--- title: Death to Meetings description: Recently, on the recommendation of my colleague I read Patrick Lencioni's Death By Meeting. It wasn't what I expected, but in such a good way. Every few pages came insight after insight which led to a --- [Home](https://mutuallyhuman-pr-605.herokuapp.com/) - [Team](https://mutuallyhuman-pr-605.herokuapp.com/team) - [Work](https://mutuallyhuman-pr-605.herokuapp.com/work) - [Blog](https://mutuallyhuman-pr-605.herokuapp.com/blog) - [Contact](https://mutuallyhuman-pr-605.herokuapp.com/contacts) # Death to Meetings By [Zach Dennis](https://resources.mutuallyhuman.com/test/author/zach-dennis) on 09 08 2011 Recently, on the recommendation of my colleague I read [Patrick Lencioni](http://www.tablegroup.com/pat/)'s [Death By Meeting](http://www.amazon.com/Death-Meeting-Leadership-Fable-About-Business/dp/0787968056). It wasn't what I expected, but in such a good way. Every few pages came insight after insight which led to a very sobering experience. Meetings don't have to suck. They can actually be productive and engaging. The eye opener has been that meetings shouldn't be simply a gathering of bodies in a room, agenda or no agenda. They shouldn't be raging with boredom, distraction, and mental check outs; they shouldn't be draining motivation and energy even before they begin; they shouldn't be what we think of when we think of “meetings”. Of course, deep down I never thought meetings should be all of these things, but Lencioni paints a picture of what could be in a way that I hadn't thought of or envisioned. So if meetings shouldn't be these dreadful gatherings that routinely come to mind when we think of meetings, what should they be? Well, in a Lencionian world they should be similar to a movie: full of conflict and drama. Conflict?! Yes, conflict! Meetings are vessels in which we come together as teams. They facilitate discussions and guide decisions that determine our identity and follow-through as an organization. They should be dynamic, interactive, and challenging. We should be pushing one another to make the best decisions we can because of how important those decisions are in the days that follow. We owe it to ourselves, our clients, and everyone we work with to be engaged in open, honest, and passionate conflict. But this conflict isn't petty or subversive. It's not only energizing and challenging, but also respectful and constructive. The purpose is to engage in finding the best ideas, making the best decisions, and to provide a framework for authentic buy-in and support no matter what decisions are made. This kind of commitment is very hard to achieve when we aren't actively engaging with one another, vibrantly pushing the conversation further. However, this drama by itself isn't enough, at least not without contextual structure. Contextual structure provide a basis for clearly understanding the purpose, goals, and boundaries of a meeting. Daily stand-ups have a different goal, scope, and purpose than a weekly planning meeting which itself is different than a monthly strategic. So often we throw everything together in one meeting, into a [*Meeting Stew*](http://www.tablegroup.com/pat/videos/meeting-stew/index.html), and wonder why it doesn't work. Only so much can be accomplished in a given amount of time. Without recognizing and respecting the differences amongst the various types of meetings, it all blends together. This blending kills the ability to make real headway on anything. A weekly resource planning meeting shouldn't be the place to change strategic direction on a product or switch marketing focus. Those conversations take longer and need their own time and place to have dedicated thinking and discussion. When something emergent that just can't wait comes up, Lencioni recommends an ad-hoc meeting with clear purpose and scope. Keeping an ad-hoc meeting separate from others will help us stay focused and move forward together without diminishing the value of planned meetings. Thinking about *meetings* in a positive light is not easy. There are too many past experiences and assumptions that have been ingrained in my brain. My challenge is to unlearn those and embrace the type of meeting that Lencioni speaks of. Of course now, it all seems like common sense. *Why didn't I think of that?* But I didn't think of it and I'm not going to go easy on myself. It would be easy to give myself a way out to say *I didn't do it wrong*, but the things that I have done right may have been more coincidental than intentional. I certainly did them with good intentions, but not with the perspective and clarity that I now believe I should have had. I recognize and embrace this failure. In the spirit of lean start-ups and agile thinking, now is the time to cut my losses and pivot. So here's to the *death of meetings* as I once knew them. ### Related Topics - [Uncategorized (106)](https://resources.mutuallyhuman.com/test/topic/uncategorized) - [User Experience (20)](https://resources.mutuallyhuman.com/test/topic/user-experience) - [Ruby (11)](https://resources.mutuallyhuman.com/test/topic/ruby) - [Interaction Design (10)](https://resources.mutuallyhuman.com/test/topic/interaction-design) - [JavaScript (9)](https://resources.mutuallyhuman.com/test/topic/javascript) ### Related Posts ### About Mutually Human Mutually Human is a custom software design and development consultancy specializing in mobile and web-based products and services. We help our clients design, develop and bring to market innovative products and services based on insightful research and strategy aligned with business objectives. 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