Making Meetings Matter

Meetings are a necessary evil. Teams need forums for collaboration and unification. But too often meetings are, at best, unnecessary and, at worst, just plain soul-sucking. “This could have been an email.” is a semi-clever meme that is way too accurate for many of us.

But meetings don’t have to be something we dread for draining our time. Done right, meetings can be collaborative, informative tools that move your product forward.

Meetings Need a Purpose
Before you schedule a meeting ask yourself: “Why am I having this meeting?”. If you can’t answer this simple question you shouldn’t be having a meeting in the first place.

“This meeting is a weekly check-in to ensure our development teams are on track to meet our deadline.”
“This meeting is a brain-dump meeting — I want to provide as much information as possible as quickly as possible.”

“This meeting is the executive approval meeting prior to launching the new feature.”

Meetings need a solid reason for existing. If you can’t articulate it, don’t schedule it.

Define Roles and Responsibilities
Prior to sending an invite it’s vital to determine roles for the meeting. Doing so ensures your meeting time is spent accomplishing the intended goal, not deciding who will do what.

Someone needs to lead the meeting.

Someone may need to take notes.

Perhaps someone is going to present a demo.

Or maybe you need attendees to do something prior to the meeting — like review a document or provide feedback on a wireframe.

By clearly defining roles and expectations prior to the meeting you ensure you are maximizing your time and energy.

Invite Carefully
Not everyone needs to be invited to your meeting. Select people who will benefit from the meeting or are necessary to achieve its goals.

And don’t be afraid to mark people as “Optional” — a true lifesaver for the overscheduled crowd.

Come With Priorities
Come with a list of meeting priorities. What is the most important thing to accomplish with this meeting? What would be nice to accomplish?

By listing out the meeting priorities you give yourself a roadmap to leading the gathering.

And don’t hesitate to share these priorities with those you invite. This gives them valuable insight into why (or why not) they would want to attend the meeting.

Focus on the Task
You called a meeting for a reason — so focus on that.

It can be easy to get sidetracked into pleasantries, other pressing topics or office emergencies — but ignore those siren songs.

Stick to the priorities and tackle them in order. Otherwise you’ll be calling another meeting soon after.

Respect Time
Use your meeting time wisely to accomplish your tasks. Be aware of the clock and understand that your attendees (and likely you) may have somewhere to go after the meeting time ends.

And even if you decide to “extend” the meeting for those who have availability, have a brief wrap-up before the official time ends for those who need to go.

Determine What’s Next
Hopefully your meeting accomplished at least some of your goals, but in doing so you likely generated more work.

Before the meeting ends, identify tasks, assign the work and include a due date. (Due dates are key — as helps to prevent you from having the same meeting again in a months time.)

This will likely lead to more meetings but the ball has been advanced down the field.

Preparation and Practice Matter
Good meetings are rarely naturally occurring events. They come from thoughtful preparation, disciplined execution and practice.

With repetition you will find structures and strategies that serve your personal meeting style and organization. Just remember that the meeting is more than just about you — it’s about serving the larger team and advancing towards a goal.