I've been subjected to meetings without chairs. The problem is, there are some people for whom standing is not much of a burden and they go on and on. So, I was forced to stand there at this daily mandatory meeting while people talked about stuff that was not relevant to the work I was doing for 30 minutes.
If you want to have a standing meeting, that's fine, and it can be good-- but I think the rule should be no meetings can ever be mandatory, and anyone can leave any meeting at anytime. If the person calling the meeting doesn't have an agenda compelling enough to get people to show up, then the meeting shouldn't happen anyway.
I will no longer stand (literally) for mandatory meetings. (Which is, just another of the daily things I am thankful for about being my own boss.)
I completely agree. Some people don't seem to care about standing up and can talk for hours.
I personally think the best meetings are where I can keep working at my PC while I listen in on the meeting conversation. This way I reach the end of the meeting having kept abreast of other developments and also fixed some bugs at the same time.
IIRC, you said that the Viaweb programmers didn't have meetings; they all pretty much were on the same page and knew what needed to be done. The company did have board meetings, though, so it sounds like something you'd do re: business more than re: development at an early stage.
If you want to have a standing meeting, that's fine, and it can be good-- but I think the rule should be no meetings can ever be mandatory, and anyone can leave any meeting at anytime. If the person calling the meeting doesn't have an agenda compelling enough to get people to show up, then the meeting shouldn't happen anyway.
I will no longer stand (literally) for mandatory meetings. (Which is, just another of the daily things I am thankful for about being my own boss.)