Calendars often fill up the same way: someone books a recurring slot, it serves a purpose at first, and then it keeps showing up long after that purpose has changed.

A calendar review helps separate the meetings that still need a conversation from those that can be shortened or handled in writing.

Count the time in the room

A one-hour call with eight people takes eight hours of staff time, whether everyone contributes or not. The cost isn't just the space on the organizer's calendar. Before deciding how to run a better meeting, consider whether the work needs a meeting at all.

Start with the calendar audit

Pull up the last four weeks of your calendar and mark every recurring meeting. Then ask what decision was made or what work moved forward. Check the notes or the follow-up tasks if the answer isn't obvious. If you can't name a specific result, that's a candidate for review.

Look at the invite title as well. If it just says weekly sync, ask the organizer to name what the group needs to accomplish. Put that purpose in the title or invite so attendees know what they are being asked to do.

Give standing meetings an end date

A one-off meeting called to solve a specific problem usually has a natural end. A standing Tuesday slot keeps coming back even after the original problem has been solved. Put an expiry date on a recurring invite, say eight weeks out, so it doesn't run indefinitely.

When the series expires, the organizer has to decide whether to renew it. Review what the group still needs to handle together. If the purpose remains but the work doesn't come up every week, space out the meetings rather than renewing the same schedule.

Ask who actually needs to be there

Go through the next invite and ask whose input could change the outcome. The people making the decision or bringing information the group needs should be there. For someone who only needs to stay informed, send the decision and any follow-up tasks in the notes instead.

If someone is needed for just one item, put that item first and let them leave once it's settled. They don't need to sit through the rest of the agenda.

Replace status updates with written notes

If a meeting is mostly one person reporting progress and everyone else listening, send a written update instead. GitLab, for example, uses shared documents and comments so colleagues can respond on their own schedules. Put any question that needs an answer where people can see it.

Keep live time for the parts that need back-and-forth, like resolving a disagreement or putting a plan together. A team can read the status update beforehand and use the call to talk through the points that are still open.

Start with a written proposal

When someone proposes a meeting to make a decision, ask them to write down the problem, what they need from the group and what they recommend. That's different from a status update: it gives people a specific choice or proposal to respond to.

If colleagues can make the decision in writing, there's no need to book the call. If they can't, use the unresolved points as the agenda, rather than spending the first part of the meeting explaining the background.

Protect the time you get back

When a recurring meeting comes off the calendar, block the freed time for work that needs sustained attention. Name the task in the calendar entry so the time doesn't look like an open slot. Even a two-hour block is easier to protect if it already has a purpose.

Try skipping the next occurrence before canceling an entire series. Tell attendees where to raise anything that would have gone on the agenda, and check whether those items got handled before deciding what to do with the remaining invites.