[hamiltont]

We adopted Amazon's 6-pager strategy for meetings. It has been incredible helpful. TLDR - one person writes a document explaining the proposed feature, max length 6 pages. That one person does 80% of the work (whatever your org wants e.g. timeline, target customers, planned KPIs and/or ROI).

Process: Start the meeting, turn on your camera (surprisingly important for us), and set a timer. Everyone quietly reads for ~20min. AFTER they finish reading, restart and engage via comments - positive/agreement comments are great, questions are useful, answering/responding to other's questions is encouraged. Post 20min, one speaker goes through the comments. Many (70% is common for us) will already have been resolved or will not require discussion. Long comment chains or lack of consensus on a comment chain is where we spend the discussion time. Common pitfall - Speaker DOES NOT present the document, that just wastes 20min and bores everyone to death. Small nuance - speaker (doc preparer) is already familiar with doc, so they watch the timer. They also check in e.g. at 15 give a 5min warning, at 20min check if anyone needs more time, etc.

Huge net positive for us: - No more "pre-read" (no one does it), we just say that a 45min meeting is when you BOTH get the information AND discuss is - Post the "20min" we are already 80% on the same page - Far far fewer "basic" questions that kill time - those were answered by the doc - Quiet reading gives people time to mentally switch/shift from their last 5 meetings and come up to speed. Less "anxious energy" when talking - Increase collaboration - "Type A" talkers cannot (as easily) dominate the comments. Leaves "airshare" for quieter team members to participate via comments. We've begun encouraging all to leave at least 4-5 comments

Negatives: - REQUIRES senior team member support, else 1 senior "ass" will break the rules and start talking - Writing the document is time consuming and not easy. This really becomes one persons "work" to gather the data from all stakeholders in a 1-1 fashion, organize it, summarize it