If I’m being honest, some days it feels like my job is just attending meetings. Daily standups. Client calls. Internal syncs. Emergency meetings after the meetings. By the end of the day, everyone is tired—but the actual work somehow stays untouched. Early in my career, I believed more meetings meant better control. If everyone was in the loop, surely things would move faster, right?
Reality taught me the opposite.
When Meetings Start Replacing Real Work
In many IT projects especially here in Nepal meetings often become a comfort zone. When things are unclear, we schedule a meeting. When someone is confused, we call another meeting. When deadlines slip, we discuss it… in a meeting.
The problem isn’t meetings themselves. The problem is meetings without action.
I’ve seen teams discuss the same issue for weeks:
- “We need clarity from the client.”
- “Let’s discuss this internally.”
- “We’ll finalize in the next meeting.”
And the next meeting looks exactly the same as the previous one.
The Hidden Cost of Too Many Meetings
Meetings don’t just consume time they quietly kill momentum. Developers lose focus. Designers pause creative flow. Everyone waits for the “final decision” that never fully comes. Productivity drops, but no one notices because everyone is “busy. In Nepali work culture, there’s also another issue: nobody wants to be the person who ends the discussion. We talk politely, agree verbally, and leave without clear ownership.
So the meeting ends but nothing moves.
Why Most Meetings Fail to Deliver Action
From my experience, meetings fail for three main reasons:
- No clear purpose
If the goal of the meeting is “discussion,” it usually leads nowhere. - No decision-maker in the room
Without someone who can say yes or no, the meeting becomes a debate. - No action items at the end
If people leave without knowing who is doing what—and by when—the meeting has already failed.
Shifting the Focus from Meetings to Outcomes
Over time, I started changing how I approach meetings. Now, before scheduling or joining one, I ask myself: “What action should happen because of this meeting?” If the answer isn’t clear, the meeting probably isn’t needed.
Some of the most effective changes I’ve made:
- Keeping meetings shorter and focused
- Limiting participants to only decision-makers
- Writing action points immediately after the call
- Assigning ownership, not “team responsibility”
Surprisingly, fewer meetings led to faster delivery.
Making Every Meeting Count
A meeting should do at least one of these:
- Make a decision
- Remove a blocker
- Assign clear next steps
If it does none of these, it’s just a conversation not a meeting.
In my projects now, even small meetings end with simple clarity:
- What was decided
- What will be done next
- Who is responsible
- When it’s due
No fancy tools. Just accountability.
Final Thoughts
Meetings are easy. Action is hard. It feels productive to talk about problems, but real progress only happens when someone takes responsibility and moves things forward.
In project management, success doesn’t come from how many meetings you attend it comes from what actually gets done after the meeting ends. And once you start measuring meetings by outcomes, not attendance, everything changes.
