Meetings are exhausting, and video calls are probably the type of meetings that drains the most energy. Meetings are not where work happens. They are only useful for syncing, aligning, and planning.

We use Slack for all synchronous and asynchronous communication and we only jump in video calls when absolutely necessary. We always try to make sure that meetings do not last more than 30 minutes.

Give people space! Working remotely or working from home doesn’t mean working all the time. It might sound obvious but it’s unfortunately not the case for all companies… No meetings on the weekend and no meetings in the evenings unless required by a major time zone difference.

Join Meetings on Your Device (not in groups)

All our meetings take place in Zoom; for better or for worse.

For this to work, we make sure that everyone is on equal footing during meetings. That means that even in our office, no one attends a video call meeting as a group. If 5 folks are in the office when a meeting is scheduled, they shouldn’t just gather in a room and take the call as a group. Why? Meetings transition from a global conversation to a local discussion in the meeting room where face-to-face chatters flow more naturally. Remote uizards will quickly feel completely left out, and we want to make sure we’re inclusive.

Another plus: it trains you to work remotely. This means that whenever one of them decides to work from home or from another country for a few weeks, we’re already used to sitting alone behind the laptop for meetings. It won’t be a shock, and the collaboration principles will be the same.

Turn your Camera On

Seeing each other fosters being part of a team. During meetings that are explicitly video calls, try to make sure that everybody sees each other. Unless someone has a low bandwidth preventing them from using video, meetings tend to be a lot more productive and fun when people can see each other.

The only exception to this rule is our morning daily standup. We tend to run this meeting with voice only since it’s a super short touchpoint.

Increase Meeting Value and Impact

Meetings can be a waste of time if not used wisely. Here are a few tips to get more value and impact out of your meetings:

Add an agenda to every meeting

Prevents knowledge leaks

Makes them more inclusive across timezones, personality types, and different levels

Create a searchable record of the discussion that can always be updated after the meeting. Notion is a great place to log them.

Include intended takeaways and action items

Document meetings

Take notes directly in the agenda document

Record the meeting, always. Can always delete if not needed. This helps team members who couldn’t join catch up asynchronously.

Start and end on time

Minimize schedule disruptions

Use the 'speedy meetings' in Google calendar to buffer time between calls.

Allow multitasking during meetings

Empower each team member to manage their own attention

Don't shame people for asking to repeat info

Make meetings optional when possible, but record them for later viewing

Cancel unnecessary recurring meetings

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