I think the point of setting meetings with fixed durations rather than probabilistic durations is to ensure all attendees reserve adequate time for the 95% case. I’m not sure I understand the value to attendees of saying “it could be 15 mins”. That just adds cognitive overhead for them. What will they do in that case? Plan their next meeting to start 15 minutes in, but tell the attendees of that next meeting that there is a 50% probability of it starting 30 mins later?
While I think it may be accurate to say that a meeting could be shorter, I think it’s more useful to just set up a meeting and then end it early. In my workplace (very heavy on meetings) this is standard practice, and people are usually grateful for the surprise of extra time.
I think the point of setting meetings with fixed durations rather than probabilistic durations is to ensure all attendees reserve adequate time for the 95% case. I’m not sure I understand the value to attendees of saying “it could be 15 mins”. That just adds cognitive overhead for them. What will they do in that case? Plan their next meeting to start 15 minutes in, but tell the attendees of that next meeting that there is a 50% probability of it starting 30 mins later?
While I think it may be accurate to say that a meeting could be shorter, I think it’s more useful to just set up a meeting and then end it early. In my workplace (very heavy on meetings) this is standard practice, and people are usually grateful for the surprise of extra time.