Says the
always insightful Scott Berkun: “No one likes meetings and for good reason. In
most meetings, most of the time, most people think most of what goes on is a
waste of time. So what if you took out
all of the stupid, wasteful stuff and left only the useful parts?”
Nicole Steinbok presented the
concept of the 22 minute meeting at Microsoft a few months ago, and it’s
brilliant. In fact, I’ve seen it used in
my partnership with Microsoft, and as a result, I know that when I meet with my
clients there, I know that my time will be used wisely. Here are the specifics according to Scott:
Schedule a 22 minute meeting:
Who decided meetings should be 30 or 60 minutes? What data is this based
on? None. 30 and 60 minute meetings leave no time to get between meetings, and
assumes, on average, people need an hour to sort things out.
Have a goal based agenda: Having an agenda at all would be a
plus in most meetings. Writing it on the whiteboard, earns double pluses, since
then everyone has a constant reminder of what the meeting is supposed to
achieve.
Send required readings 3 days
beforehand: The
burden is on the organizer to make this small enough that people actually do
it. Never ever allow a meeting to be “lets all read the documents together and
penalize anyone diligent enough to do their homework”.
Start on time: How often does this happen? Almost
never. Part of the problem is Outlook and all schedule programs don’t have
space between meetings. By 2pm there is a day’s worth of meeting time debt. 22
minutes ensures plenty of travel/buffer time between meetings.
No laptops, but presenters and note
takes: If you’re
promised 22 minutes, and it’s all good stuff, you don’t need a secondary thing
to be doing while you pretend to be listening. One person taking notes, and one
person presenting if necessary.
No phones, no exceptions: see above.
Focus! Note off topic comments: If you have an agenda, someone has to police it and this burden is on whoever called the meeting. Tangents are ok, provided they are short. The meeting organizer has to table tangents and arguments that go too far from the agenda.
Send notes ASAP: With 22 minutes, there should be
time, post meeting, for the organizer to send out notes and action items before
the next meeting begins.
Sounds interesting, I'll have to try out his ultra-efficient meeting format myself to put it to the test, thanks for the share!
Posted by: DC Jobs | March 19, 2010 at 11:58 PM
@DC Jobs: Yes, me too, and let's compare notes!
Posted by: Alexandra Levit | March 22, 2010 at 04:43 PM