My boss wants me to attend a meeting every day before work hours

Question

My manager at a software company I've worked at for a few years has asked me to join a status update (a standup if you are familiar with agile) meeting daily, before my normal work hours. My boss didn't call this meeting, but a project manager did as he is primarily interested in the status of the issues. This has proven difficult as I'm usually quite busy in the mornings, handling getting myself and my children ready for their day during this time, and for the most part unavailable. I could rearrange my schedule to make it work, I just really don't want to do that.

To make matters worse, this meeting is pointless for me to attend, it is a status update on a project I have very little to do with. Once every few weeks I may actually need to be there to say a few "status update" words. These could easily be summarized during work hours, as they are not time critical.

I tried just not attending, but got caught and he asked me again to join. I've explained my time commitments, and my lack of work on this project, but still he pressures me me to attend and "zone out" waiting to see if my name is called.

How can I better communicate that I do not wish to waste my time attending this meeting every day?

Answer 1

Isn't the real problem here that they are asking to have work meetings, outside of work hours? We have daily scrums slightly after the day starts so that people can get drinks/etc. and then do the meeting and focus on their day. I would argue that, given the meetings are for work, they should arrange them at the start of the work day and not before.

Also because they are daily, if for whatever reason they can't do it during your work hours (because its normal work hours for everyone else perhaps?) you could try working out the night before what you want to say and send it to someone that is in the meeting so it can be read out daily as a compromise.

The only reason for mandatory attendance is either so you have visibility on everything that is occurring or for them to discuss issues with you and the former you seem to not require and the latter shouldn't be done in a scrum anyway.

Answer 2

A few suggestions:

• Ask the meeting organizer if you can attend the meeting remotely, over email or chat for example. Send your update the prior evening or at some other convenient time.

• Ask the meeting organizer to move the meeting time to accommodate your schedule. If they won't, you can at least inform your supervisor that they didn't which is one way of demonstrating that you might not be needed anyways. I know that this goes against some people's ideas about Agile, but if your Agile process isn't agile, I'm not sure it's really Agile.

Answer 3

...my lack of work on this project, but still he pressures me me to attend and "zone out" waiting to see if my name is called.

The meeting an agile team standup.

One of the key tenets of agile is to maximise productivity by minimising time-wasting meetings. A standup should be short, informal, effective and useful to all attendees.

If it is not, then it is a waste of time.

Another key tenet of agile is that the rituals of any given process that you are following, such as Scrum, should not be considered to be carved in stone. The process should adapt to you rather than you adapting to the process.

It sounds to me as if your team is trying to be agile, but actually being far too rigid about it, and thereby missing the point.

I don't have any specific advice for you on how to approach your manager with this, but clearly there is a problem and you do need to discuss it. I hope the above will give you some useful ammunition to help you make your case.

Answer 4

Ugh.. that's immensely irritating - you have my sympathies!

Since it sounds like your boss isn't going to just let this one go completely I'd suggest you offer him a compromise option where you can meet the business objectives but don't actually have to attend.

Try offering to write a status update message for the times when you do have something relevant to say and have that be delivered to whoever is chairing the meeting by close of business the previous day.

If this is really about getting your updates to the team then this should be sufficient from what you've described. If he pushes back on this with vague mumbling about "visibility" or similar then you can counter with the fact that the optics of you being there but "zoned out" (his words) are going to be worse than you not being there in the first place. If on the other hand he pushes back using the old "what if someone has a question?" line then offer that if they e-mail you the question you'll respond to any queries by time x (where time X is during your working day, reasonably early if possible).

Answer 5

First of all, I advise taking the "I don't need to be in this meeting" out of the equation. Debating whether that's true is not really the crux of your problem.

Personally I've always been of the opinion that status meetings are more useful than many people think, because they are by definition an opportunity for a group of people to raise issues that perhaps individually they had never considered. What if something comes up in the meeting that does somehow impact your own work, and nobody else can possibly know that, and you weren't there to hear it and interject? The purpose of the meeting is to cover these cases, not for a bunch of people to stand around rattling off what everybody else already knows.

