---
type: "article"
title: "Meetings that earn their hour"
summary: "A simple test for whether a meeting should exist, and a template that makes the survivors worth attending."
newsletter: "The Weekly Shift"
newsletter_handle: "weekly-shift"
newsletter_url: "https://staging.in.usecommune.com/n/weekly-shift"
author: "Fran Méndez (@fmvilas)"
published: "2026-08-16T08:30:00.000Z"
canonical_url: "https://staging.in.usecommune.com/n/weekly-shift/a/meetings-that-earn-their-hour"
markdown_url: "https://staging.in.usecommune.com/n/weekly-shift/a/meetings-that-earn-their-hour.md"
chat_url: "https://staging.in.usecommune.com/n/weekly-shift/a/meetings-that-earn-their-hour/chat"
body_source: "native"
likes: 4
replies: 0
body_words: 76
---

# Meetings that earn their hour

You can't kill every meeting. But you can make each one earn its place on the calendar.

## The one-question test

Before you send the invite, answer this: what decision will be different because these people were in a room? If you can't name one, it's a document, not a meeting.

- Decision owner named in the title.
- Pre-read attached, max one page.
- Notes captured live, not 'later'.

Everything else is theater with snacks.

***

## Discussion

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