Meetings that don't waste time

Most meetings shouldn't exist. Of the ones that should, most are run poorly. The art isn't "more meetings" or "no meetings", it's knowing which need to happen, what makes them work, and killing the rest.

The test: does this need to be a meeting?

Before scheduling anything, ask:

1. Is this a decision that requires real-time debate? (Meeting yes.)
2. Does this need creative collaboration, whiteboard, brainstorm? (Meeting yes.)
3. Does this need high-bandwidth social connection, relationship, culture? (Meeting yes.)
4. Is this information that could be an email, memo, or doc? (Meeting NO.)
5. Is this status updates? (Async in writing.)

Default: no. Make people justify "why a meeting."

Meeting types + their formats

Decision meetings

A real decision needs to be made. Format:

• Clear decision stated at top ("should we hire person X?")
• Pre-read with context + options (sent ≥24h before)
• Discussion
• Decision + decision-maker named (not a vote)
• Documented in the decision log

Brainstorming / working sessions

• Pre-read: problem statement + constraints
• Max 5-6 people
• Facilitator keeps time + captures outputs
• End with action items

1:1s

See One-on-ones. Not status. Growth, blockers, feedback.

Standups

10 min max. Team-level. Three questions: What'd I do, what am I doing, what's blocked. If it takes 30 min, you have the wrong format or wrong size group.

All-hands

Monthly or quarterly. One-way + Q&A. Keep at 60 min max. Async recording for anyone who missed.

Rules that save hours

Defaults

• 30 min, not 60 min
• 15 min standups, not 30
• End 5 minutes early every time (respect the calendar)
• Cameras on (video teams); trade some meetings for async loom videos

The agenda rule

No agenda, no meeting. If someone can't write a 3-line agenda, the meeting isn't ready to happen.

The pre-read

For decision/review meetings, required. Shared ≥24h before. First 5-15 min of the meeting is silent reading if the pre-read wasn't consumed. Forces prep or forces waiting, either way, nobody wings it.

Notes + action items

Every meeting ends with:

• What was decided
• Who owns what action, by when
• Where it's documented

Without this, the meeting didn't happen.

No-laptop rule

In-room meetings: laptops closed unless you're the note-taker. Nobody "multitasks well" in a meeting; they just check out.

Killing standing meetings

Once a quarter, audit every recurring meeting:

• What's the purpose? Still valid?
• Is the output used?
• Could this be async?
• Who would miss this if canceled?

Kill the unclear ones. Canceling 30% of your recurring meetings rarely breaks anything.

Async alternatives

• Status updates: shared doc or Slack/Notion weekly thread
• Announcements: written memo, not all-hands
• FYI/heads-up: Slack DM or email
• Walk-through/demo: Loom video, watched at 1.5x speed
• Brainstorming: some of it works async via shared docs

The annual meeting audit

At year-end, tally: how many hours did this team spend in meetings this year? What was the output? Start the next year with a 30% budget cut on meeting time and see what happens. (Almost nothing breaks.)