But only you can know whether this is even remotely likely to be the case for you, which means your project manager doesn't know either, which means using this as an arguing point is never going to work. So just forget it.

The salient point is having meetings outside of work hours. If the meeting has been scheduled outside of everybody's core hours, you simply say "I cannot attend that — could you move it into working hours?" and that's that. You shall not be forced to work outside of work hours and this becomes a matter for complaint to HR if it continues.

On the other hand, if the meeting is in some people's work hours just not your typical personal hours, you have a problem. You can apply pressure, asking people to move the meeting. This used to work for me and daily stand-up would slide later and later into the morning. If unsuccessful, there's really not much you can do other than make a decision as to whether you prefer to start when you currently do, or prefer to remain on good terms with the authorities involved.

Good luck!

Answer 6

If the meeting is truly pointless for you, and you cannot contribute (as opposed to being unlikely to contribute), he's probably trying to expand his footprint in the organization, and using you as manpower to do it.

I'd suggest talking to him about his goals of having you attend the meeting, and if he shares them with you, you can gain a lot of favor by attempting to help him achieve them.

That said, you need to also suggest that you further his goals in a way you can sustain. For example, you might suggest that by being late or nearly late to each meeting, you're probably projecting the wrong impression, so instead you'll try to go out to lunch with a few key players, or follow up in ways that can work with your schedule.

Answer 7

As Agile, everyone's time is supposed to be taken into account. In my team, everyone is usually in the office by 9.30 AM, but there is one person who comes in later due to their daily routine. We scheduled the meeting at a time everyday after their arrival so that everyone is included. I think your manager can do the same and the fact that they are not is just wrong. You should address this with a person above you and the manager.

Answer 8

This answer has been heavily rewritten and rearranged to make it (hopefully) easier to read. The idea and rationale hasn't changed however I have changed (weakened) one of my assumptions as it seems it was to far fetched (I read it between the lines taking also some questions from comments as an actual state).

1. Strategy

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Further parts will provide explanation why I suggest this strategy, this is just a step by step idea how to solve the problem.

• First establish why your Line Manager (LM) wants you to be in those meetings and discuss with Project Manager (PM) what is his perspective (does he/she think it's needed?). It might be that it's about LM wanting to be up to date with the project status through you. Other option is that he thinks your participation in the project is crucial.

• Arrange a meeting with both LM and PM and

• If LM thinks your attendance is essential but PM not, try discussing the best way to keep track of the project status without your attendance to stand ups (if that's why LM wants you in the stand-ups) or how would it be best to have you in the meeting when you're really needed.

• Either way bring up that most of the time you're not participating in the project and your everyday presence brings little to no value while costs plenty of your time and some of team time so it would be best if you joined the meetings only when there is a direct reason for it - either you do something for the project at that specific time or project team needs some information from you (which in most cases can be achieved in some other way).

• If that fails but the time of the meetings is really outside of reasonable working hours, ask for rescheduling the meetings to some more convenient time.

• If both PM and LM agree you're needed in the meetings and it cannot be rescheduled that's probably all you can do. Always remember there is an atomic option if you really can't stand those meetings.

Be aware any other software development team you might join after leaving this one is likely to have stand ups as well. They might only be in more convenient hours. On the other hand the project also doesn't last forever. If this is the only problem and the above suggestions don't help, I recommend you just try to hang in there until the project ends.

2. Working hours and meeting schedule

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Are your working hours actually defined? If you work in environment anything like mine (rather standard for software development company/department) there is a large flexibility in your working hours. Yet usually there are rules when you have to be available for meetings (e.g. 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. or even 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.). If you have any meeting planned within that range of time you just have to accept that.

If the meeting is outside of that time you can request moving it to other timeframe. Yet since you're apparently not a key participant, there is a huge risk that this request will be rejected. Usually you can't do much about it anyway but that might become a point in discussion why you should attend in the meetings only when really needed.

