Well thank you! I never knew I needed this but I seem to have a hidden desire to read & view all these abandoned / retired airfields in the country surrounding me. I will even try to visit some.
It is much easier (and more often done) to implement a solution for a static position. Many embassies and other highly sensitive locations have these, commercially available, installations.
We used to build them for fun (no profit) many moons ago.
Basically what you do is place a couple of (1, 2 or whatever) sensors (we used to use these Motorola C123 with osmocom) and just keep taps on signal strength and antenna ID over time, and inspect changes.
Never had these before and now that I do, I do not like it.
There is nothing to say, I do my job, you do yours: leave me alone.
We get team meetings twice a week where we discuss workload and trivia, what can a 1 on 1 possibly add?
I see these as something that looks 'nice' in a manager's agenda ("Man, you are fully booked out, you work hard!") but add nothing to the efficiency. Go and produce something, solve a problem, that's how you earn my respect.
If I need you, or you need me: contact me based on demand.
> We get team meetings twice a week where we discuss workload and trivia, what can a 1 on 1 possibly add?
Speaking as a manager, if your 1:1's are purely focused on day-to-day work activities, they're missing the point.
Sounds to me like you've never had a manager who actually attempts to coach and mentor their staff to support them, train them, help define career goals, and create steps to achieving those goals.
My 1:1s? When they're done well, they're typically a mix of issues of the day--I don't typically poke my nose into what my staff are doing, so the 1:1s are an opportunity for staff to raise issues and concerns in a safe space--combined with developmental activities and bigger picture strategic items.
And in the background of all that is building a strong interpersonal relationship. It's a chance to ask about how the person is doing (I'm always on the lookout for signs of stress or burnout), how their family is doing, how the dog is doing. That forms the bedrock that ensures we have an open line of communication so we can deal with issues when they come up.
> I see these as something that looks 'nice' in a manager's agenda ("Man, you are fully booked out, you work hard!") but add nothing to the efficiency.
Bluntly, if your managers find these meetings easy or have them on the agenda because they "look nice", the manager isn't taking them seriously.
Every one of my 1:1s requires a) preparation, b) deep focus and attention, and c) significant mental and emotional investment. When done well they can be exhausting.
Hell, a while back I asked my staff if we could move to bi-weekly one-on-ones. I won't lie, this was a selfish request on my part as I find them pretty taxing. To a person they asked to retain a weekly cadence. Go figure.
Of course, if you have an incompetent micromanager, yeah, they're gonna be a waste of everyone's time, in which case I feel bad for you, because that really sucks.
Absolutely agree with this. I find 1x1s with my directs a useful time to focus on communicating intent and mentoring, as well as hearing about the frustrations / other bits and pieces one might not casually hear about.
Sure, some of them can be a bit dull, not every week is exciting, but my experience is the same -- they can be tiring if done well, but very rewarding.
Your approach sounds reasonable and well intended. But talking about family, dog, wellbeeing and career building on a weekly basis? Can you please explain what else you dicuss in those meetings?
It varies week to week. I tend to run them fairly organically, and in general I prioritize using the time to ensure the staff member is getting what they need from me (which, by the way, sometimes means more time, which means we may cancel or cut short a 1:1 at the staff member's discretion).
Typically I prep with a few work-related items I'm interested in--developmental goals I want to revisit, strategic items I want to talk about, things to follow up on from previous 1:1s (and yes, that means I keep notes from each session so that I can refresh my memory on what we've discussed, follow up meaningfully on items, etc).
I usually lead in with just some casual chit-chat to break the ice and see how folks are doing. That might last 5 minutes or it might last 25 minutes depending on what the staff member needs that week.
Some meetings end up being heavily focused on developmental stuff. Others may be hot tactical issues because the staff member needs help on a bunch of stuff. Most are a mix.
What with COVID and working from home I've found myself much more regularly checking in on quality-of-life issues: How is your stress level these days? Is your workload manageable? How is childcare going? Is the family healthy? Partly that's to ensure the staff member knows we're supporting them, but it's also to ensure we have open lines of communication so we can nip burnout issues in the bud before they become problems.
Now, do I cover all of these topics every single week? No, of course not. You might be surprised to discover that some managers are in fact in possession of basic common sense. :)
But, using those notes I mentioned earlier, I try to ensure we're periodically touching base on these various topic areas so that we're making progress across various axes.
And again: I asked my staff if we could go to bi-weekly and they said they'd prefer not to. I assume that means I'm doing something right.
Yeap. No 1:1s or in-person performance reviews, there's no bizword cliché ships sailing together, climbing of career mountains, 360 feedback, or anything else cohesive or supportive. The point isn't to instill dread, shame, or lectures but to help... managers aren't there to be bullies, slave-drivers, or hubristic self-ego-expanders.
