The twitter thread - and you will cry if you read it all - shows how time wasting and painful meetings can be.
That's why we've come up with a few simple rules for our meetings.
The twitter thread - and you will cry if you read it all - shows how time wasting and painful meetings can be.
That's why we've come up with a few simple rules for our meetings.
ok, let's give the others a few more minutes to join then we'll get started
— Isaac Hepworth (@isaach) February 22, 2018
Try some alternatives:
If you have to have them, run them efficiently.
They start on time. Every time. We're talking about on the dot.
Some meetings have a fixed agenda, like daily standups. Then screenshare the Trello Doing Now board and filter it by the person speaking. That shows everyone the overview of tasks in progress and upcoming tasks.
That way people do not have to waste time reading a list of things but can point to issues they're facing where they need something from someone else.
Other meetings - like weekly product meetings - should have an agenda distributed beforehand - we use a Trello board for that too. If there is nothing specific on the agenda the day before the meeting, the meeting is canceled.
This does not mean that team members are not expected to communicate, but they don't have to wait until a scheduled time to do so. They can, and should, do it whenever they want input. That's what whiteboards, Zoom meeting rooms, Slack and comfortable sofas and chairs (provided) are for.
If something new comes up deal with it by either dealing with it in a smaller group after the meeting or reschedule it so that everyone can be up to speed before participating.
If something comes up in a meeting meriting further discussion, sidebar it, finish the meeting and let those that do not need to participate go.
Then finish the discussion and come up with action items documented in Trello.
If the meeting person is late, take over the running of the meeting. It should be easy to do as there is an agenda. Run through the agenda, make decisions, assign tasks. If most of the tasks end up assigned to the missing person that is pure coincidence.
If they're late it is their responsibility to get up to speed.
Let them read the minutes in Trello to see what the decisions were. If they need the rationale behind them they can ask someone after the meeting.
It really makes a world of difference.