After reading this I started making hand signals too
Get an effing chairman and take control of the meeting. Utterly pathetic.
GDS shouting matches so severe team takes to talking by hand signals
Communication has now become so difficult at meetings of the UK Government Digital Service's (GDS) Platform-as-a-Service team, they've been forced to implement hand signals to prevent the "less dominant or newer members of the group" from being shouted down. In a blog post today by Dan Carley, GDS explained how it has …
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Sunday 9th October 2016 21:24 GMT Suburban Inmate
Re: After reading this I started making hand signals too
Chair
manperson? I think shock collars would be more economical.
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Friday 7th October 2016 17:47 GMT Tim 11
I can certainly see the value in this - it allows everyone to quickly express their opinions at the same time without interrupting the flow of the conversation. Based on my experience, even with only 4 or 5 people in the meeting it's quite possible for 2 to dominate (usually I'm one of them) leaving the others struggling to get a word in edgeways. hand signals would also help to subtlely shame those people who are dominating and get them to yield for a bit
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Friday 7th October 2016 21:48 GMT Anonymous Coward
it's a solution to a real problem.
I doubt that it is a solution, but then - I don't really understand the problem.
If I have something to say, I say it.
If I don't, I keep my mouth shut.
If I don't see any point in being there, I leave.
Then again, I've never worked for the government - maybe those just aren't options.
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Friday 7th October 2016 16:30 GMT Anonymous Coward
IIRC "The Mythical Man-Month" (1975) laid down the principle that any meeting should only have a limited number of participants. The more people round the table - the longer the meeting takes.
It always amazed me how many established IT managers saw the book as a revelation when they were encouraged to read it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month
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Thursday 13th October 2016 22:03 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: This needs streamlining...
"Not getting the feminist jibe, although clearly you never pass up an opportunity. Or is 'point' always uber-meaningful to chaps?"
No jibe, no chapism, and the "point" is just the point of the original "point of order" (you think too über-chapoidly).
Copyright violation because this. Just quoting, thus.
D'oh.
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Saturday 8th October 2016 03:12 GMT energystar
First: That little flying Bro in the background, needs a flying space. Thanks a lot for thinking about his temp. That poor Savannah immigrant. Make sure Britain Visa is in order. [And don't force on Him the Language of the Empire].
Second: Body language has been the Standard of Excellency, Years millions. Face gestures as language a very local, Caucasian singularity.
So, if not wanting to interrupt, dance along. With your hands only, if seated round King Artur's Table.
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Tuesday 11th October 2016 00:25 GMT david 12
We used hand signals for that purpose at home, at the dinner table (without a chairman).
I have worked with a really competent chairman, who didn't need specially documented hand signals to observe what each person thought about a proposal.
The same is true for a truly competent lecturer, but we used to softly hiss if the content was too fast or uninteligable. If the back half of the lecture theatre is hissing loud enough so that you can hear it, you're doing something wrong. Traditionally/historically, German university students used to drum their feet on the floor to indicate approval.
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Thursday 26th January 2017 16:33 GMT Anonymous Coward
GDS have killer skills!
My experience of GDS was an architecture astronaut who when asked to design a data sciences platform for a small closed userbase delivered a javascript-powered web platform designed for large users.
When questioned, he made much of his knowledge of hidden Sikh martial arts "which actually kill!, not pretending!".
He was certainly terminally boring.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
