In Defense of the Meeting That Could Have Been an Email (By the Guy Who Scheduled It)

Team — saw a thread asking 'what's the biggest waste of time you do anyway because it's just accepted practice,' and a LOT of you said 'meetings that could've been emails.' I felt personally addressed. So I've prepared some thoughts. In a doc. Which I will also present. In a meeting.

An email can't read the room (the room being me)

People say a meeting 'could have been an email,' but an email can't capture nuance — by which I mean it can't capture me, gesturing. When I send the same information as a message, nobody replies. When I block thirty minutes and say it out loud, people have to at least mute themselves and look vaguely engaged. That, team, is what we call alignment.

The pre-meeting to align on the meeting

Now, to make sure the meeting is a good use of everyone's time, I schedule a short pre-meeting to align on the agenda. And occasionally a quick sync to prep for the pre-meeting. By the time we reach the actual meeting we are, all of us, deeply aligned and have accomplished the goal, which was, if you think about it, the meetings.

The recap email I send after, which could have been the meeting

After every meeting I send a thorough recap email summarizing what we discussed and what we decided. Several of you have gently pointed out that this email contains all the information that was in the meeting and could, theoretically, have been sent instead of the meeting. I don't understand the question and I won't be taking it offline at this time.

Anyway — really valuable discussion today, even though it was an article and none of you could talk. Let's put fifteen on the calendar to debrief, circle back on action items, and align on a path forward. I'll send a recap. 🤵