No agenda, no meeting

Being in control of time itself is actually pretty sweet, when you think about it

Further to my last post about saying no to things, I’d put meetings in the category of least productive activities for human beings to participate in. Granted I’m a bit biased because I’m a reading learner, not a verbal learner (meaning my eyes instantly glaze at the sound of waffling), but the principle still stands. Gathering a group of people together is one of the most expensive ways a company can choose to spend time, monetarily speaking, and you better be damn sure there’s an efficient exchange of information, a clear structure, and a list of tangible actions at the end of it. There’s a good chance most people are either half-listening while they keep progressing the work they actually care about getting done. And those are the good employees.

As an aside, I’d put social or culture-building meetings in a separate category, particularly in a remote work environment. Those are important, but still - if 20% of people are doing 90% of the talking then it’s time to practice your social skills (remember those?) and pull them into the conversation.

Of course, I rarely get to dictate whether someone else’s meeting is a good use of everyone’s time, but here’s how I try to get the best out of meetings. I don’t always succeed but I frequently try.

Surviving someone else’s meeting

• Turn on “do not disturb”. I like to use Alfred + a DND plugin for speedy activation - e.g. dnd 60min
• Have a note-taking app open (I use Obsidian). Try to be present and engaged, and take notes about what people are saying.
• Turn on the “always show captions” setting in Zoom. When the droning makes me zone out, I can quickly recap by scanning the transcript.
• If you have not said anything during the meeting, then you might as well have just watched the recording. Force yourself to contribute, even if it’s a small observation or encouragement.
• Never forget that you have the power to decline meetings and reclaim back your focus time. There is no law that says you need to accept every meeting invitation to keep up appearances while you do your best impression of being interested. Make the best use of your time on earth while you still can.

Making my own meetings gooder

• Before organising a meeting, ask yourself if it could be an email or async thread instead. Does it really need synchronous back and forth conversation? Think carefully about who really needs to attend and who should be an optional attendee.
• Mid-morning is typically the best time for focused meetings. Results may vary, but I’m led to believe this claim is supported by research.
• 45mins is about the maximum meeting length I can handle before I begin to lose focus. I can do 60mins with the help of caffeine. Ideally I’d say 40mins + 5min break, then a second session works well if a long meeting is absolutely necessary.
• Always have an agenda. A meeting without a clear agenda is far more likely to be a group of unbounded conversations, glued together with random segues which spring forth from the mystery of the human mind. Bonus: Developing an agenda also forces you to prepare and articulate the reason it exists.
• Appoint a facilitator - this person should keep the agenda on track, and keep the meeting on time. If a runaway conversation warrants a separate meeting with fewer participants, they can jump in.
• Take personal notes of course, but also have openly accessible notes containing the agenda and a space for attendees to write shared notes and document action items. Fellow does a good job of this, or a Word doc attached to a Google Calendar meeting is also a good combo.
• At the end of the meeting, agree on action items, and make a direct individual responsible for that action. Preferably make it a measurable and time-bound thing.
• Be respectful of others’ time. Do not allow meetings to run over without pausing and giving attendees the option of dropping out while the active conversation continues.
• After the meeting, take a few moments to read and refine your notes and schedule in action items. Reflect and ask yourself if it was a valuable use of everyone’s time, and adjust as necessary.
• Don’t organise back-to-back meetings, give at least 15mins break. We need time to reflect between meetings, but we’re also humans who need to urinate, make coffee, go for a walk, prioritise message responses and mentally prepare for the next meeting.

I’m employed by a company, which means I sell my time in exchange for money. It’s more complicated than that of course, but you get my drift. Being thoughtful about how I spend that time, and respectful of others' time, is one of the best ways I can think of to maximise my value as an employee. This is also a mutual and compounding benefit, because using my time meaningfully also happens to make me very happy and interested in my work - and a happy and energetic employee is far more likely to be productive.