Auditing your standing meetings: which recurring meetings to keep, shorten or cancel
A coordinator's calendar contains eleven recurring meetings carried over from earlier phases. Some still coordinate changing work; one now repeats a written status note. Counting recent decisions seems like a quick audit, but several meetings also provide consultation or a required receiving opportunity.
Review recurring meetings when the phase, workload or usefulness changes. Check what each event is for and what obligations or dependencies it supports before proposing a different arrangement. There is no requirement to cancel one meeting every quarter. A worthwhile review can retain an event, clarify its purpose or change its preparation, participants, duration or frequency with the organizer's agreement.
Assess the arrangement before changing the calendar
- List the actual purpose and participants. Record who organizes the meeting, what information or decisions it receives and whose work depends on it. Identify applicable attendance and consultation arrangements through their actual sources. Recent decisions are useful evidence, not the sole measure of value: a regular shared update may reveal changed constraints even when no formal decision is made.
- Check recent results and complete effort. Review representative recent agendas, records and follow-ups. Ask whether needed inputs arrived and actions had receivers. Count attendance, preparation and work generated afterwards, with uncertainty visible. Distinguish a stale event from an active meeting that lacks ready information. Removing the latter from the calendar does not remove the underlying need for an answer or coordination.
- Discuss a specific alternative with the organizer. Explain the observed issue and propose a suitable trial. A written update, smaller working discussion or changed frequency needs actual receivers, response dates and an earlier contact route. Check who else is affected and obtain the necessary agreement. Do not unilaterally replace required participation with a chat message that nobody has accepted responsibility to review.
- Confirm the change and review its effects. Update invitations and communication arrangements only when the revised plan is received. Keep its purpose, owner and trial review point visible. Observe missing information, extra chasing and new interface problems as well as freed calendar space. Restore or adjust an arrangement that no longer supports the work; cancellation is not an achievement independent of its consequences.
Common mistakes
- Judging every meeting only by its last decisions.
- Cancelling attendance without the organizer's agreement.
- Replacing a meeting with an update lacking receivers or response dates.
- Counting freed calendar space while ignoring extra chasing.
Action list
For each recurring event, check
- Current purpose, organizer and actual participation needs.
- Representative results, inputs and received actions.
- Complete attendance, preparation and follow-up effort.
- An agreed alternative with actual receiving routes.
- A trial review of workload and information gaps.
Check your understanding
A meeting made no decisions recently. Is that enough reason to cancel it?
