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Meeting Guidelines

Practical rules for running meetings that respect time, drive decisions, and minimize overhead in a distributed team.

개요​

Meetings are expensive. A one-hour meeting with five people costs five person-hours, not one. Most meetings are poorly run—no agenda, unclear purpose, wrong attendees, no outcomes. This creates meeting fatigue and reduces productivity.

Kyndof's meeting guidelines prioritize high-value synchronous time. We ask: Does this meeting need to happen? Can it be shorter? Are the right people invited? What outcome justifies the cost?

These guidelines apply to all meetings, internal and external.

The Five Meeting Rules​

Every meeting must satisfy these five rules or it shouldn't exist:

1. Every Meeting Has a Clear Purpose​

Before scheduling, answer: What is the desired outcome?

Valid Purposes:

  • Decision: Make a specific decision (e.g., approve budget, choose vendor, prioritize roadmap)
  • Problem-Solving: Resolve a complex issue requiring real-time discussion
  • Brainstorming: Generate ideas or explore possibilities
  • Alignment: Ensure everyone has shared understanding of context or direction
  • Review: Evaluate progress and unblock work
  • Relationship-Building: Build rapport and trust (especially for remote teams)

Invalid Purposes:

  • Status Updates: Send an email or Slack message instead
  • Information Broadcasting: Record a Loom or write documentation
  • "Let's Sync": Vague purpose means the meeting isn't necessary yet

How to Apply: Write the purpose in the calendar invite. If you can't articulate it, cancel the meeting.

2. Every Meeting Has an Agenda Shared in Advance​

Agendas prevent aimless discussion:

What to Include:

  • Meeting purpose (see Rule 1)
  • Topics to discuss with time allocations (e.g., "Budget approval - 15 min")
  • Pre-reading materials (links to docs, previous decisions, background context)
  • Expected outcomes (decisions to make, questions to answer, next actions)

When to Share: At least 24 hours before the meeting for standard meetings, 1 week for important decisions or large groups.

How to Use: Participants read the agenda and materials before the meeting. They come prepared to discuss, not to be briefed.

No Agenda, No Meeting: If the organizer doesn't provide an agenda 24 hours in advance, attendees can decline the meeting without penalty.

3. Invite Only Essential People​

Every person in a meeting costs time and attention:

Decision-Makers: People who need to approve or have veto power. If they're not there, the decision doesn't stick.

Input-Providers: People with critical expertise or context. If you need their perspective, they're essential. If you just want to inform them, send notes instead.

Optional Attendees: People who benefit from attending but aren't required for outcomes. Mark them as optional in the invite—they can decide whether to attend.

Who to Exclude: Anyone who doesn't fit the above categories. Don't invite people "just to keep them in the loop"—send them the notes afterward.

Small is Better: Five people or fewer is ideal. Ten people is too many for decision-making. More than fifteen means it's a presentation, not a discussion.

4. Start and End on Time​

Punctuality shows respect:

Start on Time: Begin when scheduled, even if people are missing. Waiting penalizes people who arrived on time and normalizes lateness.

End on Time: Stop when scheduled, even if you haven't finished. If more time is needed, schedule a follow-up. Respecting end times allows people to attend back-to-back meetings.

Timeboxing: Allocate specific time to each agenda item. When time expires, move on. If an item needs more discussion, park it for follow-up.

Buffer Between Meetings: Schedule meetings to end 5 minutes early (25-minute or 50-minute blocks instead of 30 or 60). This gives people time to switch context and use the bathroom.

5. Document Outcomes and Next Actions​

Meetings without documentation are forgotten:

What to Capture:

  • Decisions Made: What was decided and why
  • Action Items: Who will do what by when (owner and deadline)
  • Open Questions: What remains unresolved and who will follow up
  • Context: Key discussion points that aren't captured elsewhere

Where to Document: Notion meeting notes template, GitHub issue, project page—wherever is most accessible and searchable.

Who Documents: Designate a note-taker at the start of the meeting. Rotate this responsibility—don't default to the same person every time.

