In my previous look into workplace quirks, Microsoft is one of those who expressed that meetings is one of those work hours leeches that workers have to deal with. I know some workers who also think likewise.

Are meetings really that detrimental to productivity?

Based on my experience they really can be a waste of time. It’s mostly just some meeting called by the higher ups to get some idea on “how the project is doing.” Never mind if you’ve already submitted detailed progress reports. You just sit there and read your report out loud. And these can really be killers as they can go as long as a couple of hours where the project literally comes to a halt.

Managers argue that meetings are a time to “sharpen the saw” or “revisit objectives.” But in my opinion, there are opportune times to call such meetings. Meetings can really bust worker momentum especially when the heat is on. It’s like calling a time out when your players are knocking down shots.

If managers would just take time by himself and assess the project status before calling for an otherwise destructive meeting. In any case, if a manager is really keeping track of everything based on the plan from the start, he wouldn’t even have to nitpick progress reports to be on top of things. I just think that such meetings on “progress” are just excuses to micromanage or ways to weasel out of reading reports or even a way to say “Hey, I’m doing my job, managing.”

Leo from Lifehack.org suggests to kill meetings to increase productivity.

Think about the last few meetings you attended — did you sit through them wishing you were somewhere else, or finish the meeting wondering what the point of the meeting was, or worse yet, feel that the same thing could have been accomplished through a simple email? Meetings are time hogs, and often leave you wishing you could get that time back.

He’s probably damn right on with this point. A bit of introspection will surely reaffirm this view on meetings. He also claims that productive meetings are but a myth.

Still there are the opportune times, if managers really think that there is no progress at all, it’s probably damn time he calls for a huddle to work out the kinks in the pipeline. But such kinks may arise from rush jobs, resource mishandling, and basically a poor plan. A meeting has only a slight chance of solving them if they are so deeply rooted in poor planning.