GorT has had the pleasure today of sitting through an all-day demonstration briefing that is conducted in person as well as over web conferencing and conference call.  My specific portion of the demo went very well and has largely been one of the main highlights of the milestone review.  However, now as I sit in the back of the large conference room and watch/listen to other presenters succeed and fail, I have witnessed the repeated disrespectful behavior of a number of people.  Let me walk through a few of them:

1.  When you dial into a meeting: mute your phone.  Many phones will let you do this even before you are added to the call.  Instead of entertaining (read: annoying) the rest of us with your crying kids, barking dogs, side conversations about girl scout cookies and what food is in the common area (all have taken place today), you can quietly listen and when you have a question, just unmute and then re-mute.  It’s pretty simple.

2.  If you are presenting in a series of speakers, have your presentation ready to go.  If you are using a web conferencing utility like we are, join the meeting before your turn so you can be ready to present.

3.  If you need to have prolonged side conversations, leave the room.  In the size meeting that GorT is in, it is perfectly fine….and actually welcomed.

On two side respectful workplace behaviors, let me offer the following additions:

1.  Use reply to all sparingly.  Only if ALL those copied on the email NEED to be aware of the email or see information contained, then use it.  Otherwise, and likely 90% of the time, reply directly back to the sender is appropriate.  If you need some CYA then be judicious in who you choose to copy.  Copying “the world” on responses is akin to the nuclear option.

2.  Be on time.  If the meeting starts at 9am, then be in the room, or on the call and ready to go AT 9am.  This may mean getting there are 8:50am to find a seat, plug in, etc.

When it comes down to it, these are all about respecting your peers, customers, and superiors.

GorT

GorT is an eight-foot-tall robot from the 51ˢᵗ Century who routinely time-travels to steal expensive technology from the future and return it to the past for retroinvention. The profits from this pay all the Gormogons’ bills, including subsidizing this website. Some of the products he has introduced from the future include oven mitts, the Guinness widget, Oxy-Clean, and Dr. Pepper. Due to his immense cybernetic brain, GorT is able to produce a post in 0.023 seconds and research it in even less time. Only ’Puter spends less time on research. GorT speaks entirely in zeros and ones, but occasionally throws in a ڭ to annoy the Volgi. He is a massive proponent of science, technology, and energy development, and enjoys nothing more than taking the Czar’s more interesting scientific theories, going into the past, publishing them as his own, and then returning to take credit for them. He is the only Gormogon who is capable of doing math. Possessed of incredible strength, he understands the awesome responsibility that follows and only uses it to hurt people.