Dragging this thread up again and I’ve just had a 30% increase building & contents with Barclays.

I rang up whinge and they said that the new rules from the FCA only apply to limiting the increase to what a new customer may pay.

“From 1 January 2022, new rules from the industry regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), will mean that premiums charged to all renewing home and private motor insurance customers by their insurance provider cannot be greater than the price they would charge to an equivalent new customer for the equivalent policy.

What they did say is that you can essentially cancel without penalty, being refunded for the unused days of the policy, which allows for a bit of shopping around if you’ve only twigged after the renewal.

So. I may still look around, although Barclays do appear to be good at the customer service.

Who’s good for buildings/contents that covers bikes new for old these days?

I can add some comments here.

I’ve no direct experience of the Merc but I have several friends with the E-Class – all report issues with airbags. Seems a common fault. They all love its size tho, but as much as I like the exterior, I can’t get on with the interior. I also had a V60 T8 for a week and also found it very small (albeit very quick).

I’ve had e39 5’s before (including an M5), and now have an F11 520d. I love it. I wish I had a 530d, but that will need to wait. I brought the cheapest one in the country at the time* – £6k and it had 146k miles on it.

Over the last few years, I’ve solved a few of the typical issues. Intake manifolds and EGRs are a classic fault on the N47 engine, and I recently replaced my manifold (£200) and cleaned out the EGR. Now runs really well, and feels fit.

Even before then, I have done some EU driving, all the way to Croatia no less, and it returned up to 63mpg when driven carefully. When not driven carefull, e.g. on the autobahn, it will (eventually) get up to around 140/145mph, but it is happiest at between 120 and 130 mph – just something about German cars that they feel ‘just right’ there.

It’s an SE – I chose the SE purposely – as I wanted 17s and the softer suspension. Speaking to a friend with an idential Sport model, it seems he prefers the ride of mine. It just wafts along, managing the bumps and potholes, and still grips well enough (for something of its size).

Inside, rattles, wear and so on can all be dealt with by a bit of eBay work to replace bits that break or wear – I’ve sorted a worn bolster, replaced a broken cup holder etc. and its now near enough rattle free.

In terms of sat nav and audio – well its in your hands if you want to improve it – you can buy an inline system called MMI Prime to retrofit Apple Car Play into the standard system, and I have the widescreen display. MMI prime with a Fire stick in the USB gives you everything you and the kids need to do a long journey – and its all as if its OEM. I had the base sound system – no biggie – I just swapped out the speakers and fitted an in line amp, and now I have a properly solid-sounding audio system as well.

In terms of overall ownership – you either need to be handy with a code reader and be early on preventative maintenance (I still need to sort the timing chain guides – an engine out job, and needs to be done on ALL of the N47/N57 engines) you’ll have no issues at all, especially if you do plenty of oil services (every 6-10k).

I’m a big fan, and it does everything I need – so much so that I’ve been looking at replacing it with a G31 530d MSport and I just cannot justify the monthly payments for a car that, tourque aside, isn’t going to do much more than what I already have. Its not quick, but its quick enough.

Go in with your eyes open and don’t dismiss based on spec, Comfort seats aside (I really wish I had those), you can update everything yourself anyway. F11 fan here.

*Not sure if its easy to find a solid £6k example now tho!

Ooh, may pop down this weekend and bring some stuff I’m trying to clear out.

Can I list some of the stuff I might have here just in case anyone is interested in it before meeting on Sat?

Got stuff like Lyriks, old Fox forks, Cotic Soul, 27.5 Hunt wheels, tyres, usual stuff.

I’ve had the XTRs and XT and I’m getting increasingly fed up with axle play – the cup and cones need maintenance (of course) and the axles appear to be made of cheese and snap easily when you’re adjusting the cup and cone.

As such I’ve thrown away two pairs of XTRs because you can’t get spare axles, same with XTs – I’ve no doubt if I try to sort my current XTs they’ll snap too.

I’m now waiting for a set of 520’s as I’m fed up with pedals essentially being disposable.

