meeting-efficiency

name	Meeting Efficiency
description	Design agendas, enforce time boxes, capture decisions, and recommend async alternatives to reduce meeting overhead.

Purpose

Meetings are expensive. A 1-hour meeting with 8 people costs 8 hours of collective time. Effective meetings respect that cost and deliver value exceeding it.

Meeting Cost = (Attendees x Duration) + (Context-Switch Cost x Attendees)

Example: 6-person, 1-hour meeting with 30-min context switch each = 6 + 3 = 9 hours of productivity.

Meeting or Not?

Need	Meeting Required?	Alternative
Decide something	Maybe	Async decision doc if simple
Share information	Rarely	Email, video, document
Brainstorm	Often	Async + sync hybrid
Build relationships	Yes	No substitute for presence
Complex alignment	Yes	Real-time needed
Status updates	No	Dashboards, async standup

Meeting Types

Type	Purpose	Duration	Required Elements
Decision	Make a call	30-60 min	Options, criteria, decider
Creative	Generate ideas	60-90 min	Prompt, diverge/converge
Tactical	Coordinate action	15-30 min	Blockers, handoffs
Strategic	Set direction	60-120 min	Context, options, trade-offs
1:1	Develop people	30-60 min	Their agenda first

Every recurring meeting should justify its existence quarterly.

Agenda Template

## Meeting: [Purpose Statement]

**Date**: [Date/Time]
**Duration**: [X min]
**Attendees**: [Required], [Optional]

### Pre-Work (Complete Before)

- [ ] Review [document]
- [ ] Prepare [input]

### Agenda

1. [Topic 1] - [Owner] - [Time] min
   - Desired outcome: [Specific result]
2. [Topic 2] - [Owner] - [Time] min
   - Desired outcome: [Specific result]

### Parking Lot

[Topics for future discussion]

### Actions (Captured During)

| Action | Owner | Due |
| ------ | ----- | --- |
|        |       |     |

Topic Time Allocation

Topic Type	Suggested Time
Information share	5 min max
Discussion	10-15 min
Decision	15-20 min
Complex problem	30+ min (single-topic meeting)

Decision Capture Format

Every meeting that makes a decision should record:

Field	Content
Decision	What was decided
Rationale	Why this option won
Alternatives considered	What was rejected and why
Owner	Who drives execution
Review date	When to revisit if needed

Anti-Patterns

Anti-Pattern	Fix
No agenda	Cancel or reschedule with one
Meeting to share info	Send an email instead
60 min default	Start at 25 or 50 min
Everyone invited	Only decision-makers + informed via notes
No decisions captured	End with explicit "what did we decide?"
Recurring with no topics	Cancel this week

Guidelines

• Lead with the purpose: "We're here to decide X" not "Let's discuss X"
• Time-box every topic; use a visible timer
• Capture action items with owner and due date during the meeting, not after
• End 5 minutes early: summarize decisions, confirm actions, thank participants
• Send notes within 24 hours
• Default to async; only meet when real-time interaction adds value