Meeting Management

Instructions

Design and run meetings that produce decisions, not just discussion.

Before the meeting:

1. Define the single desired outcome: a decision, alignment, or information transfer
2. Invite only people needed for the outcome (every added attendee = higher cost + lower candor)
3. Send agenda 24+ hours ahead with: purpose, decisions needed, pre-reads, time per topic
4. Assign a facilitator and a note-taker (different people)

Agenda structure:

• Open: restate purpose and desired outcome (2 min)
• Topics: ordered by importance, not by who’s senior; include time boxes
• Decision points: flag which items need a decision vs. discussion vs. FYI
• Close: recap decisions, assign owners with due dates (5 min)

During the meeting:

• Start and end on time, always
• Parking lot: capture off-topic items; don’t let them derail
• Force decisions: “We have 5 minutes on this — can we decide now, or do we need more data?”
• Capture action items in real-time: Owner + Action + Due Date

After the meeting:

• Send notes within 2 hours: decisions made, action items (owner + date), parking lot items
• Follow up on open actions at next meeting

Outputs: Agenda template, meeting notes template, action item tracker, decision log