Have you ever walked between buildings to catch a meeting? I remember this from my Google days and I hated it. Ironically at some point they were cool with video calling in from another building!!
I hated it because it took 5-10 minutes. I’d rather use that time working, or meditating, or doing anything else of my choice than having to walk. It’s also pretty messed up when it rains, or is cold, or I have a disability or a foot in a cast. Etc etc.
Having to do things not essential to a purpose is better to make them optional.
If I like working, I can walk around while on the remote meeting
Fair enough with wanting to work rather than walk, but feeling aggrieved at not being able to meditate due to having to walk seems like such an odd problem to me. I can't imagine being able to get more out of meditating at work (even in a quiet dark area) than in getting some exercise and enjoying the breeze. Nothing against meditating, but it can't beat exercise as a break from sitting/standing at a desk for hours on end.
The options are not "must walk to this place at this specific time" and "never do any exercise or take a break during your day". This type of dichotomy is drawn in so much of the back-to-office discussion. Mandating something that happens to involve, in part, something that could be beneficial, is not in itself an argument for the mandate when you can take that part by itself anyway. Like, even if it's a zoom meeting you could, at that same exact time right before the meeting, take a walk for five minutes. The mandate isn't helping you out in that respect.
I meant that meditating for 5 minutes before or after a meeting is a better use of time for me. I didn’t mean that walking displaced meditating, I was giving examples of how there are better uses of time than unnecessary walking.
I love walking and think it’s great for creativity and other purposes. I’m not against walking. I’m against having to walk just to get to and from a meeting.
I love whistling and singing. I would be against a requirement to whistle for 30 seconds before every meeting starts.
Maybe workplaces should explore other campus styles, to replace the necessity of walking moderate distances. Maybe a campus built around a small lake, and employees can swim/row/kayak to their morning standup? Or some kind of giant multi-story climbing wall to replace elevators or stairs. I know I'd move across the country for a job where I could zipline down to the cafeteria.
There may be a few ADA and liability issues with these ideas... ski lifts would be a fairly accessible fun option.
“Team, I’ve got some bad news to share. I’m afraid Bob is no longer an employee of Big Corp. I know this may come as a shock to you, but he just wasn’t able to keep his head above water. Making waves is all well and good, but at the end of the day, Bob’s little venture has left us all dead in the water. Well, actually, just Bob really. What I’m trying to say is that Bob drowned on his way over to this morning’s standup.”
If a meeting is a 10 minute walk and must be attended in person, then attendees are forced to walk 10 minutes. This seems like a waste to me.
At the same time, I think walking is great. It’s good exercise and good for the brain. But it has nothing to do with being a requirement for a successful meeting.
the best 1:1s I had with managers were typically walking around campus, although with the construction going on near shoreline (if it's not done) that became less enjoyable, and eventually, they moved my entire department to an outpost in Sunnyvale that wasn't very nice to walk around.
I worked in Plymouth, and had regular meetings with folks in Crittenden. That was a ~10 minute bike ride. When I had time, I loved biking over there and back, maybe catching a meal at a cafe far from my office. It was the perfect mid-day break.
laughs in New York City at getting lost in stairwells of the original 111 8th Ave building or Chelsea market building, and soon (not) going between Chelsea and Hudson Square.
Yeah NYC-8th is hilarious. The number of times I remember having to wait 6-7 minutes for a meeting to start because somebody had back-to-backs and needed to take some convoluted path to go up or down five floors was too high to count.
