Third Step to Implement EOS: Meeting Rhythm

Continuing with the series on implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), today I share the 3rd of 7 steps. The 3rd step is called, “Meeting Rhythm.”

Traction begins the section on Meeting Rhythm with the following quote:

For now and forever, let’s dispel the myth that all meetings are bad, that meetings are a waste of time, and that there are already too many of them. The fact is that well-run meetings are the moment of truth for accountability. To gain traction, you’ll probably need to meet even more than you presently do.

That quote rubs many the wrong way, but I think it is accurate. The key here is that “death by meeting” does not typically occur by having too many meetings. Rather “death by meeting” occurs by having inefficient, unstructured, and overly subscribed (i.e. too many irrelevant attendees) meetings.

Meeting Rhythm is all about optimizing the rhythm of the startup’s meetings, by:

• Having regularly scheduled meetings on a clockwork cadence
• Having the right attendees in the meetings
• Having a written agenda for the meetings
• Having a definite start time
• Having a definite stop time

There are annual meetings, quarterly meetings, and weekly meetings.

In the past, we have experimented with daily standup meetings. Those failed to work well for our company. We much prefer to have consistent daily communication through our JIRA task management system, so that technical issues can be debated through writing and full context.

What meeting rhythm does your startup use?