The Recurring Meeting Problem
Recurring meetings are like subscriptions—they accumulate until your calendar is full of commitments that no longer serve you.
The average professional has 8-12 recurring meetings per week. How many are truly necessary?
The Quarterly Meeting Audit
Every quarter, review each recurring meeting:
Ask These Questions
- •What's the purpose? Can you articulate it?
- •What would happen if we stopped? Anything?
- •Does everyone need to attend? Or could it be smaller?
- •Is the frequency right? Weekly might be too often
- •Is the duration right? Could it be shorter?
Decision Matrix
| Action | When to Use | |--------|-------------| | Keep as-is | If it's working and necessary | | Reduce frequency | Weekly → biweekly, biweekly → monthly | | Shorten | 60 min → 30 min, 30 min → 15 min | | Make async | Replace with Slack update or doc | | Kill | If nobody would miss it |
Common Meetings to Cut
Status Update Meetings
Replace with async written updates. Use meetings for discussion, not information transfer.
"Just in Case" Meetings
Meetings held even when there's nothing to discuss. Make them conditional.
Too-Large Meetings
Every person added reduces effectiveness. Split into smaller groups.
Historical Meetings
Created for a reason that no longer exists.
How to Kill a Meeting
- •Propose an experiment: "Let's try canceling for a month"
- •Offer alternatives: "I'll send a weekly update instead"
- •Start small: Reduce frequency before eliminating
- •Get allies: Others probably want this too
Protecting the Meetings That Matter
Not all meetings are bad. Protect:
- •1:1s with direct reports
- •Strategic planning sessions
- •Team retrospectives
- •Cross-functional coordination (when needed)
The Meeting-Free Default
Flip the script: Instead of meetings being the default, make async the default. Only meet when synchronous communication adds clear value.
Action Step
This week, pick one recurring meeting. Ask: "What would happen if this disappeared?" Act on the answer.
