
Ask HN: How are you dealing with meetings and meeting creep? - luka-birsa
I know that a lot of us are frustrated with the quality of meetings - some analysis show that this is true for 53% of workforce. I&#x27;m researching what problems people run into and how they address them, as I&#x27;m thinking about a new product we could launch.<p>I&#x27;ve seen various approaches (checklists, apps for meeting management, books, coaching), but I&#x27;d love to hear what do you think about your companies meeting culture and what are you doing to improve meetings. It&#x27;s OK if you come clean and say you simply hate meetings and want them to burn in eternal flame.<p>I&#x27;ve prepared a short (8 question + demographics) survey [1], but feel free to add comments directly in this thread. If you&#x27;re interested in results add a comment, and I&#x27;ll send you the results.<p>[1] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;forms.gle&#x2F;RVDHFVE1fvoFUXX57
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jvvlimme
1/ Don't attend meetings that have no or vague agenda 2/ Law of two feet: If
you feel the meeting isn't for you, leave. 3/ No developer should endure
recurring meetings (except for things like scrum ceremony or whatever
methodology you practice requires), that's for management.

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potta_coffee
I'm a manager now, so I can get away with pushing back on some things. I
always push back against a new recurring meeting, when I can. Recurring
meetings are almost universally unnecessary.

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sixhobbits
I started scheduling any meeting I ran for 25 minutes instead of the expected
and default 60.

I told everyone at the start of each meeting that I aimed to finish in 20 mins
and 5 mins was a buffer.

This leads to relentless

\- don't discuss anything that is not relevant to every single person in the
room

\- limit the amount of "brainstorming" etc

I'm still not 100% sure that I'm not skipping Important Things somehow
(especially when I see marketing have 3-4 hour long "syncs" with different
sub-groups in a row, but I feel like we get enough done, often in as little as
10 mins.

Next step - persuade the others to give it a go.

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tmaly
The one thing that really makes a difference for me is having an agenda for
the meeting a few days or week ahead of time. This allows me to really reflect
on what part of the meeting is important to me and how I can best contribute.

If you get an agenda same day and everyone is super busy, the meeting tends to
be unfocused and a real waist of time.

Meeting length is another important factor. An ideal meeting is 15 minutes and
should not exceed 30 minutes. Anything longer causes fatigue.

One other thing I think is important is to really have one person drive the
agenda. If two people start getting into a detailed discussion, and these
details have no bearing on the rest of the attendees, the person driving the
discussion should step in and ask them to take it up outside the meeting.

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Spooky23
Go to relevant meetings and participate productively. When people need lots of
meetings that is a signal that they need information, and if they need
information perhaps consider thinking about how they would get said
information.

As a manager, when people make it difficult to communicate with them, I
eventually draw a negative inference about whatever they are (not) doing.

The only thing that wastes more time than meetings is complaining about
meetings.

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mkong1
A few things I've found helpful: \- always have a detailed agenda well ahead
of time so participants can prepare accordingly \- there should be a specific
outcome for the meeting, and the meeting can end once that's been achieved \-
there should be an owner of the meeting that holds the focus, and prevents it
from getting derailed \- default meetings to shorter than longer.

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slow_donkey
I'm wondering this too, our company has relatively small and has done a great
job at reducing meetings for engineers. But peeking at any other department
calendars shows significant meeting creep with weekly syncs that seem
important. Arguably some of their jobs (eng manager) inevitably has tons of
meetings but as we grow I only see more and more meetings accumulating.

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lobster45
As a manager I am in meetings for 4 hours a day. I bring my laptop and
continue to work. It is actually very productive!

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luka-birsa
Shouldn't you just stop going?

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lobster45
I have to participate, it is part of my my responsibilities. However I am able
to listen to the meeting, provide feedback and work on my laptop at the same
time

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GoToRO
I just don't participate in meetings that I know are useless from previous
time it was held.

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70122-_6
so just ask michael&noah
[https://mobile.twitter.com/asknoahshow/status/11107491891919...](https://mobile.twitter.com/asknoahshow/status/1110749189191942145)
#asknoahapp

