Earlier this year, my wife and I came to the conclusion that our family is very unlikely to fly any time in the near future.
It was a bit odd to make this realization. After all, I have quite a few frequent flier miles built up from a series of business trips, and I earn enough that flying, while expensive, is something we can consider.
But when we leave this summer for my family's biannual reunion, we're driving. Here's why:
1) It's cheaper. The reunion is 1400 miles away by car. Our '01 Honda Odyssey is rated for 25mpg highway, so we'll burn around 112 gallons of gasoline getting there and back. At $4/gallon (higher than actual cost, but let's keep this simple), that's around $450 for gasoline. Since we'll be stopping in a hotel once each way, let's add $200, plus $200 for food.
If we were to fly, tickets would be at least $1000 for the four of us. Once we get there, we'd have to rent a car. That's another $200-$300.
2) It's more comfortable. There are very few automobiles in this world that are less comfortable than a coach seat in an airplane. Everything from reclining to seat width to legroom is better. We have better control over the temperature. We can open the windows if we like. And if we start to get a little saddle sore, we can stop to get out and stretch our legs.
No worrying about our kids bothering the poor folks around us. No worrying that they'll push the attendant call button. No changing diapers in a very cramped airplane toilet (in those cases where the lav actually has a changing table). When mealtimes come, we can choose our restaurant and enjoy a good meal while sitting around a table. Heck, a car's even quieter than an airplane, so when the kids are asleep, we can actually have a good conversation.
Oh, yeah, the kids are strapped in their car seats as well, and they're quite comfortable in them. After all, they've got nice big windows to look out at the scenery, they can more easily nap in their car seats, and we'll be able to put on music and/or movies if they get really cranky.
3) It's more convenient. We can leave when we're ready. We can stop where we like. The security theater in the airport is an enormous hassle. Having to take your laptop out and your shoes and belt off, load everything into the x-ray machine, walk through the metal detector, and then get dressed and packed again is a pain. Doing the same thing with two kids, three times as many bags, and a double stroller is best not described. We've gotten better at it, and can actually move pretty smoothly now, but it's akin to choreographed chaos. In any case, it's far from pleasant.
No worries about batteries wearing out, either--our little power inverter will take care of that.
4) We can take anything we can fit. No baggage weight limitations, or limits on how many bags we can take. Our packing list now includes an extra gas can (ya never know...), an ice cream machine, water bottles, food, power tools, boxes of toys, pillows, a playpen, a kid-sized folding table and chairs, and a whole bunch of electronic gizmos, in addition to the regular clothes and toiletries. If we fly, we have to pull the kids' car seats out of the car, check them as baggage (in addition to our suitcases), retrieve them at the other end, install them in the rental car, and then do the whole routine on the way back. We don't even have to think about them now--we'll just leave them in the car.
In fact, there are only two downsides to driving:
1) We have to drive ourselves. Not a huge deal--I don't find driving a chore.
2) It takes longer. This is a bit more important, since I don't have a surplus of vacation days. Considering the advantages, however, the extra time spent on the road isn't all that bad.
Once we've done this first trip, I doubt we'll go back to flying. Next year, I'll get an extra year of vacation, so the longer travel time won't be an issue. We'll also have one more kid by then, so all the drawbacks of air travel will become even bigger.
Unlike most of my recent trips, I'm actually looking forward to this one.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Meetings
"If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be 'meetings.'" --Dave Barry
Ah, the truth of those words. I may only be in my twenties, but I have already developed a great appreciation for this nugget of truth.
This quote strikes home particularly well at my work. I work for a big company with lots and lots of engineers, and they're all very intelligent people. We have lots of meetings. I can without hesitancy state that less than ten percent of the time I spend in meetings is worth it. Here are my top eight frustrations with meetings:
1) Bad presenters
There are relatively few people in this world who can present and explain concepts clearly. Those few who can are rarely found in engineering or management positions. They're in sales, marketing, pedagogy, or similar fields. In a meeting last week, we discussed the numbering of equipment for our project. Despite the simplicity of the plan, half the attendees couldn't understand the engineer presenting it.
