Part 1: Deciding whether your meeting could be an email instead
Meetings suck.
Unnecessary meetings waste time, get in the way of other work, and generally tick people off. They happen so often that we even have a saying for it: a “meeting that could have been an email.”
Full disclosure: As a manager, I sometimes held meetings that could have been emails. (Sorry, guys.)
How can we decide when a meeting is the best use of time and when another format would work better?
AI can help us think through this and make a reasoned decision. The next time you’re thinking about scheduling a meeting, give this prompt a try:
I am considering holding a meeting and want to know if I should just send an email instead.
- Ask up to six questions to clarify the purpose, urgency, amount of discussion, decision needs, number of people involved, and importance of trust and connection.
- Give a clear recommendation on whether to hold a meeting or send an email, with reasoning.
- If neither option is ideal, suggest a practical alternative.
On behalf of attendees everywhere: We appreciate your commitment to meeting sanity.
Part 2: I’ve been invited to a meeting that should have been an email—what can I do?!
Ah, you’re in a trickier situation, because you’re not in control of the invite list. How can you either attend and get the most out of it, or skip it with the least fallout?
If it’s not clear what to do, AI can help you find the best solution. Here’s a prompt to try:
I’ve been invited to a meeting that I don’t think I need to attend, but I’m not the one who decides. Based on the details below, help me figure out the lowest-risk way to handle it.
– Should I attend, ask to be excused, or suggest another option?
– If it’s OK to ask, what are 2–3 reasonable reasons I could give for not attending?
– Are there ways to reduce my involvement without skipping entirely?Context: [who invited me, what the meeting is for, my role, whether decisions are being made, and any team dynamics that matter]
It takes a little courage to ask, and results aren’t guaranteed. Sometimes you’re going to have to suck it up and go to the meeting. But other times, you can find a thoughtful way to get out of it. Once you’ve pruned unnecessary meetings from your calendar, think of all the other stuff you’ll get done!