Reid Hastie and John Cleese on Meetings

I read in the Sunday NY Times a delightful essay by Reid Hastie from the University of Chicago.

Entitled "Meetings Are a Matter of Precious Time," the article provides a few simple rules.

It is a bit reminiscent of John Cleese's equally enjoyable video "Meetings, Bloody Meetings" produced in 1993.

• Follow this link for the NY Times article

Here is the bottom line (quoted):

1. Whoever calls a meeting should be explicit about its objectives. This means specifying tangible goals and assigning responsibility for creating, summarizing and reporting on them. Ask yourself this question: Specifically, what do we want accomplished when we walk out of the room?
2. Everyone should think carefully about the opportunity costs of a meeting: How many participants are really needed? (Almost all business teams and committees are too big.) How long should the meeting last? Set a definite ending time. Anyone who doubts that the meeting is necessary, or thinks it’s too long, should speak up.
3. After productive or unproductive meetings, assign credit or blame to the person in charge. Then, if people have track records of leading ineffective meetings, don’t let them lead future sessions. When their expertise is essential, make them subordinate to an effective meeting leader.