Meetings

In survey after survey the biggest time killer is meetings. Poorly planned and managed meetings often fritter away your time. For those organizing meetings, the primary question should be: Do we really need a meeting? Often a memo or an e-mail will do. When face-to-face interaction is required, a meeting may be useful. Any meeting worth having is worth having a written agenda. If the leader does not bring one, participants should ask for one. The length of the meeting should be specified and should begin and end on time. Some rules are:

All meetings should have an agenda Be sure the right people are there Start on time Let people who are not needed leave the meeting early Stick to the agenda Decide on next steps End on time Circulate action items from the meeting