Shortening meetings

Gina Trapani writes, as good as always, an article on Harvard on different tecniques to shorten meetings (full article at http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/trapani/2009/07/extreme-techniques-to-shorten.html).

While some of them seems to me a little bit too tough (just like make everyone stand for the meeting 😉 ), I agree on most of them and I would like to add my personal ones:

1. Prepare people before meeting in order to discuss something “pre-eaten” by everyone. This also has the great advantage to make everyone feel comfortable because of the achieved awareness on the theme
2. Keep time within a reasonable timeframe for each point (not all deserve the same duration) and as the end of each one is approaching, try to bring people to a decision
3. Differentiate between meetings (that must stay within a given time) and brainstorming (where all time needed should be taken)

This post also as a comment at http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/trapani/2009/07/extreme-techniques-to-shorten.html

Gerrold's Pronouncement

 The difference between a politician and a snail is that a snail leaves its slime behind.