Workload & wellbeing
Shrink one recurring meeting
A simple conversation to give a recurring meeting a one-month trial in a smaller shape
Propose making one recurring meeting shorter, less frequent, or written instead of live, and try the change for a month.
- 10 minutes
- You and the organizer
- Quarterly
- Conversation
Why this can work
Changing a recurring meeting for good is a hard sell, but trying a smaller version for a month is an easy one. Nothing is permanent, so nobody has to defend the old format or promise the new one will work. At the end, the people in the meeting decide from experience rather than opinion.
Read moreHow to shorten a recurring meeting
You’ll come away with a one-month trial of a smaller meeting, and a date to decide.
- Pick one meeting, and name what it's for.
Choose the one you'd most like to change, and write one line on what it's meant to achieve. If you can't, or you suspect the others would each write a different line, that's worth knowing before you propose anything.
- Choose the smallest change that might work.
Shorter, less often, or in writing. For example, a weekly hour could become thirty minutes, or every other week, or a shared written update with a live meeting once a month.
- Take it to the organizer first.
If the meeting isn't yours, start privately with whoever runs it. Say what you've noticed, what you think it means, and what you'd like to try, all in terms of what the meeting is for.
To: the meeting's organizerI've been thinking about our meeting. I've noticed what you've noticed, like that it often ends early or is mostly updates, and I wonder whether we could get the same value in less time.
Would you be open to trying the change, like thirty minutes instead of an hour, or a written update for a month? If it isn't working, we go back.
Swap the highlighted parts for your thing. Works on Slack, in email, or said out loud.Tip: Offering to draft the written update yourself often makes the trial much easier to say yes to.
- Agree how you'll judge it.
Before the trial starts, agree what working would look like: decisions still get made, nothing important gets missed, people get time back. Put a date four weeks out to look back.
- Look back after a month.
Keep the new shape, adjust it, or go back. Going back is a perfectly good result; you'll have learned what the meeting was really doing.
Good times to repeat it: once a quarter, one meeting at a timewhen a meeting regularly ends early or overrunsafter the team or the project changes
Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
For some people it's the one reliable chance to raise a problem, or the only time they hear from a leader.
What might make this harder
Bring it as an observation and an offer to help, not a critique. A small trial proposed privately is easy for a senior person to accept without losing face.
Questions people ask
How do I suggest shortening a meeting?
Go to the organizer privately, say what you've noticed, and propose a one-month trial of a shorter or less frequent version. A trial is much easier to agree to than a permanent change.
How long should a recurring meeting be?
As long as it needs, which is often less than the calendar default. Setting it shorter and seeing whether anything is lost is the simplest way to find out.
Can a meeting be replaced with a written update?
Often, when it's mostly updates. A shared written update lets people read in their own time, with a shorter live meeting kept for decisions and discussion.
How do I tell my boss a meeting is a waste of time?
Don't call it a waste. Say what you've noticed, what you think it means, and suggest a small trial. That gives them a way to improve it without having to defend it.
Why this works, and where it comes from
Every recurring meeting was a good idea once. Someone had a reason, chose a length, sent the invite, and the reason has been drifting ever since. The people in a meeting are often the last to question its shape, because questioning it can feel like criticizing whoever set it up. So it runs on, a little less useful each quarter, with everyone privately agreeing it could be shorter.
Steven Rogelberg's research on meetings, gathered in The Surprising Science of Meetings, points to one reason they run long: their length is often set by habit or a calendar default rather than by what they need, and meetings tend to expand to fill the time they're given. That's why shortening one often loses less than people fear. The work was stretching to fit the slot.
Coming in with a verdict, that the meeting is a waste, puts the organizer in the position of defending it. Coming in with what you've seen, what you think it means and something small to try invites them to experiment with you instead. An observation and a proposal is a much easier conversation to have than a complaint. It also leaves room for them to tell you what the meeting does that you hadn't noticed.
Some meetings shouldn't shrink. A team going through a hard stretch, a new team still learning to work together, or a meeting that's the only real contact a remote colleague gets may need its full time, even if it looks slack from your chair. A meeting that's badly run rather than too long won't be rescued by a trim; a shorter version is simply a shorter bad meeting.
Other simple things to consider
What to do next
More in Workload & wellbeing
A few minutes that compound
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Written by Truest, based on The Surprising Science of Meetings (Steven G. Rogelberg). Last updated September 25, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.