How to Avoid the Time Sinks called Meetings

A great episode of Seeking Wisdom points out why and how any company that is serious about productivity, should minimize its number of meetings. If at all, these Necessary Evils need to happen, the accompanying blog post provides some "guardrails". Extracts:

• Please try to minimize the number of meetings we have. Try hard to get it done without a meeting.
• When you do have a meeting please keep them small and focused on a clear agenda. Unless the meeting is a 1:1 there should be clear questions we are trying to answer during the meeting.
• No Sidebars — please don’t have side conversations during a meeting.
• No Laptops / Phones. Unless you’re presenting please leave your laptop/phone behind.
• Participate or excuse yourself — if you’re not adding value or could spend your time better please politely excuse yourself from the meeting. One exception, all-hands meetings.