By Alex Silva in Reduce Meetings — Oct 19, 2024

Why Meetings are the Worst (and How to Minimize Them): 6 Steps to Boost Productivity

Meetings can be a productivity killer. They often result in burnout, wasted time, and little actual progress. As a CTO managing teams across various projects and departments, I’ve learned that the fewer meetings we have, the more productive and happy our teams become.

Meetings are supposed to facilitate collaboration, but all too often, they devolve into time-consuming, inefficient gatherings that drain energy and motivation. To combat this, I’ve developed a series of steps to aggressively reduce meetings and foster a more efficient, asynchronous work environment. In this blog post, I’ll outline the six key strategies that have helped my teams focus on what truly matters: deep work and results.

1. Avoid Recurring Meetings

One of the easiest ways to cut down on unnecessary meetings is to eliminate recurring ones by default. In many teams, recurring meetings such as weekly standups, retrospectives, and status updates are set on autopilot. The problem is that these meetings often happen out of habit, even when they’re no longer needed.

The Problem with Recurring Meetings

Recurring meetings tend to become routine and lose their original value. Team members show up because it's on the calendar, not because the meeting serves a critical purpose. Even worse, they can create blockers for people in different time zones or disrupt the natural flow of deep work.

The Solution: Make Them Asynchronous

Instead of scheduling recurring meetings, move these processes to an asynchronous format. Tools like Notion and Slack are perfect for this. You can set up a shared document where team members provide updates, log blockers, and make asynchronous contributions. Meetings should be the exception, not the rule.

Actionable Tip: At your next recurring meeting, put this on the agenda: “How can we stop having this recurring meeting?” You’ll likely get some strange looks at first, but eventually, everyone will appreciate it.

Meetings that are used to disseminate information are the worst offenders. These are meetings where one person talks and everyone else listens (or pretends to listen). This type of meeting is both inefficient and demoralizing. Instead of jumping on a meeting to share information, consider whether it’s something that could be written down or recorded.

The Problem with One-Way Information Meetings

These meetings consume time that could be spent on productive work. Plus, they’re often unidirectional—where one person talks and everyone else listens. This is a huge waste of time when the same information could be shared asynchronously through documentation or a short video.

The Solution: Use Notion and Loom

For one-way information sharing, tools like Notion and Loom are lifesavers. Record a Loom video if you need to explain something visually, or document it clearly in Notion. Team members can then review the information at their convenience, without the need to coordinate schedules or interrupt deep work.

Examples:

Collecting feedback: Record a Loom explaining the feature and outlining what feedback you need. Then, provide a link to a Notion page where people can leave their input.
Making a demo: Instead of doing a live demo in a meeting, record a video demo and share it for async review.
Daily/weekly standups: Use a shared Notion page where team members write their updates rather than reporting them verbally.

3. Always Start a Meeting with an Agenda & Goals

There are times when a meeting is necessary, but if you go into it without an agenda, you’re setting yourself up for inefficiency. Every meeting needs clear goals, and everyone attending should know why they’re there and what they’re expected to contribute.

The Problem with Agenda-Less Meetings

Without an agenda, meetings often drift off-topic, drag on too long, and leave participants wondering what was actually accomplished. Meetings without a clear purpose waste time and often lead to the dreaded "Let's book a follow-up meeting to continue this conversation."

The Solution: Set an Agenda and Goals

For every meeting, create a shared agenda beforehand and make sure the goals are clearly defined. This ensures that everyone is on the same page and knows what the meeting is supposed to achieve.

Actionable Tip: Send the agenda at least 24 hours before the meeting and encourage team members to contribute items to it. This allows the team to come prepared with their thoughts and questions, making the meeting far more efficient.

4. Always End a Meeting with Action Items & Assignees

Meetings should not only have a clear agenda at the start but also clear action items at the end. One of the biggest causes of meeting inefficiency is the lack of follow-up and accountability. Without clear next steps, a meeting becomes just a talking session, and progress stalls.

