Meetings are often seen as keeping you from doing work when they should enable you to do more focused work.

This page defines what kind of meeting creates focus at Juro and what a well-run meeting looks like.

*Note: This guide excludes agile meetings and ceremonies, which follow a specific methodology.*

<aside> <img src="/icons/chat-user_gray.svg" alt="/icons/chat-user_gray.svg" width="40px" /> How you can proactively make meetings better today

  1. Check if your meetings fit into at least one of the categories; if not, can it be async?
  2. Check that the meetings you’re in are up to PAR; if not, challenge healthily next time.
  3. If (1)+(2) are OK, propose taking a few minutes next time to discuss together if you could make it more efficient in other ways, e.g. making it shorter or less frequent.

Let others hear what you’re done by posting about it on #social as a KISS 💋

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What are (good) meetings good for?

Be More Human in practice means Respect Jurors’ time. That’s because your time is the most valuable resource you have.

A 1h all-hands meeting with the whole company in Jan 2024 cost the business ~USD 6,000. Time is literally money.

Good meetings respect that resource by enabling focused work, not disrupting it.

Should be a meeting Because it… Example We call these…
making big-impact decisions unblocks focused work Product roadmap trade-offs 🌊 Tsunami meeting
makes a big splash
discussing ideas and issues collaboratively creates clarity Workshops, AMAs, pitch day 🍵 Matcha meeting
like a tea party
energising others through storytelling motivates All-hands 🎵 Karaoke meeting
creates energy
aligning on key priorities helps prioritise work Offsites 🗻 Fuji meeting
eyes on summit
coaching, enabling and giving feedback helps do better work 1:1s, retros, career development 🧑‍🏫 Sensei meeting
teaching moments
Depends on your/their work style Example We call these…
Spontaneous huddles to resolve small issues
is faster to just talk Anything that takes <5min to resolve 🌶️ Wasabi sync
short and spicy
Shouldn’t be a meeting, make it async Example We call these…
→ Making low-impact decisions
→ Sharing information with no extra value add
→ Giving one-way updates (no back-and-forth)
takes up more time than it saves
Getting a new coffee machine
A really boring all-hands
“This could’ve been an email” syncs
🥷 Ninja fake meetings
sneaks into your cal

What does a good meeting look like?

Recommendation Area Key question Tips
Every meeting should be up to PAR — purpose, agenda, results. Agenda What about? → Good meetings are often ruined by terrible prep
→ Everyone in the meeting is in charge of the cost of that use of time; if it’s not up to PAR, healthily challenge the owner
Make it uncomfortably short.
Duration How long? → People tend to go on for as long as the meeting is scheduled
→ Experiment with 15 vs 30min
→ Call it as a win if you end 5-10min early
Make it uncomfortably small. Participants Who with? → Who do you absolutely need to make the decision / discuss the issue / hear what you have to say?
→ There should never be optional attendees
Cluster it with other meetings you/others already have. Timing When in the week? → Cluster your own meetings to reduce context-switching
→ Respect Jurors’ time by looking at their calendars first
→ Don’t put it on Tuesdays, those are for deep work
Schedule a recurring meeting for 4 instances, then re-assess. Frequency How often? → Recurring meeting are often forever by default when they should be on a trial basis
→ Once over, ask ”does this warrant [ ]h per week indefinitely”