Your Calendar is a Bug: How Meetings Cripple Software Productivity

Last week, inspired by a thought-provoking post, I decided to conduct an experimental calculation to determine the cost of lost productivity caused by attending meetings.

Assumptions

Before presenting my calculations, I would like to outline a few assumptions.

Assumptions 1: What is a meeting?

When I refer to meetings, I'm talking about those low-impact gatherings. Pair programming? That's not a meeting. A whiteboard session? Nope, not a meeting. Stand-ups? Not a meeting. 1:1s? Still not a meeting. So, what qualifies as a meeting?

Meetings are those sync-ups, project updates, Scrum rituals like refinements, retrospectives, and planning sessions, along with all-hands. Essentially, any assembly that isn't going to significantly impact the product falls into the meeting category.

Assumption 2: The Team size

Amazon has a team size rule it’s called the Jeff Bezos 2-Pizza rule. So the team size is typically around five to eight people. I will pick the team size is 6 people.

The Jeff Bezos 2-Pizza Rule is a management philosophy coined by Amazon's founder, Jeff Bezos, aimed at enhancing team productivity and efficiency. The principle is straightforward: no meeting should be so large that two pizzas couldn't feed the entire group. This concept is rooted in the idea that smaller teams are generally more effective, innovative, and agile compared to larger ones.

Assumption 3: Team‘s meeting time percentage per week

Since not every team member attends all meetings, attendance varies according to each team member's role and seniority. One member might spend up to 80% of their time in meetings each week, while another might dedicate only 30-40% of their time to meetings. To streamline this for our purposes, let's assume all team members spend an average of 50% of their weekly time in meetings.

Assumption 4: Salary

Given that team members are on different pay scales, I'll use an estimated average monthly gross salary of 5,500 euros.

Assumption 5: Context switching cost

As a software engineer, you often find yourself juggling a complex web of information while tackling a programming task. Whether it's recalling the variable you just declared to use later in a function, or remembering the details of a class you've recently created to initialize and implement in another file, maintaining this cognitive context can be a significant challenge. The reality is, holding onto these intricate details in your mind for an extended period is tough.

Imagine being deep in the zone, fully immersed in your work, when suddenly an interruption—whether from a person or a notification—snaps your focus. Instantly, the mental context you've been carefully building is disrupted. Regaining that level of concentration and restoring the context requires a notable investment of time—typically around 20 to 23 minutes. For simplicity's sake, let's consider it a 20-minute reset.

Understanding this is crucial for two key reasons:

1. If you find yourself with a 30-minute window between meetings, you can still achieve a state of focused concentration.
2. However, if your focus is abruptly disrupted, you effectively lose 20 minutes of your productive time.

Recognizing the impact of these interruptions can help you strategize better, optimizing your work periods to safeguard and maximize your efficiency.

All Assumptions

• Team size = 6 people
• Percentage of meetings per week = 0.5 (50%)
• Team member gross monthly salary = 5500 euro
• Context switching cost = 20 minutes

The Calculations

1. Hourly Rate Calculation

First, let's determine the hourly rate for a team member.

• Monthly Salary: 5500 euro
• Working Weeks per Month: 4
• Working Hours per Week: 40

The weekly salary is 5500 euro / 4 weeks = 1375 euro.

The hourly rate is 1375 euro / 40 hours = 34.38 euro/hour.

2. Direct Cost of Meetings

Next, I’ll calculate the direct cost of the time spent in meetings.

• Time in Meetings per Person per Week: 40 hours * 50% = 20 hours
• Total Meeting Hours for the Team per Week: 20 hours/person * 6 people = 120 hours
• Direct Cost of Meetings per Week: 120 hours * 34.38 euro/hour = 4125.60 euro
• Direct Cost of Meetings per Month: 4125.60 euro/week * 4 weeks = 16502.40 euro

3. Cost of Context Switching

Now, let's factor in the cost of context switching. I'll assume an average meeting length of one hour.

• Number of Meetings per Person per Week: 20 hours / 1 hour/meeting = 20 meetings
• Context Switching Time per Person per Week: 20 meetings * 20 minutes/meeting = 400 minutes (or 6.67 hours)
• Total Context Switching Time for the Team per Week: 6.67 hours/person * 6 people = 40 hours
• Cost of Context Switching per Week: 40 hours * 34.38 euro/hour = 1375.20 euro
• Cost of Context Switching per Month: 1375.20 euro/week * 4 weeks = 5500.80 euro

4. Total Lost Productivity Cost

Finally, I can calculate the total lost productivity cost by adding the direct cost of meetings and the cost of context switching.

• Total Lost Productivity Cost per Month: 16502.40 euro + 5500.80 euro = 22003.20 euro

Based on my assumptions, the estimated lost productivity cost for a team of six people is 22,003.20 euro per month.

Saving Ideas

As a reminder, here are the baseline monthly costs:

• Direct Cost of Meetings: 16,502.40 euro
• Cost of Context Switching: 5,500.80 euro
• Total Lost Productivity Cost (Direct Cost of Meetings + Cost of Context Switching): 22,003.20 euro

Idea 1: One Day Without Meetings Per Week

This approach means reducing the total meeting time by 20% (1 day out of a 5-day work week).

• Direct Cost Savings:
  • 16,502.40 euro (Direct Cost) * 20% = 3,300.48 euro
• Context Switching Savings:
  • 5,500.80 euro (Context Switching Cost) * 20% = 1,100.16 euro

Total Monthly Savings: 4,400.64 euro

Idea 2: Everyday Afternoon No-Meeting Period

Assuming an afternoon is half the workday (4 hours), this would mean that 50% of the time is protected from meetings. This leads to a 50% reduction in meeting-related costs.

• Direct Cost Savings:
  • 16,502.40 euro (Direct Cost) * 50% = 8,251.20 euro
• Context Switching Savings:
  • 5,500.80 euro (Context Switching Cost) * 50% = 2,750.40 euro

Total Monthly Savings: 11,001.60 euro

Idea 3: One Week Per Month Without Any Meetings

This approach means reducing the total meeting time by 25% (1 week out of a 4-week month).

• Direct Cost Savings:
  • 16,502.40 euro (Direct Cost) * 25% = 4,125.60 euro
• Context Switching Savings:
  • 5,500.80 euro (Context Switching Cost) * 25% = 1,375.20 euro

Total Monthly Savings: 5,500.80 euro

Summary of Potential Savings

Key Takeaway

Based on these calculations, Idea 2: Everyday afternoon no meeting period offers the most significant financial benefit, potentially saving your team over €11,000 per month by reducing both direct meeting time and the hidden costs of context switching.

Recommendations

• Apply the one day per week idea. After an adoption period, you can move to the everyday afternoon no-meetings period.
• Switch the communication style from synchronous to asynchronous. Make sure to train the people and apply some rules to make it easier to apply.
• Spread the awareness about the productivity cost in your team and company.