![Is your recurring meeting still useful?: Define purpose: 'We meet so that [people] can [do something] and leave with [a result].'; Inspect past sessions using agendas, decisions and feedback from affected teams.; Decide to keep, improve, reduce or end based on whether the result is consistently achieved.](/covers/measuring-whether-a-recurring-meeting-has-a-purpose-1600.webp)
Meetings
Part of Meeting productivity
Measuring whether a recurring meeting has a purpose
Review a recurring meeting's stated purpose, recent outcomes and participant feedback before deciding to keep, change or replace it.
Measure a recurring meeting against the job it is meant to do. Name its intended result, inspect recent sessions for evidence of that result, and ask participants and people who use its outcomes whether it helps. A calendar entry, full attendance and a prompt finish show that the meeting occurred; they do not show that it remains useful.
Define the purpose
Ask the meeting owner to complete this sentence: “We meet so that [people] can [do something together] and leave with [a usable result].” A service handover might assign unresolved cases; a planning session might settle dependencies. A team check-in may serve connection and support. Describe that purpose honestly instead of forcing it into an action count.
Check whether the purpose still exists. Work, participants and responsibilities may have changed since the invitation was created. If no one can name what would be missing without the session, investigate before deciding to cancel it.
Inspect recent sessions
Use records the team already has: invitations, agendas, notes, decisions and work items. For each comparable session, ask whether its intended result was reached, carried forward with a named blocker, or left unclear. Speak with participants and people who depend on the result; tidy notes may still leave another team unable to act.
| Question | Evidence to inspect | What it may reveal |
|---|---|---|
| What was the meeting meant to achieve? | Invitation and agenda | Whether the purpose was clear beforehand |
| What changed by the end? | Decision, assignment or shared work | Whether the result matched that purpose |
| Could affected people use the result? | Work item and recipient feedback | Whether the handover was sufficient |
| What was missed or repeated? | Later questions and follow-ups | Whether preparation or format needs attention |
Use these checks to diagnose the meeting, not score attendees. Compare sessions with similar purposes and note unusual demand or an absent decision-maker before drawing a conclusion.
Meeting Purpose vs. Outcome Check
- What was the meeting meant to achieve?
- Check invitation and agenda for clarity of purpose
- What changed by the end?
- Review decisions, assignments or shared work to confirm outcome alignment
- Could affected people use the result?
- Gather feedback from recipients to assess handover effectiveness
- What was missed or repeated?
- Identify recurring questions or follow-ups indicating gaps in preparation or format
Decide what to change
If the meeting regularly provides a result people need to produce together, keep it and make any useful small improvements. If it serves a purpose but the result is often unclear, revise its preparation, participants or closing record. If it mostly distributes information, try an agreed update route. If its purpose arises only occasionally, consider calling it when that work appears instead of holding a standing booking.
Protect valuable uses a task count may miss. A one-to-one meeting may give someone space to raise a concern; a retrospective may surface a disagreement that needs care. Ask those involved what would be lost by changing the setting. Respect confidentiality: private details need not be disclosed to justify a sensitive meeting.
How to Decide What to Change
- Keep and improveMeeting consistently delivers a needed result; make small refinements to process or structure
- Revise preparation or participantsPurpose is valid but outcomes are often unclear; adjust agenda, attendees or documentation
- Switch to an update routeMeeting mostly distributes information; replace with shared updates (e.g., Slack, email, wiki)
- Hold on demandPurpose arises occasionally; cancel standing booking and call only when needed
Review the change
Tell participants and affected colleagues what will change and where the work will go instead. After an agreed period, check whether decisions reach the right owner, handovers remain clear, concerns can be raised and extra work has appeared elsewhere. A quieter calendar is only one observation.
Record the choice for the invitation: keep, improve, reduce its frequency, move a defined part to updates or end it. Give the owner a date to reconsider the choice as the work changes.
