My work with Sallie Mae required the company’s 300+ developers to come together every quarter to a planning meeting for the next three months. It was a two-day-long event that involved a lot of time spent waiting around for other teams and often times the work planned on the first day would be completely changed around by the second. Most of my coworkers looked to get out of as soon as possible, being unhappy with having to sit around all day, but I was quite excited every time they came around because it offered me something that is often quite rare – the ability to have a lot of conversations with many people. These conversations were what I call, the meeting after the meeting and they were often much more important than the actual planning meeting itself. When the planning meeting was over and everyone went home was when the real decisions were made.
The meeting after the meeting is often unplanned and is frequently disguised as a social event, but don’t be fooled. It might take place in the hallway, the parking lot, or when out for lunch, but it typically covers something outside the main meeting topic. This can be due to a lack of time, business priority, or because the idea may be experimental, but because these discussions typically take place in a safer environment, away from those who might otherwise interfere, the discussion can flow freely and real progress can be made on coming up with ideas. Many projects I have created have started as meetings after a meeting and certain parts of my career have been dictated by the same from my managers.
Not everyone has the time to stand around talking outside of meetings, but if you can, I highly suggest doing so. If you want to get in behind the scenes and be a part of the big, important decisions, this is where they happen.
Adam Lif 