Web 2.0 darling 37signals posted their guide to useful meetings–begin with a simple problem, meet on site, end with a solution and responsible parties, celebrate, shut up, and do something–but I think their list was incomplete. I once worked at a company whose scrum methodology demanded daily status meetings. Surprisingly, they were the only meetings no-one hated:
- They happened at the same time and the same place, every day
- They lasted less than 15 minutes
- You could only say three things: what you worked on since the last meeting, what you would be working on until the next, and if there was anything impeding your progress
- Half of the room (the half that weren’t actively developing) weren’t even allowed to talk
I think the 37signals folks and their philosophy of “do less with less” would have liked the meetings. If any problems were raised, they were handled outside of the room. Why take up everyone else’s time dealing with someone else’s issues? In fact, without the conversations and the problem solving, a meeting turns into a very effective way to communicate large amounts of information to a lot of people very quickly.