If you don't have any strict availability hours but the meeting is in reasonable time (8 a.m. still has to be considered reasonable!) then again, there is little you can do about it. Effectively your flexibility is then limited but it does not excess in any way what an employer might require from you. If the hour is unreasonable due to e.g. time zones difference (for example the meeting is at 6 a.m. or 6 p.m.) this can again work as an excuse to attend only when your participation is really valuable.

Real life example: I work in a project where every Monday and Friday we have a meeting at 4 p.m. Having flexible working hours I like being early at work and leaving early, meaning I usually leave at 4 p.m. But on Mondays and Fridays I simply show up and leave an hour later. There is nothing I can do about that. Moreover the Monday meetings are often cancelled at the very last moment or even the host simply doesn't show. It changes nothing since when they happen I'm crucial to it.

3. Private stuff

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Let's be plain about that. If you're within working hours your private stuff doesn't matter. Especially when we're talking about something planned upfront. Just accept it. Don't bring that on a table during a discussion or everything you'll get is a negative outcome. Look for other arguments that might support your case in discussion.

4. Value of the meetings

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This is another topic that you need to weight very carefully and pick the right wording to avoid negative response.

Stand ups are often perceived as a waste of time by teams. There are several reasons for that, one of them is that people don't understand the purpose of that meeting. Second - they are led incorrectly and result in actual waste of time. If a stand up is run properly it should be a short meeting very efficient in exchanging information and putting everyone on the same page in terms who does what. It should also help to immediately address issues that happen during the project.

Yet what is important (I would even say critical in your case) - these are internal project team meetings. Apparently you're not part of the project team, just occasionally provide some service to them.

Stand ups should not serve as a means of providing the "external world" the status of the meeting. It actually makes those meeting less productive.

If the main reason why your manager wants you to attend those meetings is to keep track of the project status then you have a very strong case to discuss your attendance to those stand ups.

Since you're not a part of project team then according to Agile you should not attend those meetings unless there is a reason for that (e.g. you do something for the project at that time). It might be that your Line Manager (LM) wants to keep track of the project progress and uses your small involvement in the project as an opportunity to be "the inside guy". If that's the case, the best you can do is discussing with both LM and PM how to establish a good communication path so that your LM can be sure about the project status. If the project team uses some tools supporting project tracking (like JIRA, Rally or even Mantis or other Bug tracker), an access to such tool and some dashboards about the project status might do the trick without your involvement. Otherwise you might agree on some regular status meetings. Maybe there are some happening already, after all there should be some project status update for the sponsors. Other option might be some regular reports provided to LM.

If you are supposed to join the meetings because you're part of the project team, you should challenge it. If you provide only occasional service to the project there should be some agreed way to communicate when your involvement is needed. You should then attend stand ups while you're directly performing tasks for the project but only then.

You should first discuss that with the Project Manager (PM). He might be your ally here since your attendance to the meetings can render counterproductive.

5. Waste of time?

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Anyway, avoid using the wording "waste of time" in the discussion with LM. Look at my answer so far - I use it really hardly. For a reason. Yet, if you insist on using this particular word, what you can do is bringing up another Big Word - LEAN. If there has been any attempts to introduce LEAN in your company you can bring it up claiming, that your attendance in the meeting is a waste according to LEAN. You should join only if it is a benefit for the project.

Answer 9

Establish why your manager wants you at this meeting, in clear terms.

Your attendance at this meeting, like your job in general, isn't about you. It's about the needs of the organization as a whole.

As an illustrative example, we have a similar situation where I work. Every day, someone from our support org attends our stand-up. Maybe once a sprint, we have something important to tell this person. Maybe once every few months, that person has something to tell us. This exchange of information does relatively little for our support organization most of the time.

It's incredibly vital to our development effort, because it's one of the only times we get clear, unmitigated feedback from the field. It also provides both us and them with a shared context for future communication that provides value to both our teams in context for outside of the meeting.

It's a waste of their time, but it's an incredibly valuable contribution for our project.

