101 Design Ingredients to Solve Big Tech Problems

Ingredient 64.

Don’t Show Up

Avoid meetings that aren’t important.

“Meetings are indispensable when you don’t want to do anything.” —John Kenneth Galbraith, economist

The Problem

People waste time going to meetings when they’re better off doing productive work instead.

The Solution

Only attend meetings for clarification and to keep you moving forward.

• Say no. Don’t think you can do everything and underestimate the time it takes to attend meetings. Decline ones with no clear agenda or objective. Learn to turn people away if something more important warrants your time. Choose one thing to focus on at a time.^[167]

• Be busy. Book time in your calendar ...