Do you make sure the meeting needs to exist?

Meetings are awesome to brainstorm ideas and get in-sync. For some topics they are way more effective than typing on a group chat. There are a few benefits that meetings have, which make them useful to have (for the appropriate topics/reasons).

1. In the simplest and most basic way, a meeting defines the team, the group, or the unit. Those present belong to it; those absent do not
2. A meeting is the place where the group revises, updates, and adds to what it knows as a group
3. A meeting helps every individual understand both the collective aim of the group and the way in which their own work and everyone else’s work, can contribute to the group’s success
4. If a back and forth is likely for the topics on the agenda, a meeting may be the best way to let everyone have their say, so the group can align on a shared commitment to a course of action

However, a meeting is an expensive thing, as the operational cost of a 1 hour meeting with 5 attendees is not 1 hour. It is at least 5 hours, plus the time it takes everyone to get back into the zone after the interruption to their usual workflow.

Therefore, only schedule a meeting if the purpose couldn’t have instead been achieved via an email or a group chat (e.g. Microsoft Teams).