Seriously, aren’t they? Stop and take a moment to think about the last meeting that you walked out of feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, relaxed……still thinking? Yet they’re a part of our culture so like it or not you can’t just go cold turkey and quit meetings altogether. This is why we’re here. (photo via Ariel)
LessMeeting was born out of a collaboration of two things. One, as long-time consultants we’ve all sat through many a poorly run meeting. Agendas? Who needs those? Invitees? Let’s invite the whole company so no one feels left out. Action Items? Ehhh, I already have enough work to do. We’ve suffered enough. So if anything, we can at least make our own lives better (ps you’re welcome to join too).
Two, following up on the fantastic work that one of the LessMeeting founders, Blake, did over at CrowdMind (have you checked that out yet?), we had learned a ton of valuable lessons about running a startup so that LessMeeting could start off ahead of the curve.As we set out, we have two really simple goals. First, we want fewer meetings. Let us spend our day doing real work. As Jason Fried (you know, that 37signals guy) points out, meetings are just interruptions that prevent us from getting real work done. Second, we want better meetings. Ok, we get that meetings are a necessary evil. But let’s stop blatantly wasting time and get some value out of meetings.
So, welcome to LessMeeting. We already have a beta release available for our Outlook users and will be taking care of the rest of you soon! The next time you’re stuck in a meeting that won’t end and need a distraction, stop by and take a look.