Read This Before Our Next Meeting

by Al Pittampalli (Narrator)

Traditional meetings are a weapon of mass interruption. Long live the Modern Meeting! The average American office worker spends eleven hours in meetings every week. Yet all that time sitting around a conference table hasn’t made us more productive. If anything, meetings have made work worse. Traditional meetings reduce efficiency, kill urgency, and breed compromise and complacency. Worst of all, our dysfunctional meeting culture changes how we focus, what we focus on, and what decisions we make. But there is a solution, a way to have fewer, shorter, more purposeful meetings. It’s called the Modern Meeting Standard. By following its eight simple but radical principles you may never have to attend a useless meeting again. Read This Before Our Next Meeting is the call to action you (and your boss) need.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Leadership, Productivity, Communication, Management, Self Help

Audio CD

First published July 20, 2011

Reviews

[Heidi Wiechert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Endless meetings have you down? Pittampalli has a solution to your woes. He claims that modern meetings should only be held to solve specific problems and the only people who should be required to attend are those who could take direct action to solve that problem. I think that the idea is a solid one.

It does take some internal mindset changes by the folks who call meetings. The first step, like with any problem, is to admit that you even have a problem. "Over time, we've become nonchalant about bad meetings. If an operating room were as sloppily run as our meetings, patients would die." pg 7. Overly dramatic, perhaps, but true. And also keep in mind: "Change is never met with open arms. Great decisions involve risk and risk scares people; it's natural for great ideas to get attacked or, worse, ignored. I can think of no single great innovation that has ever happened without the presence of opposition." pg 15 So, there may be an uphill battle over this, but, Pattampalli thinks, it is worth it.

The end goal: "Meetings need to be less like the endless commercial breaks during a football game and more like pit stops in the Daytona 500." pg 20. So, they're necessary, but they should run quickly because: "Meetings are too expensive and disruptive to justify using them for the most common types of communication, such as making announcements, clarifying issues, or even gathering intelligence. Like war, meetings are a last resort." pg 23

This strict definition of a meeting means that there is going to be some major preparatory work since communication isn't going to be a part of the show. The person calling the meeting has to distribute information about the issue so that those who are attending can contribute. "Every meeting should require pre-meeting work. Any information for getting attendees up to speed should be given out beforehand. If the attendee doesn't have time to read and prepare, she doesn't have time to attend." pg 37. But, this preparation pays off when, after the meeting, the business should have created a concrete 'action plan' that includes: "What actions are we committing to? Who is responsible for each action? When will those actions be completed?" pg 39. Thus addressing the problem that the meeting was called to solve and serving its function.

Most of the meetings that I've attended in my life have been rambling, unfocused affairs that were called to fill the monthly meeting quota that was arbitrarily chosen by management- a touch-base, if you will. Pittampalli is adamant that this is a waste of time. I never really saw it that way because I didn't have any expectations that meetings were supposed to accomplish anything at all. We'd meet, then get on about our business. This book has shown me that I should expect more.

Recommended for anybody who wants to learn more about the benefits of "modern meetings". This short book has everything that you need to start changing the world, one meeting at a time.

[heidi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think this book is written from a position of enormous privilege. The key thing he wants us to take away is that you should only have meetings when you have already made a decision and the meeting exists to give people a tiny chance to change your mind, but mostly to figure out how the group will implement your genius, already made decision.

I am not a manager, but I am pretty sure that if I did that, I would get called a bitch. And if I "got buy in from individuals one on one" before my decision, it would seem like shady cabal building. I think this approach could only make sense if you were completely immune to people having feelings about lack of consensus.

Also, I think his "Modern Meeting" sounds like a template for sitting down the voices of typically unheard people. If there is a hard agenda, lateness penalty, priority on conflict and not consensus, you are describing something that I have left jobs over, because there was no way for me to contribute or make a difference.

To sum up: dude proposes "new" meeting model that would not be out of place in Mad Men, which coincidentally works best for dudes with pre-existing power. Fancy that.

Read if: You are running low on people mansplaining why multiple voices are bad for productivity. I never run low on this. At least it was short?

