Bringing Method to “Meeting Madness” with my 4D framework
Have you ever felt like your entire day is consumed by meetings, leaving you exhausted and with little time for actual work? I was experiencing exactly that on a typically hectic day when my phone rang, interrupting yet another meeting.
It was a call from my parents, and my 13-year-old daughter answered. “What’s mommy doing? Is she busy working?” they asked. My daughter replied, “Not really, she’s just talking the whole day and attending meetings.” This left me unsettled. The constant barrage of meetings had become overwhelming; a sentiment echoed by my friends, colleagues, and everyone in business transformation or IT industry. It became clear - a busy calendar does not equate to importance.
On top of that, since I got additional work, things started getting worse resulting in double and triple bookings on my calendar. The scope of my work expanded and the number of people I interacted with doubled. I started missing meetings, failing to inform people, and losing out on time for learning, reading, and self-reflection. I was constantly rushing from one virtual meeting to the next, leaving me exhausted, disoriented, and irritable.
There was a time when saying “Dropping off to another call” felt empowering, but now it’s just frustrating. Thanks to trailer of Indra Nooyi’s master class, I realised it’s a myth and a trap to believe that important people have busy calendars — it’s simply not true. The calendars nowadays can feel like a death sentence by meetings. We have pre-meetings, post-meetings, follow-up meetings, and a slew of regular meetings like weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, All Hands, sprint reviews, and steerco. This relentless cycle leads to meeting burnout, especially as responsibilities increase. So, what’s the solution?
My 4 D’s to Manage Meeting Madness
- Decline: I start my day 15–20 minutes earlier than scheduled. First, I decline meetings for the entire week that I know I won’t be able to attend due to priorities I set at the end of the previous week. I don’t propose alternate times; I simply explain my reason for declining, such as prioritising a specific project. If my input is valuable, the organiser will reschedule, smartly also delegating the administrative task of checking availability. People began valuing this approach more than simply not accepting or putting “maybe.”
- Defer: Next, I scan all my weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly meetings. By questioning the current frequency of meetings, it was possible to identify some that could be shifted from weekly to bi-weekly and others to monthly. I proudly hold one-on-one meetings only with those directly related to my objectives.
- Delegate: Many people attend meetings merely for visibility, but many activities or status updates can be better handled through Slack channels or weekly status update emails. I started doing this, delegating meeting attendance to others who can represent me, which enhanced collaboration and communication.
- Do: Finally, I DO attend meetings that genuinely help me achieve my weekly or monthly objectives. For these meetings, I ensure there’s a clear agenda and relevant attendees. I insist on timeboxing status-related meetings to avoid lengthy, unnecessary conversations. This way, I stay focused on achieving my goals.
Implementing these strategies allowed me to regain control of my time and focus on work that adds value. By pre-blocking time for learning, connecting with mentors, reading, and reflecting on mistakes and new learnings, I have become more disciplined. Now, urgent activities no longer interfere with important ones.
Balancing three days in one business unit (logistics) and two days in another (partner), reporting to two bosses with distinct objectives, has taught me to think strategically about my limited time. With just 16 working hours over two days, I focus on making the most impact. Rather than trying to excel at every task, I apply an ROI mindset to my time, treating it as an investment. I prioritise activities that will multiply my impact and spend less time on tasks that would take longer without a prioritisation system.
Conclusion
In a world where information constantly refreshes and the workday feels like a race to react to others’ priorities, being frazzled and distracted has become our default state. Jake Knapp’s “Make Time” teaches us that making time isn’t about radically overhauling your lifestyle; it’s about making small shifts in your environment to free yourself from constant busyness and distraction.
My custom 4D framework — Decline, Defer, Delegate, and Do — focuses on purposeful, timeboxed meetings. Hopefully, it brings some method to your meeting madness. Try it out and feel free to share what works for you.
My daughter now understands the phrase “crazy busy” and she avoids using it for me — crazy busy simply means not capable of managing your time effectively, so let’s start using the word “busy” carefully and avoid glorifying it.
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