Friday, May 13, 2011

Anticipatory Time

There's the meeting and the time needed to prepare for the meeting and the recovery time from the meeting, but there is also the anticipatory time before the meeting takes place. Jake says he's going to drop by "around 11" and so I can't get into anything really heavy before 11:00 because he may show early and so there may be a 10 to 15 minute period in which not a lot takes place.

All of which means that Jake's meeting, which lasts 10 minutes, may consume 10 minutes of anticipatory time and perhaps another 5 to 10 minutes "recovery and re-focus" time. That's not counting prep time.

That's also assuming he shows up on time and doesn't surface something that explodes the recovery time.

In short, a "10 minute meeting" is rarely 10 minutes. Multiply that by seven and see where your day goes.

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