You're sitting in a meeting right now, aren't you? Or you just left one. Or you're dreading the one at 2 PM that has no agenda and will somehow last an hour anyway.
A one-hour meeting with six people isn't one hour—it's six hours of collective human life that nobody gets back. We calculated this once and nearly cried.
We've sat through countless gatherings that could have been emails—and led a few ourselves. The revelation wasn't better facilitation tricks. It was questioning whether to meet at all, and when we do, being ruthlessly focused.
The best meeting is often the one that doesn't happen. Here's how to know the difference, and how to make the necessary ones actually work.
The Meeting Problem
Why Most Meetings Fail
No clear purpose: "Let's sync" isn't an objective.
Wrong attendees: People who don't need to be there, missing people who do.
No preparation: Participants arrive cold, requiring explanation that wastes time.
No time constraints: Meetings expand to fill scheduled time.
No follow-up: Decisions made, then forgotten.
We tracked our meetings for a month and found 60% were unnecessary, and half the remaining could have been shorter.
The Cost of Bad Meetings
Direct costs:
- Time of all attendees
- Interrupted deep work
- Meeting preparation time
Hidden costs:
- Context switching before and after
- Decision fatigue
- Reduced morale
- Delayed actual work
A one-hour meeting with six people isn't one hour—it's six hours of collective productivity.
The "Should This Be a Meeting?" Test
Before scheduling, ask:
Is a Meeting Necessary?
Meeting required:
- Complex discussion needing real-time interaction
- Sensitive topics requiring tone and nuance
- Brainstorming benefiting from energy
- Decisions requiring debate
Meeting not required:
- Status updates (use async tools)
- Information sharing (send a document)
- Simple questions (message directly)
- Announcements (email or recorded video)
Our rule: Default to async. Schedule meetings only when synchronous communication is genuinely better.
Who Actually Needs to Attend?
For each potential attendee:
- Will they contribute to the discussion?
- Do they need to hear this firsthand?
- Could they just receive notes/decisions?
The ideal meeting has 3-7 people. More means diffusion of responsibility; fewer may miss perspectives.
What's the Minimum Viable Meeting?
- Can a 30-minute meeting do what a 60-minute meeting would?
- Can a quick call replace a scheduled meeting?
- Can the group be smaller with others CC'd on notes?
Meeting Structure
The Agenda
Every meeting needs an agenda. No agenda = no meeting.
Effective agendas include:
- Clear objective (decision, discussion, or information)
- Topics with time allocations
- Any pre-reading or preparation required
- Expected outcomes
Example:
Project X Planning - 30 minutes
Objective: Decide on launch date and assign owners
Agenda:
- Current status review (5 min)
- Timeline options discussion (15 min)
- Decision and owner assignment (10 min)
Prep: Review status doc (linked) before meeting
Time Boxing
Meetings without time limits waste time.
Our approach:
- Default to 25 or 50 minutes (leaves buffer)
- Assign time to each agenda item
- Use a visible timer
- Our Pomodoro Timer works well for this
- End on time regardless of completion
If you can't cover everything, the meeting was scoped wrong, not timed wrong.
Start and End Well
First 2 minutes:
- State the objective clearly
- Confirm agenda (adjust if needed)
- Establish any ground rules
Last 5 minutes:
- Summarize decisions made
- Assign action items with owners and deadlines
- Confirm next steps
Never let meetings trail off. End deliberately.
During the Meeting
Facilitation
The facilitator's job:
- Keep discussion on track
- Manage time
- Ensure everyone participates
- Drive toward outcomes
Key phrases:
- "Let's table that for later"
- "We have X minutes left for this topic"
- "What's the decision?"
- "Who will own this action?"
Participation
For attendees:
- Come prepared (read pre-work)
- Speak concisely
- Build on others' points
- State disagreements clearly
For quiet participants:
- Directly invite input
- Use round-robin for important decisions
- Create space for different communication styles
Note Taking
Someone should capture:
- Key discussion points
- Decisions made
- Action items with owners
- Questions to follow up
Share notes within 24 hours. Notes are useless if they're not distributed.
