Thursday, August 28, 2008

On Making Meetings Shorter

There are many occasions where meetings aren't necessary. A lot of times a phone call, email, or quick stop by someone's office will suffice (Does your meeting pass the "blizzard goggles" test?). If by chance you do need to have a meeting (hey, it happens) then consider making it shorter.
After some time, I shortened most meetings to 30 minutes and some to 10 or 15. It is amazing how much important ground you can cover when both parties understand how much time you have to work with and you get right to the important issues.
There is no reason to schedule an hour for something that will only take 15-20 minutes. If a meeting is scheduled for an hour it has a bad habit of getting dragged out to an hour regardless of whether or not there is an hour of content to cover.

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