Meetings are the office’s silent productivity killer. Their cost isn’t just the hour you spend in the room — it’s the half-hour of context-switching before, the energy gone by over-explaining, and more importantly the work that doesn’t get done. Meetings don’t just take time; they steal momentum.

In many workplaces, especially in Indian offices, meetings are cultural defaults. Got a question? Call a meeting. Need an update? Schedule a call. This creates the peculiar rhythm of back-to-back meetings, leaving no time to think or do actual work. By the time you sit down to start, you’re already drained.

But what if the best meeting is the one that never happens?

Rethink the need for meetings

Why do we need meetings to share information? Writing it down is faster, clearer, and doesn’t require five people to sync their schedules. Why huddle weekly when a shared document lets everyone update asynchronously? Most decisions don’t require real-time debate, yet we reflexively gather people into a room for them.

The problem isn’t meetings themselves — it’s their automatic nature. They happen not because they’re necessary, but because they’ve always been done that way. That’s lazy thinking.

Alternate approach

Here’s an example: A startup in Bengaluru replaced their daily stand-ups with Slack updates. Each person shared a three-sentence summary of their priorities for the day. No calls, no wasted mornings. Productivity shot up. The real benefit wasn’t just saved time—it was preserved focus. Deep work flourished, and asynchronous updates forced people to communicate only what mattered. Ideal right?

This isn’t to say all meetings are bad. But most are unnecessary. The goal is to make the ones you do have count.

If you're a leader (or anyone in the system), before you schedule a meeting, ask yourself one question: “What will this meeting do that a note, a Slack message, or a Google Doc can’t?” If the answer isn’t clear, don’t schedule it.

If you must meet, keep it short and sharp. Set one clear goal, like: “What’s the single thing that’ll unblock this project today?” Limit the meeting to 15 minutes. If not your own, value the time others would rather spend working. Stand instead of sitting — it forces focus and discourages idle chatter.

Quick fact: We have quite a lot of standing brainstorming rooms and encourage people to take meetings there. Helps.

Kill status meetings

The worst offenders are “status meetings.” These are sessions where outcomes are vague, and time is spent sharing what’s already known. Replace them immediately with asynchronous updates. The next time you’re about to schedule one, ask: “Can this be an update instead?” If the answer is yes, skip it. You’ve just saved hours for your team.

Work happens when meetings don’t

Meetings are a tax on work. They should pay dividends, not collect tolls. Every hour spent in a meeting is an hour that could have been spent creating, solving, or making progress. As a leader, your responsibility is to lower this tax. Protect your team’s time, focus, and momentum. Because once lost, they’re hard to recover. Very hard.

If you're a founder, set the cultural standard by using Slack, voice notes, or docs instead of calling meetings yourself. Make the cost of meetings visible. Only call meetings when real-time debate is essential or async methods fail. Promote deep work.

If you're a senior leader, guard the team's time by asking if it can be async. Replace meetings with written updates. Audit your calendar for recurring meetings and either cut them or trim them. Keep meetings short and involve only critical participants.

The best leaders create environments where time is spent wisely, and work moves forward. Do the same — and watch your team thrive.