Comments on: Group Mind and Memory with Duct Tape and Twine http://www.terrigriffith.com/blog/2008/04/14/group-mind-and-memory-with-duct-tape-and-twine/ Wed, 07 Jan 2009 07:59:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: LynneC http://www.terrigriffith.com/blog/2008/04/14/group-mind-and-memory-with-duct-tape-and-twine/comment-page-1/#comment-16 LynneC Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:27:00 +0000 http://www.terrigriffith.com/blog2/?p=24#comment-16 I think your conclusions about the value of documenting the meeting hold well for coordination-type activities. My research, however, indicates that teams dealing with risky, complex subjects benefit from exploratory discussions that take place in the context of team meetings -- free form, flows where it needs to, covers broad topics. These are the types of discussions that rigorous agenda-followers have kittens about -- they are off topic, nothing gets resolved, there doesn't seem to be a point, and it feels like the meeting is totally out of control. It's almost impossible to take notes <i>during </i>these discussions<br/><br/>Second, the act of producing a product truncates the exploratory nature of the discussion -- which is what would happen if the team members tried to document the points and issues and concerns they were raising. I've seen this effect on the scale of a project -- but think it would also scale down to an individual meeting within a project.<br/><br/>So... if the purpose of a meeting is to step through status, logistics, and other coordination-type activities, or it's to produce a group-developed product (e.g., group editing a document) in-line note taking works great. But if the purpose is something like problem solving, attempting to commit to a product will hurt the process. I think your conclusions about the value of documenting the meeting hold well for coordination-type activities. My research, however, indicates that teams dealing with risky, complex subjects benefit from exploratory discussions that take place in the context of team meetings — free form, flows where it needs to, covers broad topics. These are the types of discussions that rigorous agenda-followers have kittens about — they are off topic, nothing gets resolved, there doesn’t seem to be a point, and it feels like the meeting is totally out of control. It’s almost impossible to take notes during these discussions

Second, the act of producing a product truncates the exploratory nature of the discussion — which is what would happen if the team members tried to document the points and issues and concerns they were raising. I’ve seen this effect on the scale of a project — but think it would also scale down to an individual meeting within a project.

So… if the purpose of a meeting is to step through status, logistics, and other coordination-type activities, or it’s to produce a group-developed product (e.g., group editing a document) in-line note taking works great. But if the purpose is something like problem solving, attempting to commit to a product will hurt the process.

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