Developing this website

And now some therapy for me and my website, this is the one you are now reading. I’m trying to make this website a model of good practice and accessibility. I have decided to have monthly meetings with my day-to-day service provider. This is beneficial for many reasons or so I have found. As I go along I notice small items that do not work as well as I would like to see. It is all so easy to forget it and then only seek help when your system is near to breaking point or more typically AT breaking point.  It is a very good discipline to note as you go.

This morning I had my meeting with Alan my day to day web developer, who by coincidence lives locally. Prior to that, I had written down all the problems on a list, reviewed them, tried to put an order of priority on them for attention, and sent him notes an hour before the meeting to give him a chance to read them. When you do not prepare for a meeting and struggle to remember why you asked for it it is frustrating for the expert but more important it wastes your time. If you are paying for the time then it is even more important to prepare yourself. This  apply to a meeting of any sort, social, cultural, business, procedural, committee, it’s called ‘doing your homework’.

If the recipient senses that you have done your homework they will listen to you with greater attention.  I recorded this morning’s session on zoom which means I don’t have to ask him the same question twice which is respectful of him because when he is involved in another project he doesn’t suddenly want to jump to something else because you tend to lose track especially when coding is involved. I find that if you work in energetic bundles the energy and money flow between the client; the service provider is cleaner and more transparent. Imagine it like painting a picture. Once you are in the zone you cannot stop and start. This is especially true when writing software code.

If you have to prepare for four hours for a one hour meeting then so be it. The topic probably needed the preparation. There is nothing worse than going to a meeting when you sense that your service provider has left your matter until the last moment  and has not spotted the subtleties that need to be taken into consideration.

Today you have an improved diary with different spacing on the home page, more search boxes on various towns. SEO and social media have yet to come into play and I shall initiate this in a few weeks when I feel the whole thing is as good as it can be.

Meetings with more than two people

Having a meeting with two people is fairly simple but anything above 3 can introduce more problems. Do we know where people’s expertise lies? Do they have anything to offer in the way if historical value? Are they all aware and in good time what the purpose of the meeting is. I think we should be careful about being too vague. For example, a meeting to discuss the progress of a particular scheme seems rather lazy to me. I would rather put  ‘how we can best react to two problems that have emerged recently in our project’.

Putting it another way, people must see or ideally would see how they can best engage. In other words be aware of their contribution will be the most valued. If someone who has a valuable contribution cannot make the particular meeting, then either change the meeting time and date or ask them to make a written statement.  It is very frustrating with meetings on Zoom when the administrator has to explain to the speaker how to use the Zoom controls. I know I’ve spoken about this before but the administrator and participants should rarely get to gather 10 minutes before and have a dress rehearsal.

Also the meeting may require a chair. This is to ensure discipline especially to prevent one person dominating the meeting. There should be some discipline about people turning off their mobile phones. Also we should avoid going off-topic.  Leave that for a post meeting drink.

At the end of the meeting, the conclusions and calls to action should be elucidated and enumerated.  A verbal summary should always include some element of optimism, giving people reason to look forward and upward. There should be some statement from the person who is going to do the majority of work if that is applicable. They should say, ‘I will report back to you within seven days’. Thank everyone for coming even though they may have had no choice.

Loose ends should not be left.

—–VIDEO LIBRARY——-

Brasscheck TV – The major Israeli lies debunked in 5 minutes

How to enjoy your problems.  Accepting your problems is one thing. To enjoy them? Well, that’s pretty much like enlightenment. Here’s how to get there. —(- not a perfect article, part palliative,  but in the right direction. – Ed.)