A while back I was commiserating with a friend of mine about how I seem to spend all my work time talking about the work that’s going to be done, but no time actually doing it.  I recently took stock of my calendar, and determined that my “base” meeting load is 18 hours per week.  That represents regularly scheduled checkpoints, status meetings, technical discussions, and administrivia.  It doesn’t count one-off meetings called to discuss new projects, hot issues, or to ameliorate the meeting chairperson’s loneliness.  It also doesn’t count double-bookings, which if rescheduled, would make things worse.

I suppose this would be a non-issue if my primary job task was to attend meetings.  But my employers seem to have this strange idea that I might deliver design documents and even the occasional batch of code from time to time.  I’ve worked both of the last two weekends trying to catch up with a project that has been neglected because of all the meetings and there may be light at the end of the tunnel in a week or so.  Of course, by then, some new hot topic will interrupt my regular work and derail things again. 

Anyhow, the “free ice cream” will be delayed for a bit longer while I brandish the chair and whip until the tigers are tamed (or at least shoved back into their cages).