time to work - 01 Meeting Mania

Chapter 1
Meeting Mania
Sarah and Toni are good friends and have known each other since school. Sarah now works at a big company providing car parts to car manufacturers. Toni just started a new job two months ago at an IT development company.

They usually take time in the afternoon or evening to chat, relax and gossip a bit ;-).

Sarah sits relaxed in her chair, yawning and lolling. "Toni, that was a workday from hell again!" she complains. "Who gives me back the time I spent in these kinds of meetings?" And adds, "I couldn't even go to the bathroom for almost three hours!! That is real torture, some would say!"

"Oh, my poor little! You really are to be pitied!" Toni odds and smiles. "But, do you know, what is worse than your back-to-back meeting marathon?"

"No, what could be worse?" Sarah wonders. "Well, I only had four meetings today. But the entire day was fragmented. There were only 15 or 30 Minutes in between the meetings. Too much time to only relax. Too less time to really start a task. I filled it with spontaneous chats with my coworkers." Toni explains, "...and eventually got none of my tasks finished."

"Ah, I like these people who hold me back from my work with spontaneous chats" Sarah utters cynically. "Thomas, my supervisor, behaves the same! He always asks for information spontaneously." Sarah shouts, "I cannot hear it anymore: Have you got just a second!" Toni answers with nodding, "Yes, many managers do this. But you have to understand: As a manager, his main work is having meetings and talking with people. He even doesn't realize that he's disturbing you." Sarah reflects, "That's true! Everyone has their own priorities and tasks."

Toni answers, "But there are stripes of hope on the horizon! Do you remember my colleagues Simon and Mary from the other team?" 
"Yes, sure. We met them some months ago on this fabulous evening at Den's Club. Both were really relaxed and chilled. What are they doing?" Sarah wants to know. "They say they analyzed all their meetings in their team and found almost a quarter of time across all meetings that could be saved easily - just with other ways of communicating. Now, they are also chilled at work and not only in the club!" Toni laughs.

"You have to ask them what they did! I need help. I can't stand this much longer!" pleads Sarah, folding her hands and falling on her knees theatrically.

"I will, I will!" Toni assures. "But now we have to go to bed! Tomorrow at 8 o'clock, the next meeting is already waiting for me ..."
time to work
a true fictional story about async work
Part I - The Beginning
Part II - Hard Times
  • to be continued...
time to work is a true fictional story about async work. If you want to start changing your work style to more asynchronous ways of working, this is for you.
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