Shimano pedals are not what they once were, that’s for sure.

You need Windows Snap Layout: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/snap-your-windows-885a9b1e-a983-a3b1-16cd-c531795e6241

ETA: Works in Windows 11, but YMMV in Windows 10 etc.

https://www.howtogeek.com/738567/how-to-snap-like-windows-11-on-windows-10/

I have a 2020 Top Fuel with a -2% Slack R set on it to bring all the angles etc. to Trek Top Fuel 22′ angles (and coincidently, Spur).

My bike is built with a set of SID 35 Ultimates and so I would probably be inclined to say it meets the definition of down-country now.

Currently, I’m running it in ‘light’ mode, so it’s probably around 24-25lbs in weight and goes like stink. I’ve previously run it with its original Reba’s and a set of heavier Vittoria Mazza tyres – in that mode, it could take anything I lobbed at it, and I have even more confidence that the SIDs are even stiffer and capable.

I would say I can probably find my down a trail relatively quickly, and so I haven’t pushed the SIDs to their max yet as it’s been so gopping since I built it with them on, but I’ve taken it down all my local steeps and have had no cause to feel like it was out of shape.

The comment I would make between a ‘down-country’ and ‘trail’ bike is that it is less about its capability – there is little I’d lob the Top Fuel down (big drops are generally avoided for obvious reasons) but more about a bikes capacity. I use the word capacity to describe a bikes capacity to take on more of everything – speed, impacts, frequency etc. – a trail bike can take bigger faster hits for longer; a downcountry CAN do it, but you’re more likely to literally run out of puff or get out of shape if you try to throw it down a more DHy trail at the same speed (say) as an Enduro bike.

However, as a do it all bike, it’s mental good fun; I tend to grab it first in nearly all situations other than big boys days where I know I need the safety net.

The Trek Marlin 5 was what I was looking at for my 10year old in a few months time when I can kick off another C2W scheme. They’ve a few different models in the range with different levels of spec.

However, the 5 comes in the special XXS size: The XXS is 26″ wheel, XS and S I think are 27.5 and the the M, L and up are 29ers.

https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/bikes/mountain-bikes/cross-country-mountain-bikes/marlin/marlin-5/p/34587/?colorCode=greydark

Chaps, been lurking in here quietly for a while – is there a STW fantasy six nations league I can join?

100% agree with sharekattack – I was the same, dismissive of the 29er as clown bike size, but then I dipped my toe in with the Top Fuel and realised that it didn’t make a difference – as he says, geo trumps wheelsize – I found I could ride as well and with as much fun.

The one thing that will also make a difference to ‘fun’ is the platform and how the shock is set up. The Slash is like a bloody monster truck because, at times, it doesn’t want to leave the ground and just wants to plough through stuff. That could be seen as not playful – but it >can< be playful, but you need to ride it in a different way.

I’d be trying to demo some bikes if I were you – and then see what you think.

I agree, I can see the Remedy turning into (I apologise for this) a Slopeduro style bike in a mullet setup.

The Rememdy is really the bike in the range that today sits in a strange place – its meant for the more aggressive trail rider who wants to do a bit of bike park and more techy/bigger riding. It’s very capable, I was never feeling like it was out of depth, but I always felt as if a Fuel EX would have been a bit of a better choice running a decent set of tyres.

For sure, you can ride it about anywhere on big all dayers, but I think if I were to buy again, I’d probably go look at something else (based on my riding). As I’ve explained, I’ve gone for the more focused approach.

Either way, you’ll not get a bad bike, but I’d probably wait a few months, or buy that Fuel EX in the classifieds and then lob a Slack-R set on it and bigger tyres if you you need the gnarr of a Remedy.

The Trek platform works well across the range – so even the Top Fuel can cut it on the big stuff (albiet with less travel).

I’ve had a Trek Remedy (a 2020 model) and had a fun two years on it. I’ve now moved to a 2021 Slash and a 2021 Top Fuel (with a slackset).

