---
title: Not another meeting
teaser: Meeting-free days means more productivity, right? More time for focused work.
  When should, or should you not, press that big '+' button on your calendar?
tags: productivity,teams,meeting,remote
author: Bethan Ashley
published_on: 2024-10-22
---

I was at a Product conference recently, and several talks emphasised the importance of meeting-free days to keep momentum. This creates space for experimentation, fast iterations, learning and refining, and ultimately, de-risking your product development.

I’ve been thinking about how we can facilitate this more for our teams — fewer meetings, means more time for doing. However, I think there is a balance with quality, education, and alignment, which are all benefits from regularly pairing on code, syncing with your team, or sweating out the details of a problem together.

Let’s get real with some recommendations:

* **Does it have to be a meeting?** We’re fully remote at thoughtbot and often, we’re in different timezones too. Could it be a Slack thread instead? It ensures inclusivity, meaning everyone can contribute at a time that’s convenient for them, and gives the team somewhere concrete to reference / refresh their thinking for clarity in the near future.
* **Keep meetings short, but don’t be afraid to sweat the details.** When there’s signals of misalignment or blockages in the team, the longer these continue, the bigger they’ll become, causing you not only a headache, but greater time inefficiencies in the future. Find the time to get on the same page for vision and approach.
* **Have a clear agenda and a desired outcome for every meeting.** Hold yourself accountable and encourage others to do the same! Remind everyone of the goal at the beginning of a meeting for alignment. It’s too easy to get sidetracked. Go in with intention and come out with an outcome, or at least, tangible next steps.
* **Optional is okay.** Let attendees decide if they need to attend a meeting. Engaged teams will make the decision that is best for them and their workload. Trust people.
* **Happy teams are important too!** [Happier teams are 12% more productive](https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/news/happy-workers-13-more-productive-finds-oxford-said-research) and a [positive working environment leads to 3x the creativity](https://wellbeing.hmc.ox.ac.uk/news/research-shows-happiness-is-the-new-performance-indicator-this-is-how-managers-can-support-it/), meaning more innovation and more problem solving; both fundamentals in product development. Create space for regular, optional, informal team bonding. For remote teams, I like [ice breakers](https://thoughtbot.com/blog/code-for-unity-join-the-remote-ice-breaker-challenge) once a week at the beginning of retros. You can also try a 15 minute call a few times a week, for folks to just drop-in and chat.