---
title: "Meetings Are A Waste Of Time: How To Make Them Less Tedious"
date: 2021-11-18
author: "David Wippel"
category: "Remote Work"
url: https://www.davidwippel.com/blog/meetings-are-a-waste-of-time-how-to-make-them-less-tedious
---

# Meetings Are A Waste Of Time: How To Make Them Less Tedious

Even with the best remote and asynchronous ambitions in place, some  meetings are necessary. Hiring a new teammate, emotionally sensitive topics, 1:1,…

Here is how to make them worth everyone's time:

## Organization is key

- **Consider time zones:** Your team maybe located over the world, plan for that.
- **Name an owner:** Name one person who is responsible for the meeting
- **Have a goal:** Make it clear what you want to achieve by the end of the meeting.
- **Set context and an agenda:** Explain why this meeting happens and what the agenda is.
- **Include the right people:** Think twice before adding anyone to the list of attendants. Do the person really needs to be at the meeting?

## Have an exact procedure 

- **Send reference docs in advance:** Get everyone on the same page. Nothing more tedious than explaining the context to a single person while everyone is waiting.
- **Name a note-taker:** Someone who can keep it simple and send notes afterwards
- **Be on time:** It might not sound much, but if one person is late, everyone else has to wait. That could sum up pretty quick.
- **Shorten it:** 90 Minutes? Is this really necessary? Could it be done in 20 Minutes too? Conversations tend to fill up the given time.
- **End with an action plan:** Say what will happen next, and who will do what
- **Record it:** Rewatching a meeting could reveal more information. It's also documented to some degree, too.