I would caution against a Trek Remedy purchase just yet – I would want to see what Trek bring out in their model refresh – it is expected that they will give the Remedy some attention as it’s in its third year without change now.

I really enjoyed my Remedy but found that it was a little confusing at times. It did everything well, went down well, went up well, but didn’t excel at any one thing. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not a bad bike by any measure, but it definitely is a little long in the tooth currently.

The Slash and Top Fuel came out of a need for me to have a more focused bike for what I wanted to ride – the Top Fuel is like a rocket ship – a lightweight Remedy in a way – it still descends well, but it goes like shit off a shovel everywhere and easily hits 24/25lbs.

The Slash is much of the same, but the opposite – like a monster truck, able to take massive hits yet still climb on those long days.

Sure, I’ve now got two bikes instead of just the one, but I share this as I ended up choosing to leave the Remedy behind and have the right tool for more XCy or DHy stuff.

I can’t comment on what the alternatives are other than a Transition Scout which would be the only other thing I’d consider, but I thought I’d share the point of the Remedy being ready for a refresh. Also – 29 can still be agile and fun – don’t get sucked into the ’29 is just for speed’ camp…

Meanwhile Shell announce record profits and dividends

Shell’s PR and CSR department will be having kittens right now as this is the absolute worst time for them to be slapping themselves on their back.

I would argue that the accelerated march of investors out of unethical portfolios is likely to increase – I can see Labour grab hold of the windfall tax piece and throttle it for all its worth – any organisation standing to make profits off the back of these indirect causes will be gold.

Personally speaking, I would feel really uncomfortable to hold a portfolio where there isn’t some form of balance ethically; I suspect that we’ll see much more of this from Labour.

@tracey would you mind sharing with me the name of thingie you have on the right in the white which I presume is a security grate you pull across to keep your bikes all secure in the store are you have?

Done. I was at the last Ride Bristol meeting and am keen to continue to support the team – however, I think it’s going to be a hard battle given a range of challenges.

If we can take the heat out of the whole situation and find a way to maintain the ‘old’ status quo and largely co-exist un-noticed and not impeding each other, that’s my preferred approach.

In one way, Picnic Bench going IS a shame, but in other ways it isn’t – it was absolutely daft for it to appear on the face of that hill and be so obvious – hopefully the traffic in the woods will calm down significantly and we’ll return to the locals quietly and respectfully using the trails.

Following the FoD off-piste lead of removing all the Strava and TrailForks segments will also help massively.

I found that BT experience of watching TV was awful. I used to faff around with wired but found that if you have a decent viewing distance, having a long cable was annoying after a while.

So what to do about wireless – well recently I bought an Apple TV, mainly for Zwift, 4k and all that.

However we now exclusively use the Apple TV over any other system as it pulls together all the different streaming platforms including terrestrial so well.

What I did find, whilst not working but having to be mindful of my partner who was, is that an Apple TV teamed with a set of Apple wireless headphones is a VERY good experience. I have the AirPod Pros and whilst not the last word in quality (bud fit is key) they are probably the most slick and smooth experience.

Turn on the TV and use the Apple TV and open the Airpod case and the Apple TV offers you a single click option to use the AirPods – immediately syncing and off you go.

Latest gens provide Dolby Atmos like experience where if you turn you head the sound moves accordingly (also on the iPad and iPhones). Also, automatic pause and resume when you inevitably get the missus appear talking to you and you need to take a bud out to hear her.

For the convenience I wouldn’t use anything else really, even though I’ve a set of Q30’s and also Sennheiser HD660 – both incredible headphones in the own right, but the faff doesn’t warrant using them over my AirPods.

I know it’s not a straightforward option but the Apple TV experience is very good when you go all in for it.

An alternative way is to get treated abroad – on last years annual trip to the Croatian in-laws I was marched off to their local skin doctor – my partner often has little things done such as small mole removals etc.

She knew I had a 7-8mm one on the ball of my foot and insisted that their method of freezing it with liquid nitrogen would do the job. Sure enough, a nice lady in scrubs appeared wondering around with a big cotton wool bud on a stick, dipped the cotton wool in the liquid nitrogen and dabbed in on my verruca.

