Productivity Tip: Meetings != Work

This one is for you all working in big companies (if you work for a startup and find this true as well, run... run very fast!)

A lot of people think that going to meetings is equivalent to work. A full day of meetings is a productive day! Wrong. For most lines of work, meetings are necessary tools to coordinate and make decisions, but the actual real work happens in between, when you're sitting at your desk, reviewing work plans, or making sales calls, or writing proposals, or taking on whatever is next on your prioritized task list. And no, email is not work either in most cases, so that's not an excuse.

Following on my experience yesterday about days that have scattered meetings throughout the day, there are sometimes days that have just a lot of meetings. And today was one of those. So what do you do in those situations? My rule of thumb is very simple: question every meeting on your calendar. That doesn't mean all meetings are bad, but too often meetings are set up for the wrong reason, or regular meetings stagnate and lose their purpose, or people show up unprepared and just looking for a break from work (meetings are a great excuse to not work, what a shame...)

The point is, for every meeting that either you've set up, or someone invited you to, think hard whether this meeting is likely to help you achieve your top priority goals. Your work is not a social club, don't go to meetings just to hang out with your colleagues. If the meeting does not seem likely to further your goals, reject it. If it seems like an appropriate meeting, but is too long or you're not clear on its exact purpose, ask for a shorter meeting and make sure the meeting has a clear agenda. In fact, make sure every meeting has a clear agenda, and has a clear purpose of discussion, coordination and decision making.

For most people in meeting heavy jobs, this should allow you to cut off a significant portion of your meetings, which gives you time to do actual work - or even have a life outside of work if that's what you prefer! :)

- Gummi