Meetings

A meeting is a scheduled event where people come together to decide something, solve something or align on something. A quick call to collaborate, or two engineers pairing, is not a meeting; that is just work.

Know what kind of meeting it is

Meetings are for decisions, for design and problem-solving, for communication and alignment, or for connection. A meeting that tries to be more than one of these usually achieves none of them well.

Before

• State the objective when you book it. A clear objective matters more than an agenda: why are we meeting, and what does success look like? If you cannot write the objective, you probably do not need the meeting.
• Choose the format. Effective beats quick. Longer, complex or contentious topics are better in person. Simple decisions and announcements often work asynchronously.
• Be clear about attendance. Say who is required and who is optional, and whether others may be added.
• Share material in advance. For meetings that need deep context, a short read-ahead note, or ten minutes of silent reading at the start, beats a presentation.
• Respond to invitations. Accept or decline promptly so nobody is left guessing.

During

• Start strong. Restate the objective and the key background.
• Facilitate. Someone keeps the meeting on track, time-boxes topics, and captures decisions and actions. Use a transcript rather than a note-taker where you can; it is hard to take notes and take part.
• Invite disagreement. Ask for the counterpoint and the risk nobody has mentioned. Make space for every voice, including in the chat. Debate ideas, not people.
• Minimise slides. They shift attention from discussion to presentation. If you need them, keep them short and do not read from them.
• Bias towards action. Move to decisions, assign owners and deadlines, park tangents for later.
• Finish on time. Meetings of thirty minutes or more end five minutes early by default. Over an hour, take a break. If you need more time, book a follow-up.

After

• Share the outcome, decisions and actions with owners and dates, promptly.
• Record significant decisions as decision records.
• Ask for feedback, and regularly check whether a recurring meeting is still needed and still working.

Hybrid and virtual

Cameras help collaboration but are not always required; be considerate of camera fatigue and let people choose unless video is essential, in which case say so in advance. Use a shared whiteboard for working together, a shared list for actions, and reactions and hand-raising to keep the energy up and the turn-taking fair.