This value isn't obvious from cursory or outside examination, and it really can't be perceived only by considering the situation from the individual perspective of the attendees or the events of the meetings. It's the downstream effects that are significant.

It's the bigger picture that matters.

What asking management about this will get you:

It may educate you.

You may discover, by talking this out with your management and/or with the project manager in question, that there are reasons for your attendance you may not have considered. This could lead to you providing, or gaining, more value in future meetings, and feeling less 'put out' by your compulsory attendance.

It will empower you.

Trying to 'get out of' a meeting is an inherently imbalanced negotiation between you and whomever is calling the shots.

Convincing them that your perspective and your values should be sufficient cause for them to change their mind is an uphill battle. Convincing them that their objectives aren't being fulfilled by this course of action is a much more evenly balanced dialogue.

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Ultimately, the professional value you derive from and perceive in this meeting is only a small part of the bigger picture. If you can't frame your argument in terms of that bigger picture, it's not really reasonable to expect to convince anyone that the best course of action for the organization is to proceed as you would desire.

Answer 10

In 2023, with many people working from home:

If you usually commute from 8am to 9am and start work in the office at 9am, and the company wants you to join a meeting from 8am to 9am, then you could suggest that you join the meeting from home, then commute from 9am to 10am and arrive at the premises at 10am.

And obviously you can't have a company meeting before your work starts. Because your work starts with the meeting. So your work hours would be 8am to 9am, then 10am to whatever time.

(I did something similar when we worked with a company in Australia, 12 hours away, worst case: On some days, I would leave two hours early, then join a meeting from home with the Australian client from 8pm to 10pm. Of course it depends on your nature if that time is acceptable, I didn't mind).

All that said: If you are at work, you do what they ask you to do, and if they ask you to do something pointless then you do it. That's not the problem.

The problem is that your cost of going to work is going up dramatically because you have to find someone to take your kids to school etc. There is a balance between your income, and your cost (working, commute, etc. ) and their request changes that balance. They are making your job much less attractive for you, and by the same sign, jobs at other companies are suddenly a lot more attractive.

Many people have the attitude that that is not your companies problem, but it is. And of course your managers may not realise the problem (they wouldn't unless you tell them), and once they are aware, they might be willing to rearrange things. Of course some managers don't give a **** about you, but some do. There might not even be any particular reason for the time, except that a decision needed to be made, and any other time might be just as good for everyone involved.

(Another place I worked from 10am to 7pm, because there was little traffic at these times. Working 9am to 6pm, I would have had to leave two hours earlier and would be back home at the same time, because of traffic. If they had asked me to work an hour earlier, no way. )

Answer 11

Standup meetings related to a project usually don’t last forever. Most of the time they are created when a project is having difficulties and the standup is implemented in order to give attention to daily issues to get the project back on track. Once the issues are resolved, the stand up usually goes away.

Also, you have voiced your opinion to your boss but he wants you there anyway. If you are a salaried employee, there is really nothing you can do at this point but to attend. If you have a decent relationship with your boss, sounds like he wants you to hear the issues to give you insights into project dynamics. The only thing you can do is to attend and after a short time, revisit your attendance with him if you still feel your are not deriving any benefit from attending.

Answer 12

Check your contract, salaried or hourly

First, determine are you salaried or hourly employee.

If hourly, your strategy would be based on demand to be compensated for overtime. Simply state to your manager that you are not legally obliged to put extra hours without pay. Emphasize on "legally" , this implies that you already have legal council on this matter. Hopefully, your manager doesn't have authority to pay you extra, so some kind of solution would happen where you don't need to attend meetings, which is exactly what you want.

If salaried, things could get complicated. Best policy in this case is to state to your manager that you simply cannot attend the meetings. Theoretically, as salaried employee you still have some rights for overtime compensation, but this rarely happens, so don't count on it.

In any case, be prepared for deal breaker . If you really cannot attend those meetings, or your manager really needs you there, it would be prudent to simply brush up your resume. This is especially true in US, with employment at will.