Flippin eck’ it hurt but after a couple goes it was done and I walked out with a sore foot for a couple of days. It went black and I was told it would just grow out to be replaced with new skin.

And it did. Cost about £100 or so. I definitely do it again; we’ll be taking my youngest to have her wart on the palm of her hand done, which the usual treatments aren’t touching.

Our neighbour (white, mid fifties female, middle/upper class) was absolutely dyed in the wool Tory and loved Boris.

By all accounts, she absolutely detests him now and doesn’t want to vote Tory in any coming elections.

Extrapolate that across the country, and there’s hope. That being said, who do they vote for now?

I would imagine that Cummings has this up his sleeve and someone somewhere in the career civil service will be so offended that they team up to leak it.

I’d expect a double whammy, Cummings drops another bombshell and the report gets leaked.

However, I’m feeling more and more like we are at a constitutional crossroads – much like Trump towards the end of his tenure, rules were just totally ignored – to the point everyone fully expected him to actually carry out his threat of shooting someone on fifth avenue and getting away with it.

At the moment it feels like any form of spine is totally missing in action in the UK, and Boris could literally walk up to the Queen and kick her in the foofoo and get away with it.

Quick BTT for this and any of you who have these – the BB is PF30 right, so what do I do with the BB they supply if I have a DUB? Do I just need to buy a BB-DUB-PF30-A1?

BTW, I lucked out and didn’t pay any extra duty or customs – so all in, less than £200 for me :)

I keep considering a power meter in order to science my riding up a bit more, but reading into it all has told me that it is just way to limiting in terms of if you’re in any way enjoying yourself on the trails (jumps, drops, rock gardens etc) you’ll be getting loads of spikes and/or breaking the damn thing.

The Garmin pedal reviews shared that essentially the data was useless for anything other than fire road type trails – which would rule out my riding as any ride I go on will get a mix of riding with some decent drops and/or rocky stuff.

I’ve resolved to investing more in some dedicated PT work and caving in to more time on my smart trainer.

It will trash your bike (and you) by the way. Be under no illusion.

Also, take an extra coat you don’t mind losing for the queue on the way up on race day.

Three things will end up etched in your memory:

1. ALLEZ ALLEZ ALLEZ
2. ALAAAAARRRRRMAAAA! Whoop whoop wooo wooo whoooooooop! https://youtu.be/fRk7HEnvFPY
3. That helicoptor.

You’ll love it, yet hate it in equal measure. And if you make it to the bottom (and even if you don’t), then you’ll be wanting to go back the year after.

I’ve done it 4 times. Finished twice, once having started in the Pro wave. It’s like nothing else. I’m jealous of you going!

Likewise, I’m sure I have photos from that day; didn’t I spend the day on my Commencal 4X?

The Volvo Carrera was retired off when holes were discovered in its boot. Sold it onto someone else who got it going again, then it spent some time as a drift car (!), and now looking at the DVLA, it seem to have died in 2016 ish…was a hell of a car tho – took us to the Mega and back!

ETA: Found the day on my FB and the 4X!

@mrlebowski apology accepted – the climb is hard for me, but improved fitness would absolutely help with that. That being said, the original point was that the Cafell trail doesn’t flow quite as well, which I can understand and have a similar opinion.

I wouldn’t say I would ever complain about it though (although I might be muttering under my breath about it whilst actually ascending it) :D

I lean more to enjoying the gravity-assisted riding, so while I can enjoy a climb, its often a means to an end to get up the climbs to enjoy the descents. I’m still a long way from giving in to the need for an eBike – so I’ll need to grind up the top for a while longer – but sneak up the tarmac bits so as to save some energy for the descents :)

Likewise @P-Jay – I’ve pics from the early 00’s in Cwmcarn both from XC days, as well as uplift days. Didn’t like the climbs then, and I choose not to like em now!

Totally agree with your approach tho :)

GDPR doesn’t necessarily imply regulations to restrict the sharing of such images, but it does include the right to be forgotten or removed.

