How to Run Lousy Meetings

Most meetings waste time because the person who calls them treats the agenda like a suggestion rather than a contract. The piece opens by pointing out that 71% of executives see meetings as unproductive, then flips the script by cataloguing the exact habits that guarantee a lousy session. It forces you to recognize the patterns that make meetings a drain on team performance.

The author enumerates ten ways to run a bad meeting: cramming slides with text and reading them verbatim, demanding feedback only to shut down the first speaker, calling on people like a math class, over-booking time, inviting irrelevant participants, refusing decisions, and ending with a vague promise to follow up. Each example is a vivid reminder of how easy it is to sabotage collaboration.

After exposing the problems, the article pivots to five action steps: stop dominating the conversation, actually explore new ideas, cut the agenda in half to focus on items that need the whole room, prep participants with specific speaking assignments, and encourage peer-to-peer dialogue instead of a monologue. These steps give leaders a clear, repeatable process to turn a chaotic gathering into a purposeful decision-making session.

For technical leaders the payoff is immediate: fewer wasted hours, clearer accountability, and a healthier team morale. By swapping the listed bad habits for the five practical actions, managers can reclaim meeting time for real progress and keep engineers focused on delivery rather than endless discussion.