Meetings should promote collaboration but often create tension due to unclear commitments. The document outlines four principles to improve meetings: meet as a last option, document commitments clearly, allow adequate prep time, and designate one individual to lead each meeting. The goal is to reduce unnecessary meetings and increase productivity.

1. WHY WE CARE
ABOUT MEETINGS

2. Meetings are supposed
to spur collaboration
and create clarity.

3. But more often they create
tension in a team because
unclear or broken
commitments damage tasks,
relationships, and culture.

4. We do believe meetings
can still work. Here are 4 principles
we live by for meetings.

5. HOW WE RUN MEETINGS
1. Meet as a last option.
2. Make clear commitments a default by
documenting meetings in Asana.
3. Give 24 hours for every 15 minutes of
meeting prep.
4. Every meeting should have 1 clear “DRI”
to lead it.

6. 1
Meet as a last option.

7. Meetings, if not used properly,
come at a tremendous time
cost to the organization.

8. If you have a useless 1 hour
meeting with 10 people,
you haven’t wasted 1 hour—
you’ve wasted 10
organizational hours.

9. If you think something can
be accomplished outside
of a meeting, it’s your
responsibility to make that
suggestion.
And it’s everyone’s
responsibility to
treat each meeting
as a race to clarity.

10. 2
Make clear commitments a default by
documenting meetings in Asana.

11. Great meetings leave
everyone with a clear
idea of “who will do
what by when.”
Asana is the
perfect match for
that structure.

12. We host all
substantial meetings
(anything longer than
15 min ad hoc
meetings) in Asana.

13. 3
Give 24 hours for every 15 minutes of meeting prep.

14. It’s hard to create a standard
rule here, but this is close:
for every 15 minutes you
expect someone needs to
review materials you’ve
prepared for a meeting,
grant them 1 day to review.

15. 4
Every meeting should have 1 clear DRI to lead it.

16. This is an extension of the
“Directly Responsible
Individual” (DRI) concept
we’ve borrowed from Apple.

17. A meeting is effective if it has a
person responsible for
building the agenda, sending
out materials, keeping the
meeting on time, and ending
the meeting with clear,
documented commitments.

18. In summary:
Less meetings. More doing.

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