Meeting Test — for the person calling it

Is this meeting worth holding?

Before you send the invite, run the test. If the meeting is worth holding, you'll get a sharper version of it. If it isn't, you'll get an honest verdict and something better to do instead — a doc, a Teams post, a decision you make yourself. Either way, the people you'd have invited get their hour back.

Three rules before you send any invite

  1. Think of teams as tables. You invite people to the table who have something to contribute: the people actively working on the project and getting things done. Not someone’s supervisor, and certainly not the supervisor’s supervisor.
  2. Only invite people who have something to contribute. If someone’s there for their information, that could have been an email.
  3. Need to share information? Stand up. Frequent standups, one minute per person on a ruthless timer, cover most of what status meetings try to do, and let you handle almost everything else outside of meetings. Run a standup →
How this works

Think of this as a self-coaching tool for the person organizing the meeting. It's forward-looking — no transcripts, no scoring of attendees, no interpersonal drama. You answer a few questions about the meeting you're planning, including who's invited and what each person contributes, and you get one of five verdicts:

  • Hold — this meeting should happen. Here are the 2–3 things that'll make it actually work.
  • Reshape — it's a meeting, but not the meeting you planned. Here's a tighter agenda and who to cut from the invite.
  • Standup — it’s really an information meeting. Make it a frequent standup: everyone stands, one minute each on a timer, follow-ups only for the people who need more.
  • Go Async — a Teams post, a Loom, a shared doc. Here's the template.
  • Cancel — don't hold it. Here's what to tell people, and what (if anything) replaces it.

The test is built on two books. Simplify asks two questions of every block on your calendar: why does this exist, and what happens if I cancel it, shorten it, or replace it with a short written update? Smart Brevity adds that “a good meeting is usually determined before it starts.” Read more: Simplify, Ch. 12 — Simplify Your Schedule · Smart Brevity, Ch. 16 — Your Meetings.

If the verdict is Cancel or Go Async, you can one-click submit the meeting to the Elimination Project queue and the team will publish a public decision with reasoning.

Be honest. If it’s mostly updates, the answer is probably a standup.
The project behind this table

Teams should be driven by a project: people rallied to a defined scope and purpose, for a set time, with outcomes you can measure. Perpetual teams should be rare.

Some are. Far fewer than most organizations think.
If you can't name a decision, that's the answer — it's not a meeting.
Only invite people with something to contribute. Anyone coming “for their information” gets an email instead. Tip: paste a list of names into the first box.

Standups

Stand up. One minute each. Then get back to work.

If you really need an information meeting, make it a standup, and hold them often. A team that stands up together for ten minutes most days can handle almost everything else outside of meetings: a quick follow-up between two people, a short written update, a decision made by the person who owns it.

Rule 1

Everyone stands

It’s called a standup for a reason. Sit down and people get comfortable, and comfortable meetings run long.

Rule 2

One minute. On the timer.

Ruthlessly. When the clock hits zero, the next person goes. That includes the boss.

Rule 3

Updates only

What I did, what’s next, where I’m stuck. No problem-solving in the circle.

Rule 4

Follow-ups are opt-in

Anyone who needs more grabs only the people involved, right after. Everyone else goes back to work.

Rule 5

Do it often

Daily, or several times a week. Frequency is what makes it short, and what makes most other meetings unnecessary.

Standup timer