2) Unnecessary attendees
Every Tuesday, we have a two-hour series of meetings. Each twenty-minute segment focuses on a single engineering discipline. Originally, it was a single two-hour meeting, but my boss split it up so that only the necessary people would need to attend each portion.
We've run into a problem, though. Sometimes, one segment will end early, and the people staying for the next meeting sit around bored until the attendees for the next meeting show up. My boss has now decided that everyone needs to show up one meeting early, i.e. attendees for the 9:20 meeting also need to show up for the 9:00 meeting. In effect, the amount of time each person spends in meetings doubles, neatly negating the original intent of reducing meetings.
3) Meeting length is a function its size
It appears that there is a natural law in effect here: the higher the number of attendees, the longer the meeting. The exact equation is still to be discovered. However, my rule of thumb is this: the minimum length of a meeting, or the shortest duration you will ever see, is fifteen minutes for every two people in attendance. Thus a four-person meeting will last at least half an hour, and an eight-person meeting will drag on for at least a full hour. This is independent of the topic, the expertise of the attendees, or the circumstances.
4) Group Composition
On several occasions, I have attended meetings where we are to review, revise, or create some sort of document. The dangers of composition-by-committee are obvious, so I will not belabor that point. My frustration goes beyond that.
Murphy's law states, and experienced has confirmed, that the person at the laptop will nearly always be the worst typist in the group. We're talking two-finger hunt-and-peck typing, with one out of every three keystrokes incorrect. Forget about punctuation or capitalization, simply the spelling is bad enough. I was fortunate enough to have taken typing courses in elementary and middle school, and while I'm not the fastest typist in the world, I consider myself pretty decent at it. It pains me to see others stumble.
5) Death by powerpoint
Before I was assigned to a project, I worked in the company office. We often had suppliers and prospective suppliers in our office to present a new technology or an upcoming product, and the presentations were invariably in Powerpoint. And as Don McMillan will tell you, the longer the presentation, the more boring it is. Anything over 25 slides is too long, period. 60+ is right out. I have personally witnessed every single gaffe mentioned in that video. In every case, the presenter appears to believe that every word of the presentation is absolutely critical.
6) Getting off topic
I used to keep my mouth shut, but no more. When somebody gets off in the weeds, I now pipe up and divert it to the Parking Lot, a big notepad of topics to discuss later. A 30-minute (4-person) meeting can drag out to hours if one person pulls the discussion off-topic.
7) Long answers to simple questions
I must confess that I am guilty of this mistake, and I often see others make the same mistake. Arguably, there are times when a longer-than-expected answer is appropriate. Usually, however, the short answer is the best. As such, it is usually left unsaid.
It is worth noting that the long, convoluted reply might or might not actually answer the question.
8) The urge to justify one's attendance
In conjunction with #2 above. When one is required to attend a meeting unnecessarily, there are typically two reactions: either sit quietly in the corner without saying anything (sleeping is optional), or become inordinately involved in the discussion, regardless of one's knowledge of the topic, authority to make a decision, or ability to speak clearly.
This leads to a lot of repetition, restating, and often misunderstanding, as bad presenters try to restate others' comments and end up confusing other attendees. Then someone has to un-confuse those people, so everything gets stated three times(at least!).
9) Meetings when a phone call or a drop-in will suffice
I have never understood the urge to formalize every discussion in a scheduled meeting. Perhaps managers learn it in Business School. For me, nearly every discussion I have can be done informally, either by stopping by someone's office or by giving them a quick phone call. Sure, some situations call for a meeting, but they are a very small minority.
As I type this, I am sitting in a meeting of six people. I have nothing to add, but my presence is required because I have some tangential interest. I graduated from college about three years ago, and the number of such meetings I have attended is somewhere in the hundreds. The number of hours wasted is certainly in the thousands.
Ah, the truth of those words. I may only be in my twenties, but I have already developed a great appreciation for this nugget of truth.
