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Tag: Meetings

  • The Evolution of the 50/25 Meeting Format: Why Starting Late is the New On-Time

    Introduction: An Updated Perspective on Time Management In a continuous quest to boost workplace effectiveness, it’s useful to revisit our approaches. Ten years ago, while working as CTO at The New York Times, I advocated the 50/25 Meeting Format. The premise was straightforward: shave off a few minutes from each meeting to enhance focus and…

  • An Example of Respectfully Declining a Meeting at Work That is Already in Your Calendar

    Here is an example of how to respectfully decline a meeting to make time to work on a higher priority. We occasionally find ourselves in meetings when our time could be better spent doing something else of greater value. I previously wrote about how to respond to and politely decline meeting invitations. This post is about…

  • 3 Roles of a CTO: Culture. Technology. Operations.

    This is a guide for CTOs, VPs of Software Engineering and other technology managers responsible for a software engineering organization. The purpose of this checklist is to help the CTO cover the areas of culture, technology and operations in their teams. It is presented in the form of a memo to direct reports. Dear Tech…

  • 3-5-7 Meeting Format for Weekly Staff Meetings

    If you are the manager of a team of people at your job, here is a format we suggest for running your staff meetings. We call it the 3-5-7 format because of its convention of giving 3 to 5 minutes per person to answer 7 questions. This system assumes that you have fewer than ten direct…

  • Posted Signs for Productive Meetings

    You can post these slides as signs in your meeting rooms and offices or include them at the start of your presentations.   You can also open the original Google Slides document to print or leave comments.

  • Suggested Template For Requesting a Meeting

    Every time someone calls a meeting, they should consider using this simple template. [ meeting-invitation-template begins ] The desired outcome of this meeting is: e.g. Come to agreement on solution for issue X e.g. Make a decision about Y. e.g. Share announcements about topic Z. e.g. Continue to grow a good working relationship with each…

  • Templates for Replying to Meeting Requests & Polite Ways to Decline Meetings

    By default, we should only attend meetings where we are active participants, not passive attendees with not much to contribute to the desired outcome of the meeting. There are some exceptions to this like training sessions, educational presentations or others where the purpose for attendees is to learn something. When I receive a meeting request, I…

  • When to have and when not to schedule meetings

    Companies should, by default, avoid scheduling meetings that start before 10am or end after 5pm. If an employee comes to the office at 8am on some days, it is often to use the two hours of the morning before meetings to catch up and/or get a head start on the day. Meetings that start before…

  • 50/25 Meeting Format

    Update (2023 September 17): I published an update to this system based on data, experience, and the advice of colleagues. If you manage a team, value your team members time and want to improve productivity at your workplace with a simple change, consider implementing the 50/25 Meeting Recommendation that some companies are embracing. Consider communicating…

  • Using Laptops or Smartphones in Meetings

    Using smartphones — or worse, laptops — during in-person meetings diminishes productivity, is disrespectful to others and decreases your brainpower. Yes, scientific evidence indicates that multitasking makes people less intelligent.1 When you are  doing something unrelated on your phone or laptop in inappropriate situations (e.g. during business meetings), you lose out because you become oblivious to the environment, people, and…

  • Maker’s Schedule (For Managers Too)

    The following memo from a department head to staff is an example of how to implement a productive maker’s schedule at your workplace. This approach recommends starting with baby steps, evaluating results and making changes accordingly. Dear Colleagues in the Technology, Project Management and Product Teams, Executive Summary:1 We are implementing a maker’s schedule starting…

  • Productive Business Meetings

    Here are some suggestions for making business meetings more productive, efficient and effective. Based on readers’ feedback, I have split this article into the following separate blog posts. (Updated: 2023 September 17)