Therefore, if you broadcast a video of a subject (you, me or anyone else), you would be well within your rights to ask for your image to be removed from any platforms and be ‘forgotten’.

This is an area that hasn’t seen much attention, but there is some interesting grappling going on with the technical debt around how organisations deal with images and video like this.

I think @big_n_daft covered it perfectly and said what I was trying to say – the right people need to step in and do the right thing to protect where there is any assessed risk to a child.

I still wondering how I ended up being told I shouldn’t bother with something I’ve done for 30 years just because I’m a bit unfit and don’t like a particular climb out of all of the climbs I do everytime I ride.

I don’t like quite a few climbs. I certainly don’t like the climb up into Ashton Court’s Nova trail, for example, but I choose to ride climbs I dislike because it gets me to the other good bits.

However, it irks to know that people are tutting away and suggesting that one group of riders should change a bike or go elsewhere if they’re not ‘enjoying’ the trail like they are…

(no offence intended!)

But then you’re possibly in a minority of riders then? Get an ebike or work on your fitness would be my suggestion, or go to BPW. I believe it’s possible to ride to the top of CC on fire-road as well?

FYI I’m 51 this year so middle-aged too & I’m one of those perverts who LIKE riding uphill..

That’s a little strong isn’t it? All I said was fun is subjective – so now because I don’t enjoy the ups quite as much as the next man, I’ve got to either buy an eBike or go to BPW?

I’d argue this is part of the problem in the sport to be honest – this get with us or get out attitude.

I’m working on my fitness and know all about how to cheat on the way up to the top of Cwmcarn, but I don’t think I’ll ever enjoy the ups fully – especially not the niggly Cafell. But to be made to feel like that just because I don’t enjoy the ups, I should have to forgo the satisfaction once having made it to the top is a bit rubbish.

My original statement was that fun is subjective – not that my idea of fun is better than yours.

To counter my dislike of Cafells ascent, I will say that the Twrch climbs are great fun. I might not enjoy being unfit and unable enough to dance up them like I’d like, but I do for sure enjoy the technical challenge they present – they just flow better than Cafell – which was the original point that pdw called out.

I get the bit about it not being easy, but it needs to be fun too – else whats the point? I’d imagine many truck up to Cwmcarn by car – if you’ve invested in a day to ride, and the resultant travelling commitment, then you kinda want to have fun as well non?

ETA: I know fun is subjective, and there are those who see fun in an entirely different way to others, but for me, as a fat middle aged knacker, fun is in shorter supply, and climbs hurt these days

@PJay this was my thinking also. The legality, as I mentioned, is a bit edgy – I didn’t say it was or was not legal – but more that its getting into a grey area.

All the while, your point is the real worry for me, if that little girl has (hopefully) no idea what was going on, then there is a degree of risk there, as you mention. My personal view is I would want to protect that child from any further harm – and that’s where I think the privacy element comes in.

The other scrotes, crack on, bring out the pitchforks.

@sas78 – appreciate the clarification; I also agree that one doesn’t trump the other, absolutely not, and it makes my blood boil that yet another bike shop has to deal with this. I think I wanted to separate the (hopefully) innocent child from the actual crime. To your point about helping the kid, you might well be right – but I feel the pain more from the innocence that kid has, and will lose.

Just sad really, all on top of an incredibly angering situation.

Its not just you @pdw – I find it the same. Throw in a bit of slower running dampness and it becomes very annoying. Given that the descent off the top doesn’t have the same feeling now the trees are gone, I don’t bother with it so much.

@sas78 that as maybe, but emotion doesn’t change the fact that the child is innocent (until proven guilty) in all this, and has a right to privacy, in so far as she probably had no idea that she was about to have her face plastered on the internet related to the crime.

Have a reread of your comment, and maybe put yourself in the child’s shoes – I don’t need to run you through all the reasons why there are laws here to protect innocent kids.

If the bloke is indeed the suspect, then of course, he deserves everything he gets. But don’t single out the seemingly innocent little girl who appears to be no older than my 8 year old.

