Forgot the pre-meeting dip of preparing for meeting or being in waiting-mode.
Yup, that "what can I start in 10min" question really ruins a lot of productivity.
Yeah also true, you're generally not gonna start doing anything if you know you're getting interrupted anyways.
In my previous job, I was asked to break focus every 15 minutes to check my email and see if one of my coworkers was falling behind on dealing with a queue of tasks, then pitch in if he was. I hated the job in general, but that in particular just ruined any possibility of productivity. Hard for anyone, near impossible for someone with ADHD. Then I got blamed for falling behind on my work. And for being disorganized (we didn't have a ticket tracker, hmmm).
Yup, and getting older makes it harder to catch up to that damn train of thoughts after that useless ass meeting interrupted them.
100%. I try to keep working through them and only participate when my name is called.
I often skip meetings without agenda. If they don't care to prepare a reasonable invitation, I don't care to join. Also - I skip meetings where they announce stuff. Announcements should go to my inbox, so I can read them when ready, not when they think it's suitable for them.
Let's have 5 of these on a row during the most productive hours of the day between 8 and 12. Then have lunch were we share hilarious anecdotes and after that we feel too bleh to do our job. We will just sit around the office and talk more bull shit and then go home. Too bad we told Mrs x we will do y, who cares?
Sounds perfect doesn't it.