A designer’s approach to remote meetings
By: Yunjie Yao
Tags: Product Design, Meetings, Leadership, Remote Working

Do you hate inefficient meetings? Meetings that go overtime, meetings without meaningful results, or meetings that are not relevant to me — those meetings won’t increase our productivity, and they can make us less satisfied with our work.

“Unproductive meetings are like time stolen from us.”

Designers have been experiencing Zoom fatigue and calendar bloating in 2020. While many articles are discussing what meeting participants should do to avoid that, it’s also the meeting host’s duty to make every meeting super effective.

To apply design thinking at an organization level, I decided to redesign our meeting structure at Anyscale. Last week, I gave a presentation on how I run design review meetings and led a fun brainstorming session to create our meeting guides. Here I’d love to share my key takeaways about how to make meetings efficient.

Set up the meeting — why, who, and when?

Why — Think about the goal of this meeting first. During my presentation, I led a discussion about what makes a meeting bad. People mentioned that some meetings should not even exist - “Oh great, another meeting that could have just been an email!” Always think about “why” before you set up the meeting.

Who —Always try to only invite people who are relevant to the topic and motivated to join the conversation. I sent out a survey in my company with the question, “What’s your favorite meeting at Anyscale?” Results showed most people prefer smaller meetings because they feel more intimate, efficient, and relevant. A tip I have for this is to think about what each person can bring to the table and why they care about this topic before sending the invitation.

When — Finding the best time can be tricky but important. To start, understand your coworkers’ work habits. For instance, some prefer to have more focus time in the afternoon so try to schedule some time in the morning with them instead. Check participants’ calendars and try not to invite them to back-to-back meetings without any break — we’re all working remotely, and those breaks are essential to our mental health. If you’re not sure if a time works well for a specific person (like a new employee), send a short and sweet Slack message to double check.

Make sure meetings end on time

Have you ever been to a meeting that went overtime? Of course you have! I have too, frequently. Let me tell you the truth — no one wants a meeting to go overtime. Here are some of my tips to make staying on track easier:

Always have an agenda with a time breakdown

Something I’ve been doing that has worked super well is to always have an agenda with time allocation for every meeting. I not only attach the agenda to the calendar but also talk about it at the beginning of every meeting. Then I’ll monitor the time and stick to the agenda.

illustration by Asana Blog

Interrupt immediately when someone goes off-topic

You’re in a meeting. Someone becomes excited and brings up a different topic. You feel awkward to stop them, so you let them speak for the rest of the meeting.

Stop doing that, and interrupt immediately. In Chinese culture, it’s rude to interrupt people, so I’ve always found it super hard. But I also know by interrupting, I can save people more time and focus on more critical things. By simply saying, “That’s a great idea, but I want to go back to the topic of registration flows. What’s everyone’s thought on the second design?”, your coworkers will appreciate you keeping everyone on track.

Facilitate free expression through empathy and motivation

Empathy — Some love to speak up about their opinions while others prefer to give written feedback. During my design critique sessions, I’d always say, “You can ask questions any time or write down your thoughts in the Google doc — just use whichever way you feel more comfortable with,” and that has worked pretty well.

Motivation — People only pay attention to things that are relevant to them. At the beginning of meetings, I love to talk about how this topic can impact everyone’s job or how everyone’s unique contribution can be so helpful. For instance, I’ll say, “I invited Alex because I hope to get his unique perspective on product privacy and safety issues, and I know he cares deeply about how design can influence them.” People are more likely to contribute if they know the role they’re supposed to play.

illustration by Blankenship

End strongly with TL;DR and action items

People hate meetings without clear conclusions. In fact, just by stating the TL;DR at the end of the meeting can help people feel more accomplished.

Always make the action items clear. It can mark a strong ending of a meeting. To go further, you can also post action items after the meeting to inform people, especially stakeholders who were not able to make the meeting.

Take care of each other’s well-being

Having a lot of Hangout or Zoom meetings in a day can be draining. Trying to give people enough breaks if a meeting goes longer than an hour can help a lot.

People may be more vulnerable to negative feelings about meetings due to staying in the same place all day long. Be more empathetic to coworkers; one thing my manager and I try to do is having more 1-on-1s outdoors. We encourage each other to go for a walk during our 1-on-1s whenever possible. I always believe well-being is an essential part of our work and life; Don’t forget to take care of yourself and others, even during meetings :)