Galen Low is joined in conversation by John Furneaux (CEO and co-founder at Hive), to discuss John’s recent article about how to keep meetings productive, cooperative, and clear so you can move the ball forward with your project every time.
Interview Highlights
John Furneaux, the CEO and co-founder of Hive, is John Furneaux. An AI-based project management tool that is collaboratively oriented, developed by Hive, which is used by brands such as Uber, Starbucks, WeWork and IBM. [0:23]
He is a graduate of the University of Cambridge with a Master’s degree in Mathematics and Law. He is able to fly a plane. He rides his bicycle through East village every day. He also learned to code so that he could create his product. [0:35]
Some say he’s a man with sheer will, while others say he is disruptive. But, he is also a self-confessed teamwork nerd, and is passionate about effective meeting management and collaboration culture. [0:45]
They will be discussing his recent article, How bad meetings can kill a good project, which he wrote on The Digital Project Manager. They will also discuss how to make meetings more productive and less time-consuming. [0:56]
John is obsessed about human psychology, and how people work together. Because it helps us resolve disputes among people, law is very fascinating to John. He is also fascinated by how tools can help a group accomplish more together, even the most basic. [1:54]
John watched The Queen’s Gambit, and is now interested in Chess.
They are not the person at the center of the stage at Hive. They want to be the black-clad men and women who make sure everything is set up on stage for the actors to shine. [8:32]
Hive will not draw you beautiful graphics, that’s your job. Hive will make sure it gets to your client seamlessly. That approval is super easy so you don’t have to tell your manager. [9:33]
If we do our jobs well, we can spend as much time as possible doing what we love and what we are super talented at.
John Furneaux Culture is the challenge facing the organization today. [11:04]
Here are two examples of important rituals in our culture. The first was taught to John by David Politis. BetterCloud is his company. They call them User Manuals. [12:46]
They also host Happy Hive on Fridays. This is the second thing they do at Hive. Zoom is used by the entire company. [13:50]
Michael Scott Owen, Rembrandt Venture Partners, was one of Hive’s first investors. [15:07]
It is important to remember that we all want to be the best for everyone. To be successful, you must recognize that humans are machines and people.
JOHN FURNEAUX John was blind to the importance of meeting for project management success. It became so obvious that a bad Zoom is somehow worse than it is in real life. [18:13]
The first pillar of a successful meeting is the attendees. The second is purpose, and the third is doing something about world change. [22:13]
Recurring meetings are always bad. These things are almost immortal. They just roll around. [23:40]
The meeting’s purpose is to remove any obstacles in the project. You must identify the blocked items and discuss how to remove them.
JOHN FURNEAUX A meeting should be viewed as a mini-project. We need to plan, do, and then review. [26:08]
Two key points are needed for pre-meeting. It’s possible to mess up everything, but if the agenda and attendee list are correct, you’ll be better than 75% who are running the meeting. [26:31]
To ensure that everyone has an opportunity to contribute. John uses this technique to ensure everyone has the opportunity to contribute.