The Problem with Unclear Outcomes

Many meetings end with vague conclusions, leading to a follow-up meeting to resolve the same issues. This endless cycle of meetings happens because no one is assigned specific tasks with clear deadlines. As a result, problems remain unresolved.

The Solution: Document Action Items, Assignees, and Deadlines

At the end of every meeting, reserve the last 5-10 minutes to document the action items. Clearly define:

What needs to be done
Who is responsible for doing it
When it needs to be completed

By doing this, you avoid unnecessary follow-up meetings, and everyone knows what’s expected of them.

Actionable Tip: Use a collaborative tool like Notion or Trello to document action items in real-time during the meeting. Ensure that tasks are assigned to individuals, and set deadlines where appropriate.

5. Have a "Pre-Meeting Triage" Template

For external meetings, it’s important to vet them before jumping in. Many meetings can be avoided altogether with a simple exchange of emails or documentation. Before committing to any meeting, especially with external stakeholders, implement a “pre-meeting triage” process to see if the meeting is really necessary.

The Problem with Unnecessary External Meetings

External meetings often result in discussions that could have been handled via email or Slack. People tend to overbook meetings because it feels like the "safe" choice, even when it's not the most efficient way to communicate.

The Solution: Use a Pre-Meeting Triage Template

When someone proposes a meeting, ask them to send an agenda and goals beforehand. Often, you’ll find that the objectives of the meeting can be met with written communication or a quick email.

Example of a Pre-Meeting Triage Template:

What is the purpose of this meeting?
What outcomes are you expecting?
Can this be handled via email or document sharing?

Actionable Tip: For any external meeting request, ask for a pre-meeting agenda and proposed goals. If the goals can be achieved without a meeting, propose an alternative.

6. Plan Ahead to Avoid Urgent, Rush Meetings

Urgent meetings usually stem from poor planning. When everything is treated as an emergency, nothing gets done efficiently. These impromptu meetings often lack agendas, and participants spend the majority of the time figuring out what the problem is, rather than solving it.

The Problem with Urgency Culture

A culture of urgency leads to rushed, ad-hoc meetings where participants feel unprepared and overwhelmed. This often happens because there’s no clear plan or roadmap, and issues that could have been avoided are treated as emergencies.

The Solution: Plan Ahead and Avoid Exceptions

By planning ahead and maintaining a clear project roadmap, you can reduce the number of "rush meetings" needed to address unexpected issues. When exceptions do arise, handle them with a clear process rather than resorting to impromptu meetings.

Actionable Tip: Set aside time each week to plan and review project progress. Make sure everyone is aligned on upcoming tasks and potential blockers. This proactive approach will significantly reduce the need for last-minute meetings.

7. Book Calendar Slots for Deep Work

Finally, to ensure that meetings don’t completely overrun your calendar, it's essential to block off time for deep work. These are uninterrupted periods where you or your team members can focus on complex tasks without distractions.

The Problem with Constant Interruptions

Meetings, notifications, and status updates can make it hard to focus on deep, thoughtful work. If your day is filled with fragmented time slots, it's difficult to get into a productive flow.

The Solution: Schedule Time for Deep Work

Proactively block out "deep work" sessions on your calendar to protect them from being overtaken by meetings. During these slots, turn off notifications and focus solely on high-priority tasks.

Actionable Tip: Book recurring "deep work" slots on your calendar and encourage your team to do the same. This creates a culture of focus and productivity, where meetings aren’t allowed to take over the entire workday.

Conclusion: Meetings Are the Worst, But You Can Minimize Them

Meetings have a time and place, but they should be used sparingly and efficiently. By following the six strategies outlined above, you can drastically reduce the number of meetings your team has while boosting productivity and reducing burnout. An async-first, deep work-focused culture not only makes meetings the exception but also ensures that when meetings do happen, they are purposeful and productive.