Alignment between teams is critical for any org to function. In smaller teams, alignment is often achieved through informal communication. As an organization grows, this does not scale. A formal mode of communication is required. This is usually achieved through meetings. Meetings force the required communication. This communication brings alignment. And everybody is happy. Wait.. no.. nobody is happy. Because we now spend too much time in meetings and nothing seems to come out of those meetings. Conventional wisdom says more communication is better. But, in practice, large meetings mean low quality discussions. It’s a double whammy, more time spent in the meeting for a low quality discussion.

Here’s some thoughts on getting the best out of your meetings:

Meeting Etiquettes

  • Be clear on the objective of the meeting. Do not mix multiple objectives in the same meeting as it would increase the number of attendees and dilute the quality of discussions.
  • Publish meeting agenda along with the invite.
  • Agenda should outline the expected takeaways from the meeting.
  • Agenda should include any relevant reading material(docs, jiras, past emails…).
  • Be clear on participants. If unsure, check offline if the concerned person has inputs for the meeting.
  • Send meeting notes/takeaways and record decisions wherever necessary. Lot of ppl attend just for this.
  • As an attendee: decline a meeting invite if you are not adding any value to the discussion.
  • As an attendee: read the provided material ahead of the meeting.
  • Follow the guidelines loosely for very small meetings(1-3 ppl)
  • As the participants increase in count and seniority follow it more strictly.
  • Pro tip: for big meetings that involve key decisions - try to build consensus offline as much as possible. This avoids turning the meetings into a brainstorming session.

Meeting Categories & Participant Guidelines:

Meetings fall into one of the below categories and Objectives should be driven from this:

Decision Making: typical meetings of this type include:

  • Product requirements review
  • Design alternatives
  • Prioritization
  • Sprint planning

Guideline: Follow RACI model and invite RAC. Ensure all invitees can attend. Max 10 invitees. Max 60min.

Regular status update:

  • Daily standups
  • Other regular status updates (weekly, monthly), Q&A, minimal discussions.

Guideline: Only folks giving and receiving updates. Max 10 invitees. Max 30min.

Review:

  • Monthly
  • Quarterly Business Reviews

Guideline: Same as status update but longer duration.

Discussions/ Brainstorming/ working meetings:

  • Architecture, design, test strategy, planning discussions
  • Retrospection
  • Backlog refinement
  • Oftentimes, decisions do come out of these meetings but most of the meeting is spent on generating, refining ideas.

Guideline: Subject matter experts. Max 5 invitees, relaxed for scrum team only for agile meetings.

One on One’s:

  • Team 1-1, skip level, appraisals.

Guideline: Max 2 :)

Presentation:

  • Requirement presentation, design presentation - Separate these from the discussion and decision meetings. You want only RAC on discussion and decision. You can invite all the folks who need to be informed for a presentation on the outcome of discussion and decision.
  • All hands

Guideline: Invite as many as you want. Make sure that agenda is published in advance so that individuals can decide whether to attend. Record and share so that whoever could not attend can watch offline. Max 60min.