Project Toolkitby Maxime Lab
Stakeholders and Change · tool 6 of 8

Stakeholders and Change · tool 6 of 8

Meetings That Work

Meetings That Work: cuts meeting time and gets more decided.

Best for: Every recurring meeting · Time: 15 min to redesign
Domain: Stakeholders · Focus area: Executing

How it works

Meetings are expensive. Each needs a purpose, the right few people, and a written outcome. Status can usually travel by message; discussion and decisions deserve the time together.

  • Put the goal in the invite.
  • Decide who decides.
  • End with actions, owners and dates.

How to apply it

  1. Cost out a recurring meeting.
  2. Cancel it or shorten it if it has no decision.
  3. Send pre-reads.
  4. Publish actions the same day.
In practice

An 8-person hour-long status meeting becomes a written note plus a 20-minute decision slot.

Pro tip

If the meeting can’t say what it’s meant to produce, it doesn’t need to exist.

Quick check

What should every meeting end with?

Sources

  • PMBOK® Guide, 8th edition, and The Standard for Project Management (PMI, 2025)

Last reviewed 2026-11-02 against the PMBOK® Guide, 8th edition · Practitioner review pending · How this guide is made