42
eo2875
3y

Dear Managers,
This is not efficient:

Boss: * calls *
Me: * answers *
B: there's a bug in feature ABC! The form doesn't work!
M: ABC uses a lot of forms. Is it Form A, B, or C?
B: Umm... let's just go on a Zoom call!
* 5 minutes trying to set up a Zoom call *
* 3 more minutes trying to find the form *
B: This form in here.
M: It works fine for me. What data are you inputting?
B: * takes 5 minutes trying to reproduce the bug * (in the meantime, the call is basically an awkward silence)

You spent 5 minutes wasting both of our times trying to set up a Zoom meeting, and another 8 wasting MY tine trying to find the bug.

This is efficient:
B: There is a bug in form C. If I try to upload this data, it malfunctions.
M: Thank you. I'll look into it.

You saved me 8 minutes of staring at a screen and saved us both another 5 minutes of setting up a meeting.

Comments
  • 12
    Meeting are overrated, there is rarely an actual need for them
  • 7
    @tiredofthisshit I routinely decline telecons with our customers if they have not prepared questions for me to look into beforehand. My PM is sometimes pissed, but I leave it to her to handle the customers, that's her job.

    Works surprisingly well - once the customers got around to how it works, we clarified most issues via email in much less time, and the telecons we did have were a lot more productive because everyone knew what we wanted to discuss in the first place.
  • 2
    Thank god the lady I am working with , she is nice.. and explain the issue.

    Meanwhile some excuses to save time

    It is working for me, please clear ( until they say exact)

    Cache isssue
  • 1
    This also happened very often with me. Fortunately, we are a small company, so it was easy to discuss the problem here and guide the involved people on how to properly describe an issue. I would say, video calls are for weekly 1:1s and retrospecs.
  • 3
    You're forgetting 15 minutes for switching contexts back and forth, regaining the focus you had before that call, relinquishing unpleasant emotions left by human interaction, all that bad stuff.
  • 1
    I just want to add, I hate when people want a call because they're too dumb to explain what the problem is.
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