Jogging Meeting

I have an impression that walking meetings are currently all the hype. Because everything should be always tested before judging, I decided to give it a spin. But why settle for a walk if you generally move faster?

So we decided to go for a jogging meeting with one of my team mates. I know he's an active runner and I too occasionally enjoy going for a run. And we have one-on-one meetings biweekly anyway.

When clock hit 2 PM we went to staff changing room and took the elevator down. Fortunately my team mate had been smarter than me and thought of a good route before hand. I had just thought about it, but didn't ever have time to do that. As one can guess, route length is an essential factor for keeping the meeting in schedule.

Weather was cold but sunny, practically no wind. A really nice running weather. Close to the office there was still some traffic, so it was not so easy to have a conversation. But after the first couple hundred meters we reached a calmer grounds and the conversation was easy.

Another factor to keep in mind is pace. Don't go too fast or you will be just huffing and puffing. With a decent pace you can talk, but still get some exercise.

During the jogging we discussed some memorable events from the past couple of weeks and how's the cooperation with other team members and rest of the organization. But since these one-one-one's are my substitute for development discussion, I wanted to also discuss future. For most this is a difficult topic (it is the same for me too), but I think it's also really important. I demand Product Managers to share their Roadmaps, because it means that we have some plans for the future and we won't be just hitting a wall after the current Release is finished. That's why I'd like people to also have plans for their future. Many times these plans can be beneficial from company's point of view also.

Skipping to the end: we reached the office safely, went to shower and got back to our computers. As an experience I think jogging meeting is definitely worth trying. Of course there are certain prerequisites, but if everything is matches and you feel like it, go for it! I'm pretty sure we'll try this again.