For tracking writing output during note-taking, our Word Count tool helps ensure notes are comprehensive.
Specific Meeting Types
Status Updates
Better approach: Don't meet. Use async updates.
If you must meet:
- Each person gets 2 minutes max
- Focus on blockers needing help
- Skip what's already known
Brainstorming
Structure:
- Silent ideation first (avoids groupthink)
- Share ideas without judgment
- Discuss and build
- Prioritize or vote
Time box: Brainstorming expands infinitely. Set strict limits.
Decision Meetings
Structure:
- Frame the decision clearly
- Present options with pros/cons (pre-shared)
- Discuss concerns
- Decide (not endless consensus-seeking)
- Commit to decision
The decision must be made. If the meeting ends without decision, it failed.
1:1 Meetings
Purpose: Relationship, development, obstacles
Not for: Status updates, information that could be async
Structure:
- Their agenda first
- Your topics second
- Action items for both
Retrospectives
Purpose: Learn and improve
Structure:
- What went well?
- What didn't?
- What will we change?
Key: Actually implement changes. Retros without action are venting sessions.
Remote Meeting Considerations
Video On vs. Off
Video on helps:
- Reading the room
- Building connection
- Engagement accountability
Video off is fine for:
- Large groups
- Recorded sessions
- When bandwidth is an issue
- Mental health breaks
We default to video on for small meetings, off optional for larger ones.
Technical Setup
Basics:
- Test audio before important meetings
- Good lighting (facing a window)
- Minimize background distractions
- Mute when not speaking
Engagement Challenges
Remote makes disengagement easier.
Combat with:
- Shorter meetings
- More interaction (questions, polls)
- Clear speaking order
- Visible timers and agendas
Meeting Culture
Saying No to Meetings
It's okay to:
- Decline meetings without clear agendas
- Ask "Is my presence necessary?"
- Propose async alternatives
- Leave meetings where you're not needed
How we handle this: "I don't see my role in this meeting. Could I get the notes instead?"
Protecting Time
No-meeting times:
- Mornings for deep work
- Certain days meeting-free
- Buffer between meetings
We block 2-hour "no meeting" windows daily. Productivity dramatically increased.
Reducing Meeting Load
Team practices:
- Default to 25/50-minute meetings
- Require agendas for all meetings
- Regular meeting audits (which can we eliminate?)
- Async-first culture
Meeting Recovery
What to Do After Bad Meetings
If a meeting went poorly:
- Identify what went wrong
- Send notes with whatever was accomplished
- Determine next steps (maybe async)
- Apply lessons to future meetings
Rescuing Derailed Meetings
In the moment:
- Acknowledge the derail
- Propose parking lot for off-topic
- Refocus on agenda
- Shorten remaining topics if needed
Quick Reference
Pre-Meeting Checklist
- Clear objective defined
- Agenda created and shared
- Attendees are only those necessary
- Pre-reading distributed
- Time allocated appropriately
- Meeting room/link confirmed
During Meeting
- Start on time
- State objective
- Time each section
- Capture notes and actions
- End 5 minutes early for wrap-up
Post-Meeting
- Send notes within 24 hours
- Action items clearly assigned
- Follow up on actions
- Evaluate: was this meeting necessary?
Conclusion
Here's the uncomfortable truth: most meetings exist because someone didn't want to make a decision alone, or because "we've always had this meeting," or because synchronous feels more productive than async (it usually isn't).
No agenda, no meeting. No outcomes, no repeat meeting.
Question every invite on your calendar this week. For each one, ask: "What decision will be made? Could this be an email?" You'll probably find 30% of your meetings shouldn't exist.
Better meetings aren't about better facilitation. They're about meeting less, and meeting better when you do. Our Pomodoro Timer can help timebox the meetings that survive your audit.
The best meeting is often the one that doesn't happen. Start canceling.
Keep Reading
- Remote Collaboration Guide - Running effective remote and async meetings
- Content Creation Workflow - When to collaborate async vs. meeting
Related Tools
- Pomodoro Timer - Time-box meeting segments