Google Ventures $25 Secret for Better Meetings - globaladvisors.biz/inc-feed/20140713/google-ventures-25-secret-for-better-meetings/ BY JESSICA STILLMAN Sometimes the best solution is the simplest. Tips to keep meetings from gobbling up your teams days are all over the map, from forcing employees to pay for the time they use out of a set budget of credits to just making everyone stand up, but at Google Ventures, the in-house VC firm of the search giant, theyve found perhaps the worlds least sophisticated fix for the eternal office issue of meeting creep--a big, plastic alarm clock. The idea came from a visit design partner Jake Knapp paid to his sons first grade class,BusinessWeek recently reported. There he witnessed the $25 low-tech gizmo known colloquially as the magic clock in action (officially its known as a Time Timer). Oh, my God, this changes everything, Knapp thought upon seeing the easily read clock. I figured what worked for small children would probably work well for CEOs, too. He took the idea of setting the clock for 20 or 30 minutes in the midst of a meeting back to work and applied it to design bootcamps Google Ventures runs with the startups it has invested in. Simply having the minute hand ticking away in plain sight changed those get togethers for the better, Knapp found. It makes time visible and tangible, Knapp told BusinessWeek, so it changes the way people think about time passing. Despite some initial giggles, several of the startups who have attend these bootcamps have now adopted the idea as well, and some even found further uses for their one magic clocks. Though even the biggest fans of the hard-to-ignore, eight-inch timer admit it has some limitations. The time pressure often makes for more efficient brainstorming, but follow-up meetings are frequently needed to flesh out ideas, and there are some types of get togethers where the added pressure of an in-your-face countdown is clearly counter productive. I wouldnt want to conduct a job interview with a Time Timer, Knapp offered as an example. But any time people are working together and they know each other, its helpful. If youre sold on the idea and ready to shell out $25 on a timer, be aware there are plenty of other ways to get your moneys worth out of the purchase. Other productivity experts recommend timers to beat procrastination, get started on big intimidating ideas, avoid that annoying office gossip, and clear your head. IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 07:00:12 +0000
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