Talking to the Little Prince

At that night on my way home I walked the streets little longer. I was trying to shake off my frustrating business day before I get home. Then I saw this little bank and decided to sit down on it and take a break. I was observing people walking by and wondered how they felt.

Suddenly I realized that I am not alone. He was sitting next to me observing myself exactly the way I observed the other people around. He was dressed like from a different century but it didn't bother me at all. Then he took breath and started a conversation in a calm but curious voice.

• Why are you so frustrated?
• I have lost so much time in meetings today
• Why did you attend these meetings then?

I wasn’t expecting such an obvious question but he probably hasn’t been working for a company as mine before.

• I could have missed out something important and in addition, we are supposed to accept a meeting invitation as long as our agenda permits
• It seems to me that you are not in control of your own time
• Yes, this is what we call a meeting madness

I realized that I have stopped even questioning this condition. It has become normal to me to waste my time on meetings and get my work done during the time left. I am supposed to analyze sales, design new marketing strategies and similar stuff which requires a deep and focused thinking.

• This system is in control of the only truly precious thing in our life
• You are right

He was right, we’ve been stuck in a fixed mindset of accepting this system for years. A system which takes control of your time but still requires you to deliver. My frustration is nothing but natural and this system is clearly broken.

• Why don’t you charge this system?
• Hm, that wouldn't be easy
• Cannot you ask the guy who is in charge for the system to fix it?

He is so naive I thought. It is not as simple as that. This system cannot be fixed like that and there is not such a guy there. However, his question was still right. One way or the other, we need to fix this system. This built-in frustration is not only harming to business but also something which propagates to our private life - our families and our friends pay this bill every night!

I felt relieved. I don't need to feel guilty for a broken system. I need to find a way to fix it. It is all in our hands. Nobody form outside the company imposes us to organize our meetings this way. We are the the guy who can stop this meeting madness!

• This is a good idea. We need to talk to this guy
• I am sure he'll be happy to help

At this point, a conversation with my fellow came to my mind. She is working for a large company which managed to completely re-design their meeting governance by the RIPE Framework within a few weeks. From what she were saying, they liberated the whole company from imposed meetings for good and accelerated their value flow beyond impressive.

I am going to call her the first thing in the morning!