You know that meeting that just ended? The one where you spent 45 minutes listening to updates that could’ve been a bulleted list in Slack? Yeah, that one didn’t need to happen.

I’m not being cynical here. Well, maybe a bit. But mostly I’m being realistic about how we’ve collectively convinced ourselves that synchronous communication is always better than asynchronous. It’s not.

The Meeting Creep Problem

Here’s what happens in most organisations. Someone has a question. Instead of writing it down clearly and sending it via email or a project management tool, they schedule a meeting. That meeting includes six people because “we should probably loop them in.” Those six people now have a recurring calendar block. Forever.

Three months later, nobody remembers why the meeting exists. But it’s still happening. Every Tuesday at 2pm. Like clockwork.

The worst part? Everyone’s afraid to be the first person to ask “do we still need this?” because that sounds like you’re not a team player. So the meeting lives on, zombie-like, consuming collective hours that could be spent on actual productive work.

The Real Cost of Bad Meetings

Let’s do some quick maths. Six people in a one-hour meeting equals six person-hours. If that meeting happens weekly, that’s 312 person-hours per year. For one meeting.

Now multiply that by every unnecessary meeting in your calendar. The number gets uncomfortable fast.

But it’s not just about time. It’s about context switching. Every meeting breaks your flow. If you’re deep in focused work and you’ve got a meeting in 30 minutes, you’re not starting anything new. That’s dead time. The meeting itself might be an hour, but it’s really costing you 90 minutes or more when you factor in the before and after.

How to Tell If a Meeting Is Necessary

Here’s my test. Ask yourself: does this require real-time discussion and decision-making? If the answer is no, it shouldn’t be a meeting.

Status updates? That’s an email. Or a shared doc everyone can comment on. Project timelines? Put it in your project management tool. Questions that have clear answers? Write them down and give people time to respond thoughtfully.

Meetings should be for things that genuinely benefit from live conversation. Brainstorming sessions where you’re bouncing ideas around. Difficult conversations that need tone and nuance. Decisions that require immediate input from multiple stakeholders.

Notice I said decisions, not updates. If you’re just telling people things, that’s not a meeting. That’s a broadcast with extra steps.

The Async Alternative

Most information can be communicated better asynchronously anyway. When you write something down, you’re forced to think it through. You can’t ramble. You can’t go off on tangents. You have to be clear.

The person receiving that information can read it when they’re ready. They can re-read it if they need to. They can think about their response instead of blurting out the first thing that comes to mind.

Async communication respects people’s time and attention. It acknowledges that not everyone works best at the same time of day. It creates a written record that people can reference later.

Making the Change

Start small. Next time you’re about to schedule a meeting, pause. Write out what you need to communicate or decide. If you can do that clearly in writing, send that instead.

For recurring meetings, try this: cancel one. Just one. See what happens. I bet you’ll discover that the world doesn’t end. You might even find that people are relieved.

If you’re receiving meeting invitations, it’s okay to ask “can we do this asynchronously instead?” You’re not being difficult. You’re being respectful of everyone’s time.

The Meetings Worth Keeping

Don’t get me wrong. Some meetings are valuable. One-on-ones with direct reports. Team retrospectives where you’re genuinely reflecting and improving. Client presentations. Interviews.

The key word there is “valuable.” If a meeting creates value that couldn’t be created another way, keep it. Everything else? Question it.

Your calendar should not be a Tetris game where you’re trying to squeeze actual work between meeting blocks. Meetings should be the exception, not the default.

So take a look at your calendar tomorrow. Count how many of those meetings could genuinely be emails. I’m betting it’s at least half. Probably more.

What are you going to do about it?