I find many meetings a waste of time if there is not published agenda and no one takes notes. Looks like Google does a good job of keeping meetings useful.
Digg.com posts: “Meetings get a bad rap in business today and for good reason – very little gets accomplished in them. Maybe it’s different at Google. They seem to achieve a lot.
Google seems to get a bit radical on structuring meetings, but this is better than many of the wasteful meetings I have had to attend. Interesting techniques include:
- during meeting have projector display presentation, meeting notes, and ticking clock
- having micro-meeting (10 minute meetings).
- having office hours (first come, first served)
- based meeting decisions on measurable metrics versus saying things like “I like it” or always going with the “favorite son”