For me and most people a large part of the work day involves meetings and conference calls where about 26% of the material is relevant (weighted average). This factors in the prep involved (at least 15 minutes in advance) and debriefing/next-stepping (at least 15 minutes). So for (a weighted average of ) 15.6 minutes of remotely valuable content I spend on average of an hour and a half when things are said and done.
I realize this is not efficient but is sort of a necessary evil. I figure if it is a call I can do some other work and respond to any question with “I am not sure that makes sense” or “I can see doing it that may I am just having a hard time visualizing it” to either make someone reexplain when I am not listening or making them draft something.
The point being I have real work to do at my job today where I don’t want to be bothered. So I have scheduled fake calls so people don’t try to get on my calendar. Sort of feels scummy but people got work to do.