Skip if: You are interested in meetings that bring you new information or perspectives.

Read instead: Watership Down, still possibly the best book on leadership I have ever read.

[Debbe Hendrix · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really excited to read this book because I too am a victim of constant meetings, many that are a complete waste of time. I was very disappointed with the content and the repetitiveness of this book. I ended up skimming the last third of the book because it was just restating earlier sections. Now I feel that the author has wasted my time just as he says meetings do. Wasn't his book supposed to help us recover wasted time? I found that his approach will work for about a third of the meetings I'm in, or less. I find it's more disruptive for me if someone calls to get my perspective on a problem and then has to keep reaching back out to me with the thoughts and disagreements of others just so a decision can be made without having a meeting. Instead, I'd rather have a quick meeting with all of the pertinent players so we can discuss, come to an agreement and move on.

[Justin Mann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an inspirational book! It packs a punch in relatively few pages. Definitely worth a read. If even a few of us were to adopt "the Modern Meeting", we would find ourselves with a lot more time on our hands to get the "real work" done. I'm a fan. 👏🏻💯

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting idea. The writing is brisk, focused on the idea and delivers its message well. I'd like to really commend the author on this. I hope that more ebooks take advantage of the medium to deliver nonfiction in its best form (namely as short as possible to get the message across). This is what earns the book stars. However, I'm not sure that the author has really thought through all the purposes of meetings. One important purpose that the author does not address is the need for administrators to deliver an action plan and sell subordinates on that action plan at the same time. Without this, many memos are followed to the letter but not the spirit. Many other memos are simply ignored by their recipients and dealing with this is problematic for any institution that can not afford to hire the very best. Yes, you can get rid of the people in your organization who don't read e-mail and don't act on memo's, but then you have to replace them. And, unless you are a Google or an Amazon or an Intel (companies mentioned in the book as having good, useful meetings), you will have trouble attracting higher level talent than you just let go and will spend a lot of time and resources to do this. This book seems like it is great advice for those blessed enough to work at an organization with the highest quality people in it doing things that people care about. I'm not at all sure it is that useful for those of us who have to deal with mediocrity in our organizations when we are not in a position to control hiring or make the decision to banish mediocrity.

[Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was rather disappointed with this book. As a professed meeting hater, I had hoped for more subtle practical advice on either getting more from meetings or on how to "tactfully" address the bad meeting offenders.

What actually comes across from the author, while possibly offering a worthwhile strategy, is more like a revolutionary demand reminiscent of the socialist manifestos of the mid-20th century. The decree that his is the only way and that any who oppose him are antiquated, idiotic and should be placed in front of a firing squad make it difficult to buy-in to his ideals in some places. And while the author's ideals could be easily implemented from the top of an organization down, the author is making an appeal for buy in from the middle and lower ranks, which (for those employees) would be akin to someone trying to push a rope.

All in all, I think the author missed a golden opportunity.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short & sweet manifesto to try and fix the broken bureaucratic meeting system.

My favorite quote from the FAQ at the end: "Q: What if I end up making a decision not everyone agrees with? A: Congratulations are in order. You're a leader."

[Gijs Limonard · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 stars; Sensible advice on meeting hygiene. Bit short and cheap, but this is only fitting as part of the message the author tries to convey.

"The legendary management consutant Peter Drucker tells us that meetings are by definition a concession to deficient organization. We either meet or work. We can’t do both at the same time."

"Unlike meetings, conversations are not weapons of mass interruption."

"In the Modern Meeting, the decision is king. All hail the king."

[Yavor Popov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, yes, yes! This book is short but right on point! If you feel your meetings are not efficient or effective or BOTH... then read this book and change the way you think of meetings, change the way you conduct meetings. Great ideas and nuances that should get you back on track. Be ready to make some fundamental changes in your thinking and working practices though! Good luck!

[Tomasz Stachewicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a decent idea but the implementation and description sometimes borders on naivete (assumption of people reading memos before a meeting) or straight up misrepresentation (no, it's not how Amazon does meetings).

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very bulldozey manifesto of how to shorten meetings, mostly through authority and penalisation. Sure there was some helpful advice in there to be assertive and to ensure an agenda and all that, but overall I'm not sure if I buy his idea that people can and should be kicked around whenever.

[Lars-Christian Elvenes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is short book, or manifesto, as the author calls it, that is quite to the point, and it is basically a how-to-guide for what Al Pittampalli calls the Modern Meeting.

I give it 3 out 5 stars, as it is not bad, but not revolutionary either. Most of the ideas in the book are ones that I've heard or read about before.

- Have a clear agenda
- Only invite people that really need to participate in the meeting
- Set a start and end time for the meeting

I also felt that there was a little bit of repetition in the book, something I didn't think was needed as it is less than 100 pages long.

I did like the focus on when to make a decision with regard to meetings. Make the decision before-hand, distinguish between meetings and conversations, and making reading memo's mandatory (which demands memo's to be worth reading).

There's definitely something to learn from this book, but it didn't live up the the expectations I had for it.

I picked it up (kindle version) from amazon free of charge as part of a book deal. For a book its size and content, I feel it is very expensive at $7-8 on amazon.com.

3/5 stars. You could probably find a few good blogs that cover this info just as well.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, quick read about getting things done and not letting meetings stand in your way.

Some takeaways:

* Great decisions always involve risk and risk scares people; it's natural for great ideas to get attacked or, worse, ignored. I can think of no single great innovation that has ever happened without the presence of opposition.

* Meetings are toxic because they break workdays into a series of work moments. Achieving flow, the state in which we do our best work, can take long periods of focus. Interruptions force us to start over each time.

7 Principles of Great Meetings:
1. The meeting supports a decision that has already been made.
2. The meeting moves fast and ends on schedule.
3. The meeting limits the number of attendees.
4. The meeting rejects the unprepared.
5. The meeting produces committed action plans.
6. The meeting refuses to be informational. Reading memos is mandatory.
7. The meeting works only alongside a culture of brainstorming.

We must keep meetings about decisions.

[Jono · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some sensible realisations and some smart, though not easy advice to make meetings productive again and not suck the real work out of work. Al's recommendations are really about changing culture one little action at a time. Not easy to do, but worth a shot I'd say.

Taking the hour to read this book made me realise that, even in my small organisation, we regularly underprepare, invite too many people and are too quick to suck people into a meeting potentially disrupting the rest of a productive day. Worth the read for these little mini-refreshers for me certainly.

Now I just need a similar book for email...

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid info, but a bit repetitive. A little limited in its scope and lacking in concrete detail.

I downloaded it for free on my Kindle. I don't think I would pay for this to be honest.

Meetings do need to be fixed. I'm not sure that this book is enough of a guide for the powers that be.

[Thomas Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second time through this book. Meetings are the most expensive thing most companies do and it would pay for them to make those meetings more effective. I have never worked in a big company with a meeting culture, I can only imagine how needed this book would be in those environments.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a very quick read and ok but a bit repetitive. I'm not sure how practical it is for day to day running of a company but it is a good goal. It is definitely the kind of book that needs to be actioned and then the entire management of the company needs to read and commit to.'

I'm not convinced emails can take the place of most meetings, but I've definitely been to some meetings which should have been emails. People are often so overloaded with emails, it is hard to ensure people read and act on them in a timely manner - however it is way more effective to send out information via email if people commit to reading them, than it is to have many people sitting in a room watching decks of statistics.

I don't think the sole purpose of a meeting should be to announce a decision and see if anyone else has another opinion - that could come across as bullying and if you've already come to a conclusion, why have the meeting in the first place?

This book does have some funky page layouts and a lot of white space padding that seems to be there to bump up the total page count.

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short manifesto deriding many types of meetings, and providing rules to apply to limit meetings to just the good kind. What is the good kind? Ones were decisions were already arrived at, where documentation has been passed along beforehand and studied beforehand, where there’s an agenda and a belief that the meeting will keep to the agenda, and where there are no extras or what I would call “professional meeting attendees without portfolio.” The author distinguishes types of meetings, and he focuses on ones that end with assigned action plans. There is also some discussion of informational meeting, social meetings, and brainstorming sessions, as well as conversations about meeting topics. Fortunately, in my current work I’ve been involved in very few of the meetings the author describes here, so I won’t be able to enact the advice given, but it’ll remind myself if I get back to those kinds of meetings. The best of the book is that it is short and high energy. Or at least high opinion. I’ve heard the concepts before, but they are put together in an entertaining way here. You can gather the author’s basic concepts by reading some of the more detailed book reviews.

[Krisanne Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short book about restructuring how and why we hold meetings and how to get away from attending so many. The premise is that we should replace informational meetings with memos that people are required to read. Instead we are to circulate a detailed agenda prior to meetings that are intended to argue about a decision already made or coordinate how to implement it. Then a post-meeting summary is circulated. It’s not a bad idea, but getting people to write and read more emails instead of attending meetings is, IMO, a hard sell.

[katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not entirely possible, this one did present some interesting ideas around meetings and what goes into them. I think the idea of a the mediocre meeting that goes on and on and produces nothing is pointless and cutting into productivity. Spending half your day in meetings that have nothing to do with you is a waste of time. Getting the right people on the phone at the right time, prepared for the meeting is a huge win and should be how things are approached. Spend the time to get your information ready to plan, and you'll be successful.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another old Domino Project book that I've had in my Kindle library for a long time. I decided to read it this week, mostly because I had too many meetings this week and I thought maybe this might help. Or at least make me feel better? I don't know... this is a pretty good book, and might be helpful, if you could get key decision makers at a company to read it and try to implement it. But if you're not high enough on the org chart to actually effect any change, this book isn't going to help you that much.

[David Shakya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I also am some who says, 'If you don't know what to do next, immediately after coming from the meeting room, you've not had a successful meeting.' i have felt that the book was repititive in certain parts. I have liked the idea he has presented, however, there seems to be a lot of preparation required for the Modern Meeting- agendas, deciding how to decide etc.. which again is consuming your (yes, not everyone's) time.

[Tuba Khalid · Rating 5 out of 5]

After wasting a whole lot of my time in attending meetings and regretting it later. Holding meetings have been a big requirement throughout my professional life and I couldn’t crack the right amount of balance between getting things done yet unable to get rid of the wastage of time during meetings. This book is so relevant to how I felt and gives a no nonsense approach to it. I’d surely download their resources and start applying them at my workplace.

[Andre · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no idea why this book was written, only to make money because there is zero advice in this book that describes anything other than an ordinary meeting.....if you are looking for advice on how to shock the old system of meetings, don’t waste your time. If you don’t know what a meeting is then I guess this could help.

[Jakub Kaczmarek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick reading. A bit too quick in my opinion.
Great outline of how an effective meeting should look like. Definately wirth od implementing.
At a certain moment it was repeating itself though. I missed also real life examples.
All in all its worth recommending but dont expect it’s a life changer.

[Mathher Abbassi · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author is against meetings, he did exclude a couple of types such as brainstorming and discussion groups, but he ignored a dozen meeting types. To name a few, training, presentations, and even lectures. I attend meetings, which are a must for the projects we are working on. I can't imagine formulating work plans and goals through emails and memos.

[Chad Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's too much at stake not to read this book

I love what this book is trying to accomplish: change. Meetings are broken and need fixed. If you run a meeting, please read this book. If you attend meetings, please read this book.

[Pradip Caulagi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very quick read! I really liked the description of problems with meetings - they create a culture of compromise and they kill our sense of urgency. I want to try and reject over 50% of my meeting invites next year :fiestaparrot:

[Winter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Has useful inputs but the information is repetitive that I ended up skimming most of sections of the books. Also, the ModernStandardMeeting.com/action does NOT work. Tried searching for the said guide in their website, can't seem to find any.

[Monzenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick read, yet full of details about a very specific insight. That's usually a stereotypical five-star book for me, and this meeting manifesto / book is no exception. Pairs well with other meeting books.