Article by Mohammad Reza Arashiyan
Meetings are one of the essential elements of remote and non-face-to-face work. Individuals working in remote positions often experience a sense of isolation over time, leading to anxiety and loss of motivation. In such situations, we witness burnout in team members, not due to work pressure but because of negative feelings arising from the work environment. To address these issues, we have had numerous successful and unsuccessful experiences in increasing engagement in the team working environment. Ultimately, we realized that various meetings significantly impact advancing tasks, increasing individuals’ sense of presence, and consequently, promoting progress. Below, I will share with you seven lessons I have learned over the years in the context of the Unbound Meetings system.
6. Communicate the Meeting Topic to Everyone
In my opinion, meetings are like tasty dried fruits that need to be savored in the mouth for a while to enhance their flavor. To have a good meeting, the subject and purpose of the meeting should be clear to all members. This clarity ensures that before the start of the meetings, individuals nurture the topic in their minds and think about various aspects of it. This thinking may not necessarily occur consciously and with a specific time allocation, but it has a significant impact on the outcomes of the meetings.
5. Define the Type of Meeting in Advance
Is your meeting repeatable? In other words, is the completion of certain tasks and coordination dependent on the continuity of these meetings? If your answer is “yes,” you should know that the types of daily, weekly, and monthly meetings are different.
Daily meetings usually take less time, are quickly conducted, and do not necessarily yield remarkable results. For example, in some Unbound squads, we have a specific style of daily meetings where all members prepare a cup of tea or coffee for themselves, and there is only an opportunity for conversation until the end of that drink.
Some meetings are Weekly and last a maximum of one hour, usually more formal and involve more tasks for members. Typically, these meetings are held for coordinating tasks that do not require detailed discussions or for weekly planning. For example, in Unbound, we have weekly meetings with Product Owners or Producers of each project, where progress is reviewed through PPP sessions (I will describe this meeting style in a future article).
Other meetings are Monthly, usually lasting between 1 to 1.5 hours, mainly for monthly coordination, and tracking the team’s general path over the past month. In Unbound, there is an event called the Town Hall, held at the beginning of each month, where all studio members are present. Product Owners present the results of their progress over the past month to all studio members in video or slide format. Managers also report on the progress of their programs and the progress towards annual goals.
4. Determine the Tools Needed for the Meeting
Some meetings are merely for exchanging opinions and views, while others are for planning and review. Before starting each meeting, appoint one person as the meeting organizer, and ensure that all necessary documents, whether links, documents, Trello boards, etc., are available to all meeting members. In Unbound, we usually include necessary links in the description section of Google Meet or ensure that every one has access to all data through peer-to-peer checks.
3. Set the Start Time of the Meeting
Setting a time for meetings is a challenge for most teams working remotely. I don’t know how flexible other teams are in terms of scheduling, but in Unbound, we strive to be highly flexible. In fact, I feel that flexibility is a key feature of remote work. Each person in Unbound sets times in their Google Calendar weekly when they cannot attend (for reasons such as vacation, classes, etc.). The person responsible for organizing the meetings can choose a suitable time when most people are available by checking the busy or free times of meeting members on Google Calendar and then schedule the meeting on Google Calendar. This way, members will be notified of the meeting time by email and by displaying the event on their calendar. The meeting link is also automatically generated in Google Calendar.
Be sensitive to the start time of the meetings. In our organizational culture, individuals usually join meetings promptly at the scheduled time. However, if a member is unexpectedly late, others usually wait for up to 5 minutes for that person.
2. Be Sensitive to the End Time of the Meeting
Always pre-determine the end time of the meeting based on the type of meeting and never exceed it. Meetings generally carry mental and time burdens and have the power to disrupt the entire workday with a simple mistake by the organizer. For this reason, individuals usually plan their day and have the mental and work capacity to attend meetings up to a certain time. Try to always end meetings at the scheduled time. Even if the desired outcome of the meeting has not been achieved, conclude the current meeting and, by announcing this to all members, set a secondary time for the next meeting. Based on experience, the maximum time for daily meetings is 30 minutes, for weekly meetings is one hour, and for monthly meetings is one hour and 30 minutes.
1. The Purpose of the Meeting Must Be Completely Clear
The first sentence in a meeting should state the reason for the members coming together! Briefly and meaningfully, specify why you have gathered, what direction your discussions will take, and what result your meeting should achieve to be considered successful. The responsibility for this dialogue and monitoring the meeting’s direction falls on the person in charge of the meeting (the one who arranged it). Avoid wandering off-topic and engaging in one-on-one discussions, and when you feel that one person has become the absolute speaker of the meeting, ask that person to pause and ask for the opinions of the remaining members one by one. In Unbound, we have a “Post-Meeting” that takes place after the end and summarization of the main meeting; in the “Post-Meeting,” individuals who have side topics discuss them. Attendance in the “Post-Meeting” is optional, and if someone is not interested, they can leave the gathering.
Bonus Tip – Meeting Hours
I can tell you that the timing of a meeting directly affects the outcome of the meeting! Based on personal experience in Unbound, I usually dedicate mornings to planning and decision-making. People are full of energy, enthusiasm, and courage to take on tasks and make bold decisions. On the other hand, I schedule reporting meetings, like Product Owner meetings, in the afternoons. This way, they have enough time to complete remaining tasks and finalize their tables before the scheduled meeting. Additionally, avoid wasting valuable daily time on meetings. Try to generally hold meetings at a time when a good portion of the day is still available for remaining work. According to this reasoning, afternoons are the worst time for meetings unless you plan to invite your team for lunch!
In conclusion, remember that meetings are supposed to be tools on your journey in the tough business world. The moment you feel that you are meetings counts are more than the tasks done in your month, it means you have taken the wrong pipeline, and you need to be ready to choose a new pipeline!