The Meeting Multiplier

Objective: Reduce calendar creep by training teams to ask: “Does this need time, or only alignment?”

Flagged Behavior:
Scheduling a 45-minute call to confirm something that could have been settled in three Slack messages. Blocking calendars with “syncs,” “huddles,” and “touch-bases” that require neither syncing, huddling, nor touching. Multiplying meetings like rabbits in Outlook.

Reminder:
Every meeting carries a hidden cost: ten humans × thirty minutes = five collective hours of life permanently vaporized. And for what? To nod at each other and agree that a bullet point belongs in column C.

Optimization Protocol: Time vs. Alignment Check
To reduce calendar creep, execute the following corrective measures:

– Before scheduling, ask: “Do we need discussion, or just agreement?”
– If the answer is “agreement,” send a message. If the answer is “discussion,” check if the group already agrees before scheduling the meeting to confirm they agree.
– Apply the 2-Minute Rule: if you can write it in two minutes, it does not deserve thirty.
– Remember: silence in chat is not disagreement. It is consent, fatigue, or both.

Warning: Meeting Inflation Detected
Indicators include:
– Meeting titles that contain the words “quick,” “brief,” or “short” and last longer than your average lunch.
– Calendars resembling Tetris on Expert mode.
– The phrase “let’s schedule a follow-up” spoken before the current meeting has ended.
– Participants who ask, “Can we take this offline?” and then immediately book another online meeting.

System Restoration Outcomes:
Teams that distinguish time from alignment report:
– 38% fewer unnecessary calls
– 62% fewer “could’ve been an email” complaints
– 1.7x increase in gratitude toward the one person brave enough to say, “Actually, we don’t need a meeting for this.”

Conclusion:
Meetings are not collaboration. They are collaboration simulators. If you wish to multiply anything, multiply output, not Outlook invites. The true productivity flex is subtraction: fewer calls, fewer sighs, fewer minutes wasted staring at grids of muted faces.

End Module.