Meetings — keep them short and organised

Jakub Kułak
Aug 8, 2017 · 4 min read

I am a huge fan of face to face communication and I like working closely with people.

I am not a fan of meetings where more than 3 people join and I dislike it even more when it is scheduled for 2 hours or longer (and without any breaks 🙄) — and it happens often.

I like when meetings are well organised. Some call, the points I am going to mention, the “corporate standards for meetings”, but still in many corporations (and startups) it is definitely not a standard.

Reconsider the meeting and the participants

First of all, make sure that you need a meeting, maybe it is enough to chat with one person and then chat with the other person, or ask two people to have a short chat together — whenever they feel they have some time in between their tasks.

In case I need to talk with one person only — I prefer to take a walk with them instead of sitting in a meeting room — it might work magic also for your physical health.

Keep the number of participants a minimum. In case there are people, that you think, might be interested, you should always follow up with the meeting summary in an email, and include those people as recipients.

Assume the shortest time possible for the meeting, but make the room reservation for 15 minutes longer — just in case an amazing conversation sparks and you feel like going for an extra 15 minutes. I like when meeting is scheduled for 30 minutes — this is usually enough time to discuss any topic if the meeting is moderated properly.

Prepare

Organise the room beforehand, make sure, it has all the equipment needed and it’s working (whether it’s a projector or a whiteboard with stickies) — it makes me sad when we have to spend 10–15 minutes (or more!) of the meeting to get all the things working, finding the proper cable to connect the display, or connecting to a proper network.

If the meeting is planned for longer — make sure there is some water and cups available. In case it’s planned for even longer — plan the breaks and include them in the agenda — make people know that they will have 5 minutes every now and then to stretch their legs and take a breath outside the meeting room.

Make sure people know the exact purpose and the goal of the meeting. Depending on the scale and the scope, send a clear summary or an agenda of the meeting, point out the main questions to be asked and decision to be made.

Ensure flawless course of the meeting

If people joining the meeting don’t already know each other — give a short intro in the invite email and later start with a quick round of introductions (accommodate extra time for that if needed) — so people know what depth of the domain language they can use.

For some meetings — especially kickoffs — it makes sense to propose a common vocabulary/dictionary, so that people are sure what are they discussion and there are no discrepancies in understanding the basic concepts.

I prefer, when clear rules are made, and no one uses their laptops during the meeting unless it’s for sharing their screen with others. Same, I like it when people silence their phone for the duration of the meeting — not to disturb anyone else with their ringtones.

During the meeting, watch the time. The meeting is timeboxed and it’s your task to make sure that you finish on time or earlier. Moderate the meeting, make people focus on the main topics.

Summarize and follow up

In case there are points that need a follow up, or there are some actions ot be taken, write it down, make sure everyone is on the same page on who needs to do what and until when.

Take notes! As we tend to forget things, you will need it to prepare the meeting summary. Don’t put the meeting minutes in the summary, put there just the most relevant points. Include the points that need to be followed up. Send the meetings summary to all the participants and include people that you think will benefit from knowing the decisions made or planned actions. Follow up with the meeting summary as soon as possible, best, before the end of the same day the meeting took place.


Have great meetings (and if you are not the person organising the meeting — demand those things, it will make all your work better).

Jakub Kułak

Written by

Looking for challenges in 🇵🇱 Poland. Developer, manager, team player and a gamer. Resume: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubkulak

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade