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		<dateCreated>Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:55:51 GMT</dateCreated>
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		<ownerName>Dave Winer (Larry King)</ownerName>
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		<outline created="Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:21:12 GMT" text="The 20-minute rule">
			<outline created="Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:21:19 GMT" text="&lt;img src=&quot;http://images.scripting.com/archiveScriptingCom/2010/02/14/airbus.gif&quot; width=&quot;140&quot; height=&quot;101&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; hspace=&quot;15&quot; vspace=&quot;5&quot; alt=&quot;A picture named airbus.gif&quot;&gt;I have a rule, formed by many years of experience, that I wait for 20 minutes, then I leave. "></outline>
			<outline created="Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:21:36 GMT" text="Before I had the rule, I'd never know when to leave when someone was late because it's impossible to know how late they're going to be. "></outline>
			<outline created="Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:22:22 GMT" text="A couple of extreme examples."></outline>
			<outline created="Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:22:27 GMT" text="1. In 1990 or 1991 (approx) I had a meeting with a vice-president of Apple. It was hard to get the meeting, and my company desperately needed their cooperation because Apple was &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt&quot;&gt;fudding&lt;/a&gt; our product, basically keeping developers from building on it. I flew back to Calif just for the meeting. I was on time. His secretary kept calling the restaurant saying he was on his way, but he never came. I waited three hours before giving up. "></outline>
			<outline created="Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:23:21 GMT" text="2. A few years later I had a meeting with a division manager of Microsoft at a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yelp.com/biz/parkside-grille-portola-valley&quot;&gt;Portola Valley restaurant&lt;/a&gt;. I waited and waited. A half-hour after the appointment I ordered. Ate my lunch, left an hour after the appointment. An hour after that I get a call from the restaurant asking where I was. (This was a meeting I totally didn't need, I was having lots of success without Microsoft. I felt I was doing him more of a favor than he was doing me.)"></outline>
			<outline created="Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:25:13 GMT" text="Those were two extreme examples, but people are regularly late. I am late too, sometimes, and sometimes I'm more than 20 minutes late, but it's very rare. In my experience you have to mean it to be that late. So I have a hard and fast rule. After 20 minutes I leave. That takes the guesswork out of it. "></outline>
			<outline created="Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:35:25 GMT" text="There's a very practical reason. If someone is very late, all they're going to talk about is how sorry they are. The person who was on time says &quot;It's no big deal,&quot; but nothing ever gets done at those meetings. Much better if you just say &quot;I have a rule&quot; and blame the rule for the fact that you weren't there when they finally arrive."></outline>
			<outline created="Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:26:20 GMT" text="I thought this kind of disrespect was just a west coast thing, but it's part of east coast culture too. I've never written this rule up, now I have. Please, if you make an appointment with me, try to be on time. And if you're more than 20 minutes late, you'll find I'm not here. "></outline>
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