REAL WORLD FOUNDER LESSON #2:

Meeting Overload is Not Productivity: A Founder’s Perspective

At one stage as a founder, my diary became overwhelming. Meetings piled up, one after another. So many people were involved. Everyone who might need to know what was happening had been invited.

For my own sanity, I started questioning this. How much were all these meetings actually costing us? Time is money, right? And what were we getting in return?

The Cost of Meetings

Try this calculation yourself. It might shock you:

Meetings per week × duration × people attending × average hourly cost.

10 meetings × 45 minutes × 6 people × R500/hour =

R22,500 a week

R97,425 a month

R1.17m a year!

This figure excludes preparation, follow-up, and the disruption of repeatedly stopping productive work. Research supports these concerns. Atlassian found that 72% of meetings are ineffective. Additionally, 78% of workers say the volume of meetings makes it difficult to complete their work.

Pushing Back on Meeting Discipline

I began advocating for meeting discipline. If there’s no clear purpose, why are we meeting? If there’s no agenda, send one before I accept. Does everyone invited actually need to be there? Could this be a quick team update instead? What decision needs to be made?

One of my personal irritants is tardiness. If a meeting starts at 10:00, it starts at 10:00. I suggest that if it starts at 10:00, the door closes at 10:00. Harsh? Maybe. But six people waiting five minutes for one late person isn’t just five minutes wasted. It’s 30 minutes of company time.

It doesn’t take long for people to avoid the embarrassment of being locked out.

(Here's a link to a simple calculator so you can judge for yourself.)

Do you think this cost is factored into your management accounts?

The Importance of Meeting Outcomes

Learn the rules — respecting everyone else's time is part of meeting discipline. A meeting should finish with decisions, actions, ownership, and deadlines. Otherwise, it’s wasted time.

Being permanently booked does not mean someone is productive. Atlassian framed this nicely: "productivity theatre" — appearing busy without making progress on important work.

Sometimes, one of the most productive things you can say is: "No. I don't need to be in that meeting."

Guardrails Against Meeting Overload

Here are some guardrails to help manage meeting overload:

• More than four meetings in one day? Review your diary.

• More than 1.5 to 3 hours of meetings in a normal day? Red flag.

• Protect at least one meeting-free half-day (better still, a full day) every week.

• Default meetings to 25 and 50 minutes, not 30 or 60.

• No stated purpose or agenda? Decline and request one.

• Status reporting should typically be asynchronous.

• Invite only those needed to decide, contribute, or own an action.

• Every meeting should end with decisions, actions, owners, and dates.

• Regular recurring meetings should periodically have to re-earn their place in the calendar.

  
  

Conclusion

Meeting overload is a significant barrier to productivity. By implementing these strategies, I have seen improvements in my own work and the work of my team. It’s essential to respect time and ensure that meetings are effective.

Links of interest:

Atlassian.com: Workplace Woes

HBR Ideacast: "We all hate meetings..."

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