I'm a line manager and I 100% agree with this. I call this kind of behaviour Business LARPing - doing those things that you _think_ managers or business owners or whatever are supposed to do regardless of whether it's helping you or anyone else.
It depends on the manager. It can be a good opportunity for feedback to go up the chain / get additional context / nuance, discuss strategy, is it time to ask for a pay rise, are there any minor issues like not writing thoughtful descriptions for PRs...
Of course you can have these chats ad hoc, but frankly often that can distract and derail other conversations and meetings. I like my boss, and I value our 1:1s and frequently (for example while I moved country) just making sure I was OK, my partner was OK and we were settling in etc. those kinds of issues can build up over time too.
If it's just an exercise, kill it - but if it's creating value for both parties, then keep it up.
I've had a weekly all hands where basically the CEO just wanted to waist everyone's time being brought up to speed and hashing out everything with everyone there. In the same company I had a sort of HR contractor who basically ended up providing emotional support and an avenue for honest feedback of management as a sort of 1:1, and the all hands was an absolute waste of everyone's time (because it was only really for the CEO), whereas those one to ones actually helped bring about positive change in the company, and clarity on what wasn't working.
I'd have started from the same position as two parent comments, but I have actually benefited from gold one to ones.
My current boss and I decided to reduce frequency, as we didn't need it, and then upped it again during pandemic just as an excuse for a walk and talk outside with another human. Be flexible, and get value or cut it out. But writing off 1:1 entirely only works well if you're having the right conversations elsewhere.
Finally, I have mostly worked at smaller companies where it's not an opportunity for senior management to aggressively monitor performance, constantly try to push you and find excuses for who to fire / promote / move to other team. I guess in a larger business with middle management and politics, 1:1s can be more toxic and less productive...
I have mixed feelings about 1:1. I find it not that useful.
However, some people need a nudge. That original post is a good example of what happens when there's no scheduled 1:1 and both parties assume that the other one will initiate the conversation.
Having bi-weekly 1:1 is too much. Once a month is better. Regarding team meetings, 1:1 is not the same. In 1:1 you have an opportunity to speak privately with the manager and discuss things you might be uncomfortable talking about in front of the team.
"Oh the consequences of my own actions!" -- Jean-Philippe Gaudin, most likely.
I am proud that he has been removed from his position. The initial reaction of my beloved government to this case was not so strong and open as I had hoped, but this is at least a "clear" statement that his betrayal is not tolerated / swept under the carpet.
Now let's hope that this is the end of the drama that "Swiss encryption" has been exposed to and the brand "Swiss neutrality" does not suffer more.
Look for older people. I know I contracted my ass off while I needed to build my wealth, after that I changed to less demanding jobs and started caring about holidays & colleags & raises.
I find it equally demoralising but simply let some expert do these things for a couple of hours a week and find my characters all geared up and ready to go when I feel like playing.
May I ask why you don't just simply let these brain dead grinds be done by someone else?
That is just a different type of game at that point. It is all relative and I don't play competitively. Virtually all of the content is accessible at some lower difficulty level, so it doesn't really matter what the stats are on my gear if I can do the content I want.
Hi, yeah that would be me, the guy who "skipping content in zones artists spend months building" and you know why?
I do not give a rat's ass about the "artists spend months building" anything, I just need to be there, pick something up or kill something and I am out.
With all respect for those who enjoy the "zones artists spend months building", I am here (WoW) just to beat stuff up in a repetitive & predictable way. Until today, I have NO idea in what zone what dungeon is, or what the background of the story is of that particular monster that lives there. I have never seen a cinematic in full, turn off the sounds and run graphics at to the lowest level possible so I see stuff that is relevant (fire) and am not bothered with cosmetics (grass). And I have been p[l] aying this game (on and off) since over 10 years.
It is just a nice time waster which allows for easy & cheap boosting so I can show up with the same gear as the addicts.
The 3D printing method involves a huge robotic arm with a nozzle that squirts out a specially formulated cement, said to have the texture of whipped cream. The cement is “printed” according to an architect’s design, adding layer upon layer to create a wall to increase its strength.
The new house consists of 24 concrete elements that were printed layer by layer at a plant in Eindhoven before being transported by lorry to the building site and placed on a foundation to be worked on by Dutch building firm Van Wijnen.
“If you look at what time we actually needed to print this house it was only 120 hours,” Huysmans said. “So all the elements, if we would have printed them in one go, it would have taken us less than five days because the big benefit is that the printer does not need to eat, does not need to sleep, it doesn’t need to rest. So if we would start tomorrow, and learned how to do it, we can print the next house five days from now.”
[...] are paying €800 (£695) a month to live in the property for six months from 1 August after answering a call for applicants on the internet. “I saw the drawing of this house and it was exactly like a fairytale garden,” said Lutz.
The market rent would normally be twice that being paid by the couple. “