That breaks my heart to see that little girl be involved in all this (in so far as part of the casing) – she looks very similar to my youngest daughter and I can’t imagine doing anything even remotely like that which would compromise her security and safety.

One word of advice for the OP who posted the Instagram post – just be mindful of GDPR/privacy regs, as publishing a video of a child on the internet without permission I think could be a little edgy.

If you can find a 2021 Top Fuel, you can fit a Slack-R angleset and take it to 2022 (and Transition Spur equivalent) angles.

I’ve got a 2020 Top Fuel and just fitted the 2 degree Slack-R and its made the bike friendlier to ride, yet still retain its core characteristic of speed/weight. Only 5mm less travel, but the setup feels like more – I’ve certainly never really been in a position where I’d be asking more of it.

Just worth a thought should you be struggling to find MY22 Top Fuels (I know Bristol couldn’t find any).

They all need to start somewhere – after all, we all did too. I tend to quietly chuckle when I see people trying to learn; transitions are pretty challenging and for many, the absolute last thing they consider training on – after all, how hard can it be to put shoes on…

That being said, when I used to work in the triathlon industry, the ration of knobbers to normal/nice was much higher than some other sports. On the flip side tho, for bike shops, triathletes are sometimes the biggest cash cows – and some of the ‘fools’ will spend huge amounts of money for gains, while forgetting to do basics such as transition reps…

On a side but related note.

During a teams call does anyone run a sub chat window where you message other people in the call and try to distract them/ stir up some bickering/ get them to laugh, comment on their backgrounds etc and generally take the piss?

Yes, but its very VERY dangerous as someone else already mentioned.

I have made this mistake, early on in my corp career, on a global Microsoft call with MSFT execs with top global partners only and I was having a side chat with my boss as well as listening into this call…

At the time, Microsoft was going through some channel changes that weren’t being managed well and go-to-market support from MSFT (GTM) was a big challenge (especially for us at our org which was the largest telco globally at that time).

However, during this discussion about GTM with my boss, whom he and I were very comfortable with frank, often sweary conversations (we were friends before I joined), I mentioned that “Microsoft were massively shit”.

Only I had typed that into the main global call window, with the top ten global partners present, several general managers from MS and a whole bunch of great MSFT guys. The presenter stumbled, managed to ask politely that the audience refrain from profanity, and then carried on. I sh@t my pants, my boss asked wtf I was doing and whether I was looking for a P45 and I had to do one huge round of profuse apologetic calls immediately after the call ended.

Luckily, MSFT and the general managers knew me and we had a good relationship and we turned it into a positive, having a good laugh about it and actually sitting down and asking ‘why’ they were sh1t.

I survived, but I never ever lived it down in Vodafone and went all the way up to director level and my name was sullied from that day on.

A very tough lesson learned.

As a manager I am surprised you aren’t trained with regard to labour law and human rights law and the right to privacy. Lots of reasons not to be on camera including bandwidth, own privacy, children in the house, have they been given a camera by your organisation? But the main reason may just be that the meetings are not perceived as efficient use of their time. I understand it’s frustrating if people are multitasking. That’s up to the manager to make the meetings efficient and useful for everyone involved.

This is probably the most sensible reply so far; the children point especially so – especially when schools are shut. Privacy is a very VERY prickly HR subject, with constructive dismissal cases galore around because of it. If you work with colleagues in Germany, for example, there are several incredibly fiercely protected rules around webcam use – so this reply makes some serious sense. I would probably be seeking HR advice before any ‘mandating’ happens.

@intheborders: It’s not the other persons’ fault that you’ve not blocked out the time in your diary you need.

I’m an early starter, so lunch for me is 1130ish – or 12-2 if I’m going out for a ride. Either way, if I want time, I book myself ‘out’.

I disagree. I understand what you’re saying, but a colleague who doesn’t use the scheduling assistants (or whatever) to view the meetings attendees availability is being lazy.

