Late Again

All meetings should start at a time ending in 5 on the minutes side. Eg. 10:35 is a valid start time.

All meetings should end at a time ending in 0 minutes. Eg. 10:30 is a valid end time.

Everyone needs some time for composure (travel time, bathroom, drinks etc.), sometimes you just have to run the last meeting a few mins over. By starting on the *5 and setting that as the start time on the calendar you give yourself this time. This is especially true at senior levels where you have strings of back to back meetings. The expectation is then set. You show up at 10:35 precisely and no one’s waiting 5 mins.

People are late, because they know that everyone will wait for them. Waiting for others is a sign that it's okay to be late.

When a meeting starts at 10:30, and some people come at 10:30, there is often a social pressure to show some courtesy and wait for the rest. But who shows the courtesy for people who actually came on time? These people follow the rules and are being _punished_ for it.

People should just start the meeting when it's scheduled. Start it at 10:30. If there's nobody on the meeting, I would start it regardless, how stupid this might sound.

These are the worst type of managers. The ones who consistently arrive late and say "sorry, I've been in back-to-backs all day" or, "sorry, meeting with the big boss" - the subtle implication is that they are the only ones that busy or with meetings that important.

Those same managers will take ages to respond to emails because they are "so busy", but yet they insist on inserting themselves into all decision-making, because obviously nobody else can make a decision without their approval.

From my experience chronic late-attendance to meetings usually happens when people fail to end meetings with a hard stop. The long-running previous meetings cause the next to start late.

no no, the last late person to join is the one that causes the meeting to start. They are crucial.

If everyone showed up on time, the pre-meeting chit chat would have no natural boundary and could extend indefinitely.

They also take the pressure off of the people who care since they know there is leeway because at least you'll never be as late as "that person".

It's totally natural and beneficial and a treasured part of corporate culture.

If someone is that consistently a bit late, I wonder if it’s something they experience with the same degree of moral and intentional charge as the author does. I wonder, for that matter, if the author and coworkers have taken up their concerns directly with the chronic latecomer.

Perspective from someone who identifies as a tidsoptimist, Swedish for “time optimist”:

> I'm sure it seems ridiculous to people who are always on time. They may be puzzled as to why such a name was coined for such a circumstance and why anyone would spend time and effort contemplating it. But such people exist, such as myself.

> I am not someone who enjoys being late everywhere. In reality, I dislike keeping people waiting, but honestly, my punctual arrivals don't happen very often.

https://wordsoftheworlds.substack.com/p/tidsoptimist-a-time-...

How to put this?

Caring this much means that your 3 minutes are not as important as you think they are.

tl;dr: it's as much on the attendees who _are_ present to move things along. Take some initiative!

This article just comes across as completely ignorant of what might be going on in another person's life. Many comments here also lean towards this being about managers who demand things don't start until they're present.

This is just wrong.

In reality, any group of sufficiently smart and empowered people who have managed to get themselves together in a room should be organised enough to start without waiting on a particular individual.

If that individual then acts out because they missed some stuff, yep they're a dick. But they're not a dick just for being late or even being consistently late.

Gonna send this to my wife the next time she makes us late for an event.