฎ. ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ-๐๐ผ-๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฐ๐๐ ๐ฏ. ๐ง๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ต๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ What are some strategies to deal with these issues: ๐น ๐ ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ with 10min breaks between them ๐น ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐บ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ, such as meditation or reading something enjoyable ๐น ๐ ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น. Consider best practices such as sending an agenda ahead of time, being careful who attends, starting and stopping on time, etc. You can also create a ๐๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ข๐๐๐น๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ by using the option: Calendar -> Events and invitations -> Shorted duration for all events. What I did in my case wasย ๐ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐. Have you tried this already? Check the whole article in the comments. _______ If you like my posts, please follow me, Dr. Milan Milanoviฤ, and hit the ๐ on my profile to get a notification for all my new posts. Grow with me ๐! #technology #softwareengineering #programming #techworldwithmilan #mentalhealth
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Thank you for sharing such valuable research. Since my burnout, I am quite strict about the number of meetings during the day, as well their distribution. From more experienced colleagues, I learned a few techniques that proved very useful: - Shorten the meeting for 5 minutes. Logic is: What you can do in N, you can in N-5 too. - Never schedule the meeting at half or full hours. Add 5-10 minutes. For instance, instead to start at 10 am, make it for 10:05 am. The trick is that calendars are tuned to 15 minutes, why others won't be able to schedule back-to-back. - Start closing the meeting 5 minutes before the end. Be ruthless about it :) - Limit the number of meetings in a day. It depends on what you do, and type of the meetings you have, but do it. - Science says: Focus in the morning, brainstorm in the afternoon Good luck and take care of your well-being. You are the one, jobs/meetings are many.
It's so easy to let a meeting run a bit longer and eat into the break time you might have scheduled. Likewise with a workshop where you're 15 mins behind schedule so you decide to "skip the coffee break". But science (and most people's experience) confirms that regular breaks are essential for the quality of our work.
Schedule your breaks in your calendar, they are as important as meetings. And time block, work on one topic at a time. Your working day is a combination of blocks for meetings, working on something, could be coding, a presentation, thinking time, don't underestimate the importance of time each day to think deeply on a particular area you are working on. And block for breaks. This has approach has helped me reduce stress. The key to making this work is self discipline.
Besides being stressful and not great for our health, back-to-back meetings just aren't efficient. We really need time to reflect, think things over, and process all the info we picked up. Our minds need a breather before we jump into the next meeting on a totally different topic. If we don't give ourselves proper pauses between meetings, a whole lot of info and value just slips through the cracks, making possibly great meetings way less effective than they could and should be.
No offence, but this (something like maximum โattention spanโ and very much more, like time-of-day, etc.) is already known for a very long time, way before virtual online meetings. But whatever it needs to get this into the heads of the meeting organizers, is helpful. And proofing these facts with graphics from EEG recordings might be the optimal โargumentโ to convince some of them. At the end, most of the meetings *we* are setting up with peers and coworkers are needed to โget things doneโ. And we need to be aware, that long meetings donโt support our goal and wonโt contribute the expected outcome. In other words: It has to be in our (= meeting organisers) own interest to keep meetings โintentionalโ. [It is something completely different with 3 to 6(!) hours monthly status meetings of โbossesโ, who request the attendance of all division-, group- and team-managers. Those kind of meetings are exempt from the laws of nature! ๐๐]
Is that why I cut it short today and took a nap? Feels like Iโve been on it for a couple weeks straight.
Seems after the 3rd meeting, brains stop to consider :)
Chief Roadblock Remover and Learning Enabler | Software Development Expert | Leadership and Career Coach | Writing The Tech World With Milan newsletter | Building great products, building great teams!
1yThe article: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/brain-research