It seems that the one carryover from brick-and-mortar, manual, old school business to the new knowledge-based economy is that upper management likes to have meetings. Meetings are necessary. Meetings suck. Here’s my meeting school:
Meetings are good:
- Task assignments are best identified by the team, rather than just direct orders by a superior.
- Resource allocations are easier with the minds of many.
- Well executed meetings facilitate brainstorms.
Meetings are bad:
- Tyrants use meetings for short-sighted task assignments.
- Long or frequent meetings waste the time of the team.
- Reactionary meetings facilitate blamestorming.
Make your next meeting productive. Set a timer, bring a list of things to talk about, don’t shoot down ideas, and come up with next action lists.