[c0mptonFP]

Without interruptions, I would not be able to finish meetings on time. EVER.

Information exchange is always the bottleneck in larger organizations, so efficiency of meetings is really important.

I will interrupt someone if I understood their point, and we have different, more pressing items on the agenda. It's not a power play, not psychological warfare or bullying. I just want to get shit done on time.

[tchaffee]

Companies with a waiting culture get things done on time. You might perceive interrupting as being more efficient but interrupting has its own set of inefficiencies.

[c0mptonFP]

Ok, next time an engineer on my team can't stop himself from talking about his SIMD lock-free distributed queue, I'll just keep listening. Maybe I get to sleep in the office too.

[tchaffee]

In a waiting culture people almost never talk at length like that. They are eager to listen to other ideas. In fact, meetings are usually shorter.

It's also less stressful. And I almost never hear the kind of skeptical sarcasm you're using here. Both of which are nice.

[kansface]

Both modes are subject to failures. Waiting is subject to live locks and interrupting is subject to thrashing. The socially maladroit or power tripper will misuse or abuse either system.

[tchaffee]

Yes, of course there is no silver bullet. The point is that the parent comment thinks only an interupting culture can work which anyone who has worked in a functional waiting culture knows is false.

There are pros and cons to both approaches. My personal experience has been that waiting cultures are more efficient at communication and get more work done. It would be interesting to see what actual instead of anecdotal data would show.

[c0mptonFP]

Could you tell me more about your experiences with effective waiting culture?

I'm having a hard time believing that a e.g. a high-level manager/exec with 20 meetings per day, and a 60 hour work week is able to be on time with a purely waiting approach.

There are so many people that you need to align with this culture. If it worked for you, wherever you are, I respect that a lot.

[BeFlatXIII]

If only my fraternity brothers understood this during our meetings. So many hours wasted on off-topic ranting or the entire chapter discussing issues that should’ve been settled in committee (or one malcontent stalling the committee’s report)