This meeting could have been an email

Hi everyone, I've been looking at our calendars, and they don't look good. Some of you spent more time in meetings last month than at your desks. Several of you have told me, politely, that you do your real work in the evenings. That's partly my fault, and I'd like to fix it. Here's what's going to change from next month.

We're not getting rid of meetings. When we need to make a hard decision, solve a problem together or sort out a disagreement, talking face to face is still the best way. What I want to stop are the meetings that run on habit. Our Monday update is a good example. It takes up half an hour of eight people's time every week. Nobody can remember why it started, and most of it could be a two-line message.

The first rule is simple: every meeting needs a written agenda, sent at least a day before. No agenda, no meeting. The default length is now twenty-five minutes, not an hour. Book longer only if you really need it. Please invite only the people who need to be there, because each extra person adds a bit more talking and a bit less deciding. If you're only there to listen, ask for the notes instead.

I've also noticed something I'd missed. Writing, planning and coding all need long stretches of time to concentrate. A meeting at ten and another at two can break a day into pieces too short for anything serious. Because most of my own job is talking to people, a full calendar felt normal to me. For the people doing the actual work, I now realise, it's been frustrating. From now on, Wednesday and Friday afternoons are meeting-free.

Every meeting should end with a short list of decisions and a name next to each one. Every three months, I'll ask you to look through your regular meetings and cancel any that aren't useful any more, including mine. If this doesn't work, we'll try something else. And if you think this email should have been a meeting, you know where to find me. Best, Linh