This quote strikes home particularly well at my work. I work for a big company with lots and lots of engineers, and they're all very intelligent people. We have lots of meetings. I can without hesitancy state that less than ten percent of the time I spend in meetings is worth it. Here are my top eight frustrations with meetings:
1) Bad presenters
There are relatively few people in this world who can present and explain concepts clearly. Those few who can are rarely found in engineering or management positions. They're in sales, marketing, pedagogy, or similar fields. In a meeting last week, we discussed the numbering of equipment for our project. Despite the simplicity of the plan, half the attendees couldn't understand the engineer presenting it.
2) Unnecessary attendees
Every Tuesday, we have a two-hour series of meetings. Each twenty-minute segment focuses on a single engineering discipline. Originally, it was a single two-hour meeting, but my boss split it up so that only the necessary people would need to attend each portion.
We've run into a problem, though. Sometimes, one segment will end early, and the people staying for the next meeting sit around bored until the attendees for the next meeting show up. My boss has now decided that everyone needs to show up one meeting early, i.e. attendees for the 9:20 meeting also need to show up for the 9:00 meeting. In effect, the amount of time each person spends in meetings doubles, neatly negating the original intent of reducing meetings.
3) Meeting length is a function its size
It appears that there is a natural law in effect here: the higher the number of attendees, the longer the meeting. The exact equation is still to be discovered. However, my rule of thumb is this: the minimum length of a meeting, or the shortest duration you will ever see, is fifteen minutes for every two people in attendance. Thus a four-person meeting will last at least half an hour, and an eight-person meeting will drag on for at least a full hour. This is independent of the topic, the expertise of the attendees, or the circumstances.
4) Group Composition
On several occasions, I have attended meetings where we are to review, revise, or create some sort of document. The dangers of composition-by-committee are obvious, so I will not belabor that point. My frustration goes beyond that.
Murphy's law states, and experienced has confirmed, that the person at the laptop will nearly always be the worst typist in the group. We're talking two-finger hunt-and-peck typing, with one out of every three keystrokes incorrect. Forget about punctuation or capitalization, simply the spelling is bad enough. I was fortunate enough to have taken typing courses in elementary and middle school, and while I'm not the fastest typist in the world, I consider myself pretty decent at it. It pains me to see others stumble.
5) Death by powerpoint
Before I was assigned to a project, I worked in the company office. We often had suppliers and prospective suppliers in our office to present a new technology or an upcoming product, and the presentations were invariably in Powerpoint. And as Don McMillan will tell you, the longer the presentation, the more boring it is. Anything over 25 slides is too long, period. 60+ is right out. I have personally witnessed every single gaffe mentioned in that video. In every case, the presenter appears to believe that every word of the presentation is absolutely critical.
6) Getting off topic
I used to keep my mouth shut, but no more. When somebody gets off in the weeds, I now pipe up and divert it to the Parking Lot, a big notepad of topics to discuss later. A 30-minute (4-person) meeting can drag out to hours if one person pulls the discussion off-topic.
7) Long answers to simple questions
I must confess that I am guilty of this mistake, and I often see others make the same mistake. Arguably, there are times when a longer-than-expected answer is appropriate. Usually, however, the short answer is the best. As such, it is usually left unsaid.
It is worth noting that the long, convoluted reply might or might not actually answer the question.
8) The urge to justify one's attendance
In conjunction with #2 above. When one is required to attend a meeting unnecessarily, there are typically two reactions: either sit quietly in the corner without saying anything (sleeping is optional), or become inordinately involved in the discussion, regardless of one's knowledge of the topic, authority to make a decision, or ability to speak clearly.
This leads to a lot of repetition, restating, and often misunderstanding, as bad presenters try to restate others' comments and end up confusing other attendees. Then someone has to un-confuse those people, so everything gets stated three times(at least!).
9) Meetings when a phone call or a drop-in will suffice
I have never understood the urge to formalize every discussion in a scheduled meeting. Perhaps managers learn it in Business School. For me, nearly every discussion I have can be done informally, either by stopping by someone's office or by giving them a quick phone call. Sure, some situations call for a meeting, but they are a very small minority.
As I type this, I am sitting in a meeting of six people. I have nothing to add, but my presence is required because I have some tangential interest. I graduated from college about three years ago, and the number of such meetings I have attended is somewhere in the hundreds. The number of hours wasted is certainly in the thousands.
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