{"id":11040,"date":"2025-05-27T18:33:58","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T11:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/we-need-to-talk-about-meetings\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T18:33:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T11:33:58","slug":"we-need-to-talk-about-meetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/we-need-to-talk-about-meetings\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWe need to talk about meetings\u2026\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is part of our meetings series, looking at different types of design meetings, and how they could be improved. You can find all the articles here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

When Shopify\u2019s employees came back to work after the Christmas break in 2023, their calendars looked very different.<\/p>\n

Bosses at the e-commerce company had decided to purge all meetings of more than two people. An estimated 12,000 meetings were removed at a stroke \u2013 all meetings were banned on Wednesdays too.<\/p>\n

\u201cUninterrupted time is the most precious resource of a craftsperson, and we are giving our people a \u2018no judgment zone\u2019 to subtract, reject meetings, and focus on what is most valuable,\u201d Shopify\u2019s chief operating officer Kaz Nejatian said at the time.<\/p>\n

Later that summer, they were at it again adding a \u201ccost calculator\u201d into employees\u2019 calendar app, putting a dollar value on every meeting, based on who attends, and how long the meeting was.<\/p>\n

Asana did a similar thing to Shopify in 2022, removing all recurring meetings and asking employees to think carefully about whether they should be added back in.<\/p>\n

Through meetings becoming shorter, or removed entirely, they apparently saved the average employee 11.5 hours a month, or nearly four weeks across a working year.<\/p>\n

In The Guardian<\/em>, one expert asked about the Shopify purge<\/a> put it succinctly \u2013 \u201cMost organisations have too many meetings, and most meetings aren\u2019t good.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there it is.<\/p>\n

Design, like most industries, runs on meetings \u2013 one-to-ones, company updates, team huddles, client pitches, brainstorms, creative check-ins, and more.<\/p>\n

In a hybrid or remote work culture, meetings have proliferated \u2013 one estimate says meetings jumped 70% during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Of all the issues facing the industry, meetings may not seem like the most pressing (and it\u2019s certainly not the most glamorous).<\/p>\n

But in thinking about day-to-day work, and the things that impact it, I\u2019d suggest that meetings are right up there, both in terms of quantity and quality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no Mr Meeting coming to fix it for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first thing, if you think your meetings culture could be better, is to take responsibility for it.<\/p>\n

Gillian Davis, an executive coach and leadership expert<\/a> who works with many creative businesses, says she hears a lot of complaints about meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople always tell me about these really bad meetings that everyone knows are bad,\u201d she says. \u201cWell, if a meeting isn\u2019t working, put your hand up and say, \u2018Hey, maybe we should redesign this meeting.\u2019 There\u2019s no Mr Meeting coming to fix it for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The key, Davis says, to an efficient and productive meetings culture, is to be intentional.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s this meeting for? Who needs to be there? Who really needs to be there?<\/p>\n

Then you need an agenda to clearly and concisely set out the meeting\u2019s aim, and at the end, you should agree on specific action points that reflect the intention set out in that agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople might think this stuff sounds obvious,\u201d says Stu Tallis, creative director at Taxi Studio<\/a> who has helped rebuild the way his company runs meetings. \u201cBut agencies are fast and furious, and it\u2019s easy for things like this to slip.\u201d<\/p>\n

And if you put some of this best practice in place, then the idea of a meeting starts to shift. Many design leaders told me that it\u2019s come to be seen as a dirty word in their studio \u2013 Tallis even avoids using the m-word altogether.<\/p>\n

Guanglun Wu, founding partner and chief digital officer at Made by On<\/a> thinks this is an issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people are very protective of their focus time,\u201d he says. \u201cBut that can lead to this mentality that meeting time is bad, that it\u2019s unproductive. People become afraid of putting them in the calendar, and avoid them at all costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it depends what the aim is. Making time to talk to people and collaborate is important \u2013 it\u2019s not wasted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Badberries\u2019<\/a> managing director Natasha Szczerb wrote recently about the tricky balancing act<\/a> of making time to focus on the clients, and the work, and making time to focus on the business itself.<\/p>\n

Recognising the tension between the two, Szczerb says, \u201cwas crucial to our survival.\u201d<\/p>\n

And of all the operational decisions to make, and discussions to have, few leaders will feel their hearts fluttering at the thought of going deep on meetings.<\/p>\n

But take a moment to look at your calendar, and your team\u2019s.<\/p>\n

How much time are they spending in meetings of one sort or another? And are you confident that time is being spent as efficiently and as effectively as possible?<\/p>\n

Meetings matter, and good leaders will make sure they are planned and used in the best possible way.<\/p>\n

And even if you\u2019ve looked at this issue before, what worked for your studio in the past may not work any more.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies evolve,\u201d Davis says. \u201cTheir rituals and systems evolve. So meetings should evolve too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nWhat to read next: <\/strong>How to run better annual studio meetings<\/a> | How to run better meetings<\/a> | \u201cWe need to change how we talk about design\u201d<\/a> | How to run better brainstorms (or why to scrap them)<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article is part of our meetings series, looking at different types of design meetings, and how they could be improved. 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