Too_Many_Tools,
My place insists on a conference call between sites spread around Europe every Tuesday and Thursday. The "distraction cost" with this scheme is such that it's only possible to get any work done on Mondays, most of which is spend try to remember what it was you might have done the previous Monday
It sounds like the conference call is being done for the convenience of management types (non-creative).
And FWIW...I am not knocking management..just pointing out that they are not the ones creating the new stuff for the product in question...and the creative types (hardware/software/documentation) are the ones who project schedules depend on to make deadlines.
I would suggest throughly documenting what this is costing the company in $$$ and work the management chain upwards. Once it is in black and white, many times changes happen after it is apparent what it is costing the company. A simple meeting can cost man weeks...soon man years..and then everyone is wondering why the project missed the deadline.
FWIW..in reference to the loss of real offices and implementing cube farms instead, I just read a discussion discussing the increase of the spreading of diseases such as the flu and colds because of it...thereby reducing a company's productivity...and costing the company more than any savings they make by crowding people together using cubicals.
Comments
It sounds like the conference call is being done for the convenience of management types (non-creative).
And FWIW...I am not knocking management..just pointing out that they are not the ones creating the new stuff for the product in question...and the creative types (hardware/software/documentation) are the ones who project schedules depend on to make deadlines.
I would suggest throughly documenting what this is costing the company in $$$ and work the management chain upwards. Once it is in black and white, many times changes happen after it is apparent what it is costing the company. A simple meeting can cost man weeks...soon man years..and then everyone is wondering why the project missed the deadline.