1. Required Attendees Only
Every unnecessary attendee increases meeting costs linearly. An 8-person meeting with 2 optional attendees costs 25% more than necessary. Before sending a meeting invite, ask: "Does this person need to make a decision or provide critical input?" If not, send them meeting notes afterward instead.
Implementation Tips:
- • Use "optional" attendee status sparingly - people usually attend anyway
- • For weekly meetings, rotate attendees based on agenda relevance
- • Record meetings so people can watch at 1.5x speed if needed
- • Create a "decision makers only" culture for key meetings
Estimated Savings:
Removing 2 people from a weekly 1-hour meeting saves approximately $15,000/year (assuming $75K average salary with overhead).
2. Default to 25-Minute Meetings
Calendar tools default to 30 and 60-minute slots, but work expands to fill available time (Parkinson's Law). Most 30-minute meetings can be 25 minutes. Most 60-minute meetings can be 45 minutes. This creates buffer time between meetings and forces tighter agendas.
Implementation Tips:
- • Change your calendar settings to default to 25/45 minutes
- • Use a timer visible to all participants
- • Start exactly on time, even if people are missing
- • End 5 minutes early to give people transition time
Estimated Savings:
Cutting 15 minutes from a weekly 60-minute meeting with 8 people saves approximately $10,000/year.
3. Async Alternatives
Many meetings are information-sharing disguised as discussions. If no real-time decision is needed, use async communication instead. Options include: written updates, recorded videos, shared documents with comments, or discussion threads.
Implementation Tips:
- • Try "async first, meeting if needed" for status updates
- • Use Loom or similar for video updates (watchable at 2x speed)
- • Require pre-reads before meetings - only discuss decisions
- • Use collaborative docs for brainstorming before meetings
Estimated Savings:
Converting 2 weekly status meetings to async updates saves approximately $25,000/year for an 8-person team.
4. Meeting-Free Days
Context switching between meetings destroys productivity. Deep work requires 2-4 hour blocks. Institute meeting-free days (commonly Wednesday or Friday) where no recurring meetings are allowed. Use this time for focus work.
Implementation Tips:
- • Block meeting-free days on your team calendar
- • Make exceptions rare and explicit
- • Leaders must model this behavior
- • Protect individual focus time blocks (2-4 hours minimum)
Estimated Savings:
One meeting-free day per week increases productivity by 20-30% for individual contributors, worth $15,000-20,000/year per person.