Boring Meetings Suck: Get More Out of Your Meetings, or Get Out of More Meetings

Scheduling a Meeting Sucks

Boring Meetings Suck law: The more people needed to attend a meeting, the more conflicting appointments they have on their calendars. It's like the math problem from hell: If Janet is busy from 8 to 10 on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, and Bill is available from 9 till noon on those days, but Mark and Judy are both at a trade show in Dallas on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and Louise is in training all week … how long will it take them to schedule a 30-minute block of time to meet in person?

It's a trick question, of course. The meeting will never happen. The project about which they were to meet will stutter, stall, and completely stop. Each group member will point the finger at another when telling his or her boss why the project goal wasn't met. And they'll all be exactly right and exactly wrong at the same time.

Ever try to organize a night out with your friends? Our family plans a monthly game night with a few other couples. Among three couples and eight kids, everyone juggles a schedule of commitments: project deadlines, performance gigs, keynotes in various cities, family business, soccer games, favorite TV shows, business trips, clubs, and committees—the list is long. The wives are Facebooking back and forth for a week to find a date that just might work. Even then, something often pops up at the last minute to prevent someone from attending. And we're getting together just for fun!

Now think about organizing a group event that no one wants ...