The art of batched communication
How to fight interruptions and notifications, fuel asynchronous meetings and create more focus time for everyone.
Why this talk?
Constant notifications and disruptions
When office work was the norm
– University of California Irvine Study�
25 minutes to go back to focus mode
Outside the Office:
Distractions in a remote world
The Status Quo
There has to be �a better way
The effective executive therefore knows that he has to consolidate his discretionary time. He knows that he needs large chunks of time and that small driblets are no time at all.
T H E E F F E C T I V E E X E C U T I V E
- Peter F. Drucker, The Effective Executive.
The Grocery List
- David Allen, Getting Things Done
The broader your responsibilities, and the more senior your organizational roles, the more you will get things done through your communications and transactions with other people.
G E T T I N G T H I N G S D O N E
The Agenda List
User Agenda Lists with Everyone
Agenda lists �for Groups
Time Delay �and prioritization
The Results
What if everyone did this?
3:08
Monday May 9
How do you get everyone to do it?
When should you use your agenda lists?
What we’ve been assuming – meetings
Should we get rid of Slack?
Long
Discussion
Short
Discussion
Urgent
Not
Urgent
Phone/Video call
Chat
Agenda List
Chat/Agenda List
Long
Discussion
Short
Discussion
Urgent
Not
Urgent
Phone/Video call
Chat
Agenda List
Chat/Agenda List
What doesn’t belong on an agenda?
An example agenda
No Agenda,
No Attenda.
Always be �populating agendas
Using a collaborative agenda list
How often should you meet? Meet at all?
UX Project Update
Asynchronous
meetings
The big idea:�Batched Communication
Consolidate your communications.
Write down your discussion topics.
Results - avoid the communication vortex. Save time, increase focus.
How do you start?
Create a list for people you communicate with frequently. �
The next time you are interrupted: ”This sounds important, let’s chat about it at our next meeting.”
Come to every meeting with a populated agenda that you share/collaborate on in advance.
1
2
3
Thank you
Twitter: @aydin�Email: aydin@Fellow.app