Effective meetings

Daniel Armyr

Lots of people say “I have too many meetings” and “It’s impossible to book a meeting because everyone is already fully booked”.

Every event in a calendar is not a meeting!

  • After-Work and Friday Wins
  • Recurring team events
  • Workshops
  • Focus time and group work
  • 1-on-1s

TRY THIS: Color code the different event types in your calendar. Whatever you didn’t color code might be a meeting.

If it is, make sure it follows the upcoming best practices for meetings. If it doesn’t, consider cancelling it.

When should I call a meeting?

  1. Call a meeting when there is confusion.
  2. Especially if that confusion affects more than one team.

There are 3 ways to reduce confusion:

  • Communicate information
  • Take a decision
  • Solve a problem

What do I need for an effective meeting?

  • A Purpose: Mandatory for all meetings
  • A Goal: Mandatory for all meetings
  • Material: Send over material prior to the meeting to prepare the attendees
  • Attendees: Think carefully before sending mandatory invites
  • Time: Start and end the meeting as scheduled

QUICK SUMMARY

  • Every event is not a meeting – color code!
  • Every meeting should resolve a named confusion, by either:
    • Giving information
    • Making decisions
    • Solving problems

Checklist before a meeting:

  • A Purpose: What’s the topic?
  • A Goal: Type of meeting?
  • Material: What can you send ahead?
  • Attendees: Who needs to attend?
  • Time: Will you join and end on time?