Howie Secrai-Terry

My boss said, “Can you schedule a listening session.” So I scheduled a 45-minute meeting where the only agenda item was “Listen.” Everyone came into the office to join Zoom from different desks, which made the listening feel very distributed. One person talked for six minutes…

I scheduled a meeting for two employees. The email thread I got looped in on to schedule said meeting included the phrases “red rocket” and “ride the rocket.” I had no idea they were rocket scientists. That is so cool and will add great shareholder value with that knowledge. I…

I scheduled a meeting and a guest talked for four minutes while muted. Honestly it was the most peaceful thing that has happened all week. So I decided to mute everyone so no one would interrupt the peace. I took notes on the silence, because silence is still an outcome.…

Asked everyone to come into the office for a “collaboration” meeting. We all sat at separate desks on the same Zoom call with our cameras off. Then someone's box turned up green. Thankfully cameras were off because we all heard he was dropping off a load in the bathroom.…

My boss asked me to “set up a touchpoint” with stakeholders. So I booked 15 minutes and set up Pin the Tail on the Donkey in the conference room. Everyone asked what the point was. I said that was the point. They were instructed to aim for the same spot. One stakeholder…

Group scheduling is when everyone says they’re flexible and then proves they are not. Someone is on PTO but “can dial in.” Someone is free except “that entire week.” Someone just says “mark me as optional.” Isn't everyone theoretically optional? Enjoy your calendar invite…

My boss told me to “keep it high level.” We are on the third floor so I contacted the other company who works on the top, 12th floor to see if we could borrow a conference room. They said no. I did the next best thing and I started going room to room in office to measure floor…

My boss asked me to “get everyone in a room” for collaboration. So I got everyone in a room, and then everyone opened their laptops and joined Zoom with people who weren’t in the room. Now we’re all together, separately, with headphones on, like a team-building exercise for…

I’ve noticed that two coworkers who “collaborate closely” They never miss meetings, In teams I see that both always respond instantly to one another. In meetings, you can see they mysteriously agree on everything. I scheduled their 1:1 for 7:30 AM. They both arrived early.…

My job today was to schedule a coffee for my boss with clients. There are six people to coordinate with. Everyone had opinions. “Too loud.” “Too quiet.” “Bad vibes.” “I went there once during Covid.” Meeting canceled. They can suffer without caffeine.

We waited 47 seconds while someone delivered what I assume was a powerful opening statement. They nodded. They smiled. They gestured with their hands like they were ready to eat Chicken Parm as a real Italian. They wrapped it up confidently. Someone finally said it. “You’re on…

My boss forwarded me a request to schedule a meeting with the woman across the floor. I noticed nothing unusual, except in the body of the email it contained: • The phrase “chemistry is becoming a distraction” • A request to “take this offline” • And a follow-up that simply…

I scheduled a meeting. We heard: • Chewing • A spouse asking where the charger is • Someone whispering “this is so stupid” The agenda was not covered. The audio was discussed. I love Zoom.

Everyone came into the office today after the holidays. They booked desks. They commuted. They wore real pants. I scheduled a meeting to align for Q1. Everyone joined from their laptops. Muted, Cameras off. Someone said, “Can you hear me?” No one answered. We ended early…

My boss said, “Just make them optional.” So I made half the invite list optional to distribute optionality equally. Now the meeting has 6 required people and 17 optional people, which is a very inclusive ratio. At start time, only optional people joined. The required people…

My boss said, “We need to get to the heart of this.” So I booked “Heart of This Sync” and added a pre-read called HEART_ANALYSIS_v1. In the meeting, someone said, “We’re overcomplicating.” I said, “Yes, but we are doing it together, which is teamwork." Then someone said,…

This meeting was supposed to be about resourcing. Ten minutes in, someone mentioned Maduro. Everyone had thoughts. Someone said, “This is why I don’t trust men.” Someone else said, “Actually, if you read the full interview...” I took notes. The meeting ended with no…

My boss told me to “push this to EOD.” I did not know where EOD lives, so I scheduled a meeting called “Locate EOD” with my boss. We determined EOD means end of day, which is a time not a place. So I pushed the calendar invite from 2:00 PM to 4:59 PM using my mouse, which felt…

My boss said, “We need to get this out the door today.” So I scheduled “Out the Door” for 3:00 PM and set the location as “Lobby.” At 3:00 PM, half the team joined from their desks and asked why the location is Lobby. I explained that deliverables need to leave from the lobby.…