Malicious compliance by booking an available meeting room

a year ago

Larry Page became CEO of Google in 2011 to address growing pains as the company expanded rapidly.
Page aimed to streamline operations by shutting down non-strategic projects like Google Buzz to focus on fewer initiatives.
He introduced new meeting policies, including having a decision-maker, capping attendees at 10, and shortening hour-long meetings to 50 minutes.
Google Calendar was updated to default to 50-minute meetings, but in practice, meetings often overran their allotted time.
A team in the NYC office exploited the 10-minute gaps left by 50-minute bookings to schedule their standups, enforcing the policy strictly.
This led to awkward confrontations when teams were forced to vacate meeting rooms at the exact end of their 50-minute slot.
The motivations behind the team's strict adherence to the policy remain unknown, sparking curiosity and amusement.

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