Share Within 24 Hours: Post notes to the relevant Slack channel or Notion page. Attendees and relevant non-attendees should have access.

Meeting Types​

Different meeting types have different patterns:

One-on-Ones (1:1s)​

Frequency: Weekly or biweekly between manager and direct report.

Duration: 30 minutes, adjustable based on need.

Purpose: Career development, feedback, roadblock removal, relationship building.

Agenda: Collaboratively maintained running doc. Both parties add topics during the week. Direct report drives agenda (their time, their priorities).

Outcomes: Action items, decisions, follow-up commitments. Document in shared 1:1 doc.

Team Standups​

Frequency: Daily or 2-3x per week.

Duration: 15 minutes maximum.

Purpose: Quick alignment on progress, blockers, and dependencies.

Format:

  • Each person shares: What I did, what I'm doing today, what's blocking me
  • Keep updates concise (1-2 minutes per person)
  • Park detailed discussions for after standup

Async Alternative: Use Slack standup bot or daily written updates if team is distributed across time zones.

Sprint Planning / Roadmap Reviews​

Frequency: Start of each sprint (weekly or biweekly) or quarterly for roadmaps.

Duration: 1-2 hours depending on scope.

Purpose: Commit to work for upcoming period, clarify priorities, identify risks.

Agenda:

  • Review previous sprint (what shipped, what didn't, why)
  • Clarify upcoming priorities
  • Estimate effort and assign ownership
  • Identify dependencies and risks

Outcomes: Committed work for the sprint/quarter, documented in task tracker.

Retrospectives​

Frequency: End of each sprint or monthly.

Duration: 1 hour.

Purpose: Reflect on what's working and what's not, commit to improvements.

Format:

  • What went well (continue doing)
  • What didn't go well (stop doing or change)
  • Action items for improvement

Facilitation: Rotate facilitator. Use structured formats (e.g., Start/Stop/Continue, Mad/Sad/Glad) to avoid venting sessions.

Outcomes: 1-3 action items to improve process. Assign owners and deadlines.

All-Hands / Town Halls​

Frequency: Monthly or quarterly.

Duration: 30-60 minutes.

Purpose: Share company updates, celebrate wins, build culture.

Format:

  • Leadership updates (strategy, financials, wins)
  • Team shout-outs and recognition
  • Q&A (anonymous questions encouraged)

Recording: Always record and share for people in different time zones.

Decision Meetings​

Frequency: As needed.

Duration: 30-60 minutes.

Purpose: Make a specific decision that requires synchronous discussion.

Pre-Work: Share decision doc with options, tradeoffs, and recommendation at least 24 hours in advance. Attendees comment async before the meeting.

Meeting: Discuss unresolved questions, debate options, make decision. Use RABSIC framework to clarify who is Accountable, Responsible, Consulted, Informed.

Outcomes: Document decision, rationale, and RABSIC roles. Notify Informed parties.

Brainstorming / Workshops​

Frequency: As needed for complex problems.

Duration: 1-2 hours.

Purpose: Generate ideas, explore possibilities, design solutions.

Facilitation: Use structured techniques (e.g., crazy 8s, affinity mapping, dot voting) to maximize participation and avoid groupthink.

Outcomes: Synthesized ideas, next steps for prototyping or investigation.

Meeting Etiquette​

Behavioral norms for productive meetings:

Camera On (When Possible): Video builds rapport and engagement. If bandwidth or privacy is an issue, camera off is fine.

Mute When Not Speaking: Reduces background noise. Unmute to speak, mute when done.

No Multitasking: Meetings deserve full attention. If you're checking email or Slack, you shouldn't be in the meeting.

Raise Hand to Speak: Use Zoom's hand-raise feature or physically raise hand. Prevents people talking over each other.

Listen Actively: Don't interrupt. Let people finish their thoughts. Ask clarifying questions before jumping to conclusions.

Respect the Agenda: Stay on topic. If a discussion goes off-track, acknowledge it and return to the agenda ("This is valuable but off-topic—let's park it and schedule follow-up").

