Never Make Infinite Meetings

Never make meeting series that repeats infinitely. Always have a limit to the repetition.

If the meeting is worthwhile your team will notice the loss and request resurrecting it. If the meeting is low value (or became low value over time) it will fade away into the night and no one will miss it.

I do this for all recurring meetings I own, even "required" ones like 1on1s or spring rituals. The drop is a reminder to renegotiate whether this is a good time or duration with my team members. It's even more valuable for project-oriented meetings. The value of a project-oriented meeting has a limited half-life: at first the team is discovering direction and getting alignment… but as the project gains steam you may not need an hour every week to report "we are still doing the same things."

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Much thanks to my friend Daniel Rehner for teaching me this years ago. It has kept me from being a burden on my colleagues. I was re-sharing this advice for the 10,000 time… And realized I should write it down.