Maybe we need better meetings

Rob Oakley, a frequent commenter here, left an interesting note in reply to "Eight years at the airport" that bears repeating:

I have been lucky enough in my career not to have to travel very much lately. Once upon a time, in the late '80s, I did. It was almost pleasant being in contact-suspension once or twice a week.

Things change. Lately, certainly, being treated as a potential murder suspect every time I get near an airport gives me pause. In the last couple of years? Maybe three times I've flown to seminars and training. None of them lived up to the hassle, I'm afraid.

Maybe I need to get invited to better meetings?

What about you? Was the last meeting you had to take off your shoes for (American travelers) or undergo the third-degree for (European travelers: What are you here for? Who are you meeting with? Why are you having this meeting? Are you being paid? - just to mention a few questions I've been asked) WORTH IT? How good are your meetings?

We're working on a crash project at the moment that will, ostensibly, include two face-to-face sessions. Although the first of those is still a bit in the future, we've already held two all-team conference calls supported by web screen-sharing and there've been a few one-on-one meetings. Oh, I almost forgot. We also have an online team room up and going, which proved especially useful when both of those conference calls were disrupted by the power going out, once on our end, the other on their end. We had enough redundancy built in that we continued undeterred. In the first instance, we switched from Polycom to my cell using the speakerphone and followed along with printouts; in the second, we called into someone else's cell and they followed along, having printed out materials for the meeting in advance as well. Materials were current because everyone is using the team room instead of shipping documents around via email.

And, we've already agreed to a draft agenda for the four days of face-to-face that has been modified, allowing time for additional changes, invitees, and the like. I expect those meetings to be very productive. The fewest number of people is traveling, reservations were made in advance thus fares not sky-high (even if most of the flights between Boston and the destination have been canceled, meaning that flight times are inconvenient), and, barring unforseen difficulties, this project will come in on schedule, if not before.