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Chief
I say this with all the respect in the world. Anyone asking if an 830 is reasonable, shows that you are either pretty young and early on your career. This is coming from someone who is not a morning person, and now as I manager I’ve told my team no meeting before 9AM. But if someone more senior than me schedules it at 8 or 830, I shut up like I have in the past and go in with a smile in my face.
Agreed, it is not someone more senior than me but I am new to the team so didn’t want to ruffle too many feathers. It was just scheduled so hopefully they’ll be open to a later time
You people are definitely not on the west coast. 8:30 am meeting seems like a dream to me. Almost my entire team is in the east coast and in spite of repeatedly asking them to schedule calls after my 8 AM, I always get invites starting from 6 or 7 AM
P1 so you try not to staff west coasters at all? Come on, we are good people too :)
I refuse all standing meetings before 9 AM and after 5 PM. Obviously, there are one offs and I working offline outside these windows, but I'm not adjusting my lifestyle routines for meetings.
Do you not have an 8:00 am meeting to plan the 8:30 meeting?
Lol not yet but I wouldn’t be surprised at this point! 😂
Pro
What is the difference between 8:30 am meeting and 9:30 am meeting? If there is an overlap of the audience, then why have two meetings? Unlike many, I don't recommend bowing to the whims and fancies of someone when it makes zero sense, simply because they hold a title higher than yours. There are alot of inefficient "leaders" on the payroll and they can be a real drag on the productivity of the team
I would just ask the smaller work stream to stay in for 10 minutes after the 9:30a ends.
I don’t appreciate anyone putting time on my calendar before 9am, especially if it’s not a client meeting 😬
Agree. Many parents can’t really make anything before that work. For clients, sure. Not for internal teams.
I am sort of blown away that you think 8:30 AM is early. I do know people in the financial practice who like to work crazy late and don’t start till nine or 10 AM, but most of my teams we start between 7:30 and 8 AM.
Personally, I volunteer to take calls starting at 6 AM because I find that most critical thinking falls off after 8/9 at night. Normal plan is wake up at 6, workout before the kids wake up at 6:30, breakfast and time with them, and then be logged back on around 7:30 AM for the day. 
Also will add sleep and showering lol. Didn’t include examples of other things like managing investments, personal growth that can include a whole range of things (reading, continuous learning, therapy, etc). Also I personally have had to abandon my hobbies which I would love to get back into, but curious if you have time for any hobbies or relaxation on top of your long work hours?
Chief
As someone with regular standing 5a and 6a calls with India and Singapore, I am laughing at you. Although, maybe I should be laughing at me 🤔
I’ve had 6:30am and late night calls with international client stakeholders due to time differences and understand when that’s unavoidable, but in this case it is definitely unnecessary and could happen any time of day in regular business hours
The time seems reasonable but the addition context around multiple meeting with over lapping people seems a little much. People work in different time zones and that often requires early morning meetings to include everyone.
No. Any meeting before 10am better be a critical one-off.
Is this a joke? Have 7AM stand ups daily
Are you on the west coast? My meetings are in EST so that would be 10am for us
Personally, I’m an early starter and 8:30 is late for me. I have daily 7am calls with India. Sometimes we rotate and give people a chance to sleep in, but I honestly like starting my day early. On days that India is off and I start at 9, I feel like I’m behind.
Yes I’ve taken 5.30am and 6am calls quite often. Not ideal but sometimes it’s the only option due to time zones. Easier for one person to flex than asking 5 colleagues to pull a super late night on the other side of the world.
Personally not sure that 8:30 am is that early, but that also depends on how long your work day is
Sounds like they want to be prepared for the 9.30am meeting. Maybe if you help solve that concern, you can figure your way to a new time.
The 9:30 meeting is very informal and just has a couple more people, it’s just time for the internal team to connect and ask questions if needed
I wake up at 9am so I hate them, but I suck it up and wake up early. I've had clients wanting to meet at 7am CST, and I couldn't decline because they were so inflexible.
It was my first day on a new project, less than a year into my job at a T2, and my manager let me know that the team had 11:30pm and 7:30am DAILY standing meetings with our two Indian colleagues. He asked if I’d like to join the 11:30pm. I laughed and said no. I never joined that call.
I even stopped joining the 7:30am a week or two in, because it was completely irrelevant to my work stream (I discussed this with him and he agreed).
This is NOT okay if it’s daily, during the pandemic (in case anyone forgot we still aren’t in a ‘normal’ routine). I have kids and am online early but am back and forth on my laptop while I’m trying to get their breakfast and virtual school set up. By 9 when school starts, I have a bit of a better grip. But everyone needs to remember this could be difficult for those mini humans
Yes. I agree. Mine usually are in daycare but haven’t been since last year so right now I’m always fighting for time. Unnecessary meetings esp boil my blood
I have 7:30am and 11pm standing meetings 3 times per week—I’d kill to only have an 8:30!!
It depends on who is asking, why they are asking for it i.e., what the intent is
I had 8am stand ups with a client on a project and I hated it so I feel you. I think I’m covid the general rule of thumb should be 9am or later due to having zero WLB anymore