The Productivity Killer
Few things waste more time at work than a meeting with no agenda. No one shows up prepared because they don’t even know what materials to bring or what information to have on hand. The result? Wasted time spent gathering details during the meeting that should have been collected beforehand. And instead of making progress, you just extend the meeting further—burning more hours and dragging down productivity.
A Meeting Without an Agenda Is Just a Fishing Expedition
Without an agenda, a meeting isn’t a discussion—it’s a fishing expedition. People sit around trying to gather the information they should have had beforehand so they can actually prepare for the next meeting. Ironically, that next meeting wouldn’t even be necessary if this one had been structured properly. Instead of walking away with clear takeaways, attendees leave with vague tasks, unclear objectives, and the looming certainty of yet another meeting to “follow up.”
The Cost of Poorly Structured Meetings
Meetings should solve problems, not create another meeting. A well-run meeting has a clear purpose, predefined objectives, and a timeline to keep things on track. If there’s no agenda, there’s no plan. And if there’s no plan, there’s no reason to waste everyone’s time.
A lack of structure doesn’t just hurt efficiency—it erodes morale. Employees start dreading meetings, viewing them as pointless interruptions rather than meaningful collaborations. The result? Lower engagement, reduced focus, and valuable work hours lost to empty conversations.
Could This Be an Email?
Before calling a meeting, ask yourself: Could this be an email? Could the information be shared in a brief document or a Slack update?
If the answer is yes, then spare your team the unnecessary time drain. If a meeting is truly required, it should come with a defined agenda, a clear set of discussion points, and an expected outcome. Otherwise, it’s just another excuse to gather people together and waste their time.
A Real-World Example of a Needless Meeting
I once worked with an employee who had only been in the workforce for a couple of years. She was so accustomed to calling meetings to find answers, and most people were too polite to decline. I was not that person. As head of our Engineering department, my time was limited—I was already in necessary meetings most of the day across teams.
She sent out a meeting invite without an agenda. I gave her the benefit of the doubt since we hadn’t worked together much, so I hit “Maybe” on the invite and followed up with a reply asking for the agenda before I could accept. The agenda turned out to be a single question. A single f’in question.
I replied, “Can anyone answer this?” Someone did.
I followed up: “No meeting necessary. You get your time back. No meetings without agendas, please.”
There were five or six people in that meeting. That’s 30-45 minutes of lost productivity just due to the interruption. Even if the meeting had been only five minutes, the context switch would have cost us far more—45 minutes x six people. Mostly engineers. Highly paid engineers.
Respect the Time of Your Team
Dismiss meetings without an agenda. Require structure. Respect your team’s time. Otherwise, send an email.
Leave a Reply