Should I schedule a Meeting?
Before setting up a meeting - go through the following questions and ask yourself:
- Can this meeting be a document with comments?
- if not - why? → share with the invitees the why.
- If you had no other choice but to decide by yourself today, can you do it?
- if not → what information is missing? → how can you get this information in the most efficient way?
Some actionable advice to help you do just that:
- As the organizer - think who is needed for sync VS async (would meeting with X and sending the summary to Y be enough?)
- As the organizer - Google Calendar has an “optional attendee” option - use it.
- As the attendee - try to assume in advance whether you will have what to contribute to the conversation (assuming meeting title is descriptive and context is given).
- As the attendee - the richest man in the world said to Tesla’s employees last week: “Walk out of a meeting or drop off a call as soon as it is obvious you aren’t adding value. It is not rude to leave, it is rude to make someone stay and waste their time.”