Contribute or Observe: If you're invited, participate. Silent attendees either shouldn't be there or should speak up.

Declining and Canceling Meetings​

You're empowered to say no:

When to Decline:

  • No agenda provided 24 hours in advance
  • Unclear purpose or outcome
  • You're optional and have conflicting priorities
  • The topic doesn't require your input

How to Decline: Politely explain why and suggest alternative (e.g., "I'm not essential for this decision—can you send me the notes afterward?").

When to Cancel: If you're the organizer and realize the meeting isn't necessary, cancel it. Don't waste people's time out of obligation.

No-Show Policy: If attendees repeatedly skip meetings without notice, organizers should address it directly or remove them from future invites.

Distributed Meeting Best Practices​

Remote work introduces challenges:

Timezone Awareness: Use tools like World Time Buddy to find overlaps. Rotate meeting times to share the burden of off-hours meetings.

Record Everything: Not everyone can attend live. Record meetings and share links in notes.

Hybrid Meetings Are Hard: When some people are in a room and others are remote, remote participants are disadvantaged. Solutions:

  • Everyone joins individually from their own device (even if in same office)
  • Use a high-quality conference camera and microphone for room
  • Explicitly invite remote participants to speak

Async Participation: For decisions, allow people to provide input async via comments on the decision doc. Synchronous discussion is for unresolved questions, not first-pass input.

Meeting Alternatives​

Ask: Does this need to be a meeting?

Alternatives:

  • Slack Thread: Quick question or clarification
  • Loom Video: Demo or walkthrough
  • Email: Status update or announcement
  • Notion Doc with Comments: Decision-making with async input
  • Office Hours: Set recurring "drop-in" time where people can ask questions

When in Doubt: Default to async. Only schedule a meeting if async clearly won't work.

Meeting Metrics​

Track meeting health:

Frequency: How many hours per week do people spend in meetings? Target: \<20% of work time for individual contributors, \<50% for managers.

Effectiveness: Post-meeting survey (1-5 scale): Was this meeting necessary? Did we achieve the outcome? Could it have been async?

Action Item Completion: Are action items from meetings getting done? If not, meetings aren't driving outcomes.

Meeting Debt: Scheduled meetings with no agenda or unclear purpose. Audit and cancel these regularly.

Special Meeting Situations​

Customer Meetings​

Preparation: Research customer beforehand, review previous interactions, prepare questions and talking points.

Punctuality: Customers' time is valuable—start and end exactly on time.

Follow-Up: Send meeting summary within 24 hours with next steps and commitments.

Interviews​

Structure: Every candidate should have consistent experience (same questions, same rubric). See hiring SOPs for detail.

Debrief: Hold debrief meeting within 24 hours while impressions are fresh. Use rubric to evaluate, not gut feel.

Board Meetings​

Formality: These are high-stakes. Send materials 1 week in advance. Present crisp updates (financials, metrics, key decisions). Document everything.

Crisis Meetings​

Speed: For outages or emergencies, skip the normal process. Get the right people together immediately.

Roles: Designate incident commander, note-taker, and communicator (for stakeholder updates).

Post-Mortem: After crisis resolves, hold blameless post-mortem to identify root causes and prevention steps.

Why These Guidelines Exist​

Meetings are a necessary evil. They enable high-bandwidth collaboration, rapid decision-making, and relationship building. But they're also expensive and disruptive.

These guidelines exist to maximize value and minimize waste. A meeting with clear purpose, agenda, and outcomes takes half the time and produces better results than an aimless "sync." Meetings that start and end on time respect people's schedules and enable flow.

The real goal isn't fewer meetings—it's better meetings. One well-run decision meeting accomplishes more than three poorly run status meetings. Focus on quality, not quantity.

Managers set the tone. If leaders run tight meetings with agendas and outcomes, teams follow suit. If leaders tolerate aimless meetings that start late and run long, that becomes the norm. Model the behavior you want to see.

These guidelines aren't bureaucracy—they're quality standards. Enforce them rigorously for a month and watch productivity improve.

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