A Short Opinion on Long Meetings

The length of a meeting is inversely proportional to how much its organisers trust the people in the room. When we are trusted, we are given the problem and left alone. When we are not, we are gathered to discuss the problem, then the process for discussing the problem, then a future meeting to revisit both.

I have sat through meetings where the real decision was made before the first agenda item, and the meeting existed only to manufacture consent for it. I have sat through meetings called not to decide anything but to be seen deciding - a ritual, a civic theatre of competence.

I do not hate meetings. A good one is brief, and it ends with someone closer to acting. I only resent the ones that mistake conversation for progress, and duration for depth.

My short opinion: fewer chairs, sharper questions, and the courage to end early. Attention is the scarcest thing we have. Spending it in a conference room should feel like an investment, not a tax.