Why Meetings Are Bad

I hate meetings. Meetings are a pain. Meetings tend to waste time. In my opinion, most meetings are the least efficient method for sharing and disseminating information.

I had a number of meetings today and as I was waiting for at least half of them to start (late), I got to thinking about why you should avoid meetings at all costs.

I am not naive enough to think that you can do away with all meetings all together, but not everything requires a face to face. As our world moves more to distributed teams and electronic communication, we are all going to need to find better ways to share information. I understand that some meetings are very productive. I actually had three of them today that I left glad I attended.

Here is my top 10 list of why I think that meetings are bad. Now, not all may apply to all meetings. But, if your meetings incorporate even a few of these elements, you shouldn’t have them.

Here’s the list

1. Meetings start late and disrespect the time of those that show up on time. Moreover, they encourage others to be late.
2. Meetings don’t have a clear agenda. Without knowing what is to be accomplished, there is no way to know if it was successful.
3. The topics of meetings wander. People get off on tangents and waste time with details that are unimportant.
4. Meeting topics don’t apply to everyone in attendance. If there is any component that doesn’t apply to 100% of the attendees, then it should be discussed with those attendees present.
5. Meetings aren’t engaging. If the leader of a meeting is going to lecture, he should write an email and the others should read it. It is faster and costs less.
6. Attendees have different expectations. They want to be other places. They don’t want to be there.
7. Meetings are expensive. Take the salary of every person in attendance and add it together. Is the meeting really worth that much? If we assume that the average salary of people over 25 is $40,000 (easy math see Wikipedia) then a one hour company meeting for a 20 person company is $400. The same meeting for a 50 person company is $1,000. Now consider how much time it takes before the meeting for people to stop what they are doing, go get a coffee, talk to people and arrive. Consider how much time it takes to end the meeting, say your pleasantries, get another coffee and go back to your desk… those costs now double. Now consider the opportunity costs… what else could have been accomplished with that time?
8. In one week, will anyone remember what the meeting was about? Even if the purpose was motivation, how long does that motivation last. Is there a better way to provide motivation than an expensive meeting that doesn’t apply to everyone?
9. Meetings don’t have any clear action item. Leaving a meeting without knowing what to do next and what the deliverable means less importance being placed on the meeting. Those action items must have a verification method to ensure they are completed as expected.
10. Meetings don’t end on time. In my world, we call this scope creep. When I sit in a meeting, I can be patient when I know when it will end. The minute it goes long, I start getting antsy. I stop paying attention.

Here is my rule.

• Never conduct a meeting when a phone call will do.
• Never conduct a phone call when a email will do.
• Never send an email when saying nothing is better.

If you want your team to be productive, don’t encumber them with needless information disseminated in a manner as inefficient as a meeting.