There are three types of meetings you want to have: weekly, quarterly and annually

“Meetings are the medium of management” —Andry Grove

Why it matters

I know, the overwhelming sentiment is that meetings suck. But there’s a way to do them well.

By committing to weekly, quarterly and annual meetings with predetermined goals and agendas, you ensure a steady rhythm of communication and information exchange, with plenty of opportunity for issue detection and intervention.

Weekly Meeting

Weekly meetings take place on the same day at the same time every week.

The weekly meeting is never canceled or moved; if you’re not sick or dead, you show up, and you show up ON TIME.

They also have the same agenda each week. This creates a steady, predictable rhythm for you and your team to discuss the most important issues regarding your studio.

Pick one person who runs the meeting, and one person who takes notes.

Here’s the agenda in brief, see the Meeting templates page for a reusable template with more details for each step:

• Check-in (5 minutes) To settle into the meeting, everyone shares 2 pieces of good news from the past week: one professional, one personal.
• To-do check (5 minutes) Check if last week’s to-dos have been done.
• Rock status check (5 minutes) Check the status of all Rocks.
• IDS (40 minutes) Identify, Discuss and Solve (IDS) issues relevant to quarter. Only pick broader issues if there are no issues relevant to the current quarter or Rocks.
• Conclude (5 minutes)
  • Round up the discussion, and summarize next week’s todos.
  • If you discussed anything that needs to be communicated with the rest of the studio, decide on the key points now, and appoint one person to share the information.

In summary:

• same day, same time
• start on time, end on time