SIG Meeting Improvement Initiative

What are the problems we are experiencing?

• We have too many meetings which employees are expected to attend.
• Meetings are often not relevant for all participants.
• Important information is often not communicated in relevant meetings.
• Employees experience meeting FOMO - especially if important decisions are made in meetings.

There are many different areas around meetings (for example meeting inputs and outcomes) and communication which need to be tackled. This document focuses on meetings themselves & only on SIGs as a first step.

What is our meeting culture currently?

• Each SIG is largely independent in the ways that meetings are handled.
• Each SIG has its own definition of the responsibilities of the SIG driver.
• There is no (company wide) established format in which meeting notes should be taken.
• There is no (company wide) established format to add topics to the meeting agenda.
• There is a consistent agreement on meeting recordings.
• There is a consistent agreement on reporting outcomes in slack (#news-sig).

Goal statement

• A more defined meeting structure should make meetings more productive and goal oriented.
• Clearer responsibilities for drivers and participants should give them more agency to improve meetings beyond this proposal.
• Changes to our meeting culture should encourage asynchronous communication.
• A more structured meeting culture should not create a heavy process but aim to give clearer guidance to improve communication.

Changes to meetings themselves

• Every regular SIG meeting has to have an agenda. If there is no topic on the agenda, then the meeting will not take place. No exceptions. Invitees should reject meetings without an agenda.
• Every regular SIG should follow the unified format for meeting notes and agenda. A short example is prepared here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nCe38F2P5_atICwOBwy-fSlfQr8kgqHmY7xrI1vPMLU/edit?usp=sharing
  • The document should be long living.
  • The template at the top should be copied down, that way the most recent notes are always at the top.
  • The document should be added to the meeting notes, SIG slack channel and intranet docs of the SIG.
• Every meeting has to have a dedicated driver and a dedicated note-taker.

Changes to the responsibilities of SIG Drivers

We so far defined the responsibilities of SIG Drivers on a very high level. We try to give more actionable guidelines with the changes suggested here.

• SIG drivers have to review the meeting agenda 60 minutes (or more) before the scheduled meeting starts. At this point the meeting can be canceled.
• SIG drivers have to ensure that the meeting structure in the unified format is followed:
  1. Participants have to add their names
  2. PSAs are announced first (This does not replace the need of writing a news-* post. This should just re-iterate the announcement.)
  3. Discussion topics are discussed last
• SIG drivers have to ensure that a note taker is assigned.
  • In very small SIGs this can also be the driver but should ideally be a separate person.
• SIG drivers should create awareness of topics which should be announced or discussed in their SIG (e.g. reading product-news updates and encouraging participation)

Changes to the responsibilities of note takers

We previously never defined the role of a note taker but it has existed in some meetings as an intuitive role.

• Note takers should follow the outline method for note taking.
• Note takers should be as impartial as possible. They can contribute to the discussion but take notes as unbiased as possible.

Changes in this RFC take effect as soon as it is merged!