[surgical_fire]

I used to think they were completely unnecessary.

Now that I'm full WFH, I think they are useful, as long as both you and the manager are sensible about it. It gives a weekly timeslot to address any concerns, ideas for improvement, or whatever work-related thing you might need to discuss (e.g.: time off).

Quite often there's nothing to discuss. We join the meeting, state that there's nothing on either side to address, and then we say "ok, have your 25 minutes back, cya next week".