Read on Twitter
Having a centralised work calendar means people can “summon” you to meetings. Some tips: Decline meetings where you are unlikely to say anything, or are not directly connected to your daily work. Any meeting over 4 people is a strong candidate for the chop.
If people need to inform and spread information there are better ways to do this than a meeting.
There are apocryphal stories of Elon Musk asking silent attendees why they were in the meeting. I’d say “F— knows. This is a complete waste of my time and destroying my productivity. Can I leave now?”
With video conferencing you can just mute your microphone and turn off your camera. You can then carry on with work. If someone asks you a question, say “Sorry, could you repeat that? I was busy working.”
Writing this thread, I’m starting to realise just how many meetings are unnecessary and a symptom of people not using the right tools to convey information or elicit conversations.
At the same time, it is our responsibility to be brutal with our time and manage it better. If part of a meeting is so important they can just send me a message on Slack and ask me to drop in.