Its not hard to look at someones diary and see that they only have 30 mins spare in the day – it isn’t unreasonable to ask someone to reconsider if that slot must be used. Its created a huge new anxiety problem (as @PJay mentions) – many people now worry that they are not seen to be available or working enough and get stressed as to whether they should accept or ignore a meeting.

Its why good meeting titles, agendas etc. are vital so people can prioritise an invite accordingly.

I do respect your point though – but consider that Microsoft introduced the AI/ML driven Focus feature just to solve this problem – they could see that so many employees were essentially burning themselves out because of this. That being said, you need to nanny the Focus mode as it does have a habit of going too far (but occasionally that lends well to a good ride of a morning).

Ultimately the meeting organiser should take the lead on the respect of the attendees as to an appropriate time for a meeting. It got so bad in Vodafone when we were in the lockdown that it became a key set of rules that led to fundamental shifts in ways of working, including ‘no meeting’ days where you could use that day to do whatever you liked – as long as it was of positive benefit to you – which included going for a ride!

The meeting problem has become a massive problem in larger orgs for sure – and a lot of learnings have come out of it.

There is also a direct correlation between the change in use of communications methods from years ago to today.

Those of us who remember them, we used to use those things called landlines to call someone up, or go use the sneakernet to find someone and speak f2f.

Now, with the proliferation of instant messaging, with it included within everything – Whatsapp, Teams, Meet or Slack, the way of interacting has drastically changed.

Many people now have had their introvert dreams answered (me included) and can get a huge amount done through a few simple direct messages – which removes the need for a range of actual meetings.

Worth considering what the content of the meeting is before – as I mentioned – what is the outcome of the meeting (and could it be an email)…this is the eternal challenge of a good manager, which is to read the (team) room and see how people best respond and in which way, to situational communication.

@squirrelking: I have no idea what that means

In the same area as a ladies break – just the need to pop to the loo for a wee and anything else you need to do.

For instance, diabetics may be needing to administer insulin, people on meds may need to take them on time etc.

Generally, when we all used to be in person, there would be a natural break between meetings etc that allowed people to do all those things. In the corporate world I’m in, at least, where its a global arrangement, its gone nuts, with back to back days not uncommon. I’ve had days where I have not really moved from my desk for 6-7 hours…

However, reading back through the posts, I note the 3 x 30 min calls, assuming other team members don’t have many calls, so some of my points don’t apply – however, good etiquette goes a long way:

My rules for good meetings
1. Meeting invite title generally includes the outcome required – so if its a chinwag or biz update, say so – otherwise it needs a meaningful outcome-based title

2. Agenda: sent in the invite, and always ahead of the meeting Allows people to prepare anything they need to contribute (i.e. if someone needs to present or feed into) and also allows for structure – AOB is a often little used agenda point – but keeps meetings from descending into a farce of whingeing

3. If you must have video on, make sure everyone is muted. Cross talk is frustrating and encouraging use of the little hands thingy keeps it polite – often slow connections and technical difficulties mean some delays in sound mean its impossible to get anything done when everyone is saying ‘no, after you’.

4. If video on, encourage blurred backgrounds to keep distractions low. No comedy backgrounds, funny as they are, they just distract.

5. Always shorten meetings: 30 mins should be 25, 60 mins should be 50, and even then, validate whether you really need that long. Hour long meetings are workshops – anything over 30 mins loses the focus of everyone as Outlook/Gmail starts pinging in distractions

6. If these are regular meetings, consider alternating the chairperson of the meeting every so often to keep it fresh – engagement is hard, and giving those who are a little disengaged the baton will help them step up, but also allow the other team members to understand that person better from a way of working perspective. It also encourages a little bit of healthy competition.

7. Regular meeting timing: Never book a regular meeting after 3pm on a Friday, outside of 0930-1700 or during a common lunch hour period. It’ll just piss everyone off and you won’t get the traction.

8. In every meeting, plan something fun to look forward to next time – even if it’s when your next f2f will be – most people are missing the f2f interaction and the opportunity to informally spend time together

Sure there are others, but that’s generally the main approaches I use on my teams.