<aside> 📌 Welcome to Oyster’s guide to meetings.

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As a distributed team spread across the world, running synchronous meetings can be challenging.

Meetings have an important role. When we use them well, they help us work together, get things done, and stay connected.

But when we use them poorly, they take up time and stop us from making progress.

At Oyster, we want to maximize the value of every minute of synchronous meeting time.

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💪 Oyster OS Performance Levels: Meetings

Four levels stand between us achieving meeting mastery. With each level-up, we improve the experience of meetings at Oyster.

Check out each level, and use the resources to guide how you do meetings at Oyster.

Level Behaviours
1️⃣ We start and end our meetings on time.
1️⃣ We start meetings with a check-in.
1️⃣ We have a defined meeting goal (what you want to achieve).
1️⃣ We share meeting notes before the meeting and include discussion points (agenda).
1️⃣ We schedule meetings at least 2 days before the meeting takes place, giving participants time to prepare.
1️⃣ We have a facilitator who keeps the meeting on time and supports the group's discussion.
2️⃣ We ensure participants know what’s expected of them.
2️⃣ We rotate meeting times across time zones when colleagues are invited outside working hours.
2️⃣ We are active participants in the discussion unless marked ‘optional’ on the invite.
2️⃣ We regularly evaluate meetings for continuous improvement.
2️⃣ We record the meeting and share the recording on the meeting notes.
2️⃣ We summarize meeting notes with key points and action items (and who owns them).
3️⃣ We have asynchronous discussion before meetings in the meeting notes.
3️⃣ We include async discussions during meetings and continue discussion after the meeting in the meeting notes.
3️⃣ We understand if a meeting is needed or if we can accomplish our goals asynchronously.
4️⃣ We have an in-meeting decision-making process, and decisions are documented so everyone can find them.
4️⃣ We can run fully asynchronous meetings.

<aside> 👉 When should I book a meeting? If we can achieve the same output asynchronously within the required timescale, we should avoid using sync time.

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  1. Do you need a discussion, or are you presenting information? If people present for over 50% of the meeting, a document or video would suffice.
  2. Do you need instant feedback, or can people take their time? For instance, timely matters might need a quick meeting, but asynchronous communication works well if it's about gathering ideas for a project.
  3. Can everyone attend at the same time, or is scheduling tough? Organizing a live meeting could be tricky if schedules vary. Asynchronous conversations let people contribute when it suits them.
  4. Do you need real-time collaboration or to collect thoughts and ideas? While instant collaboration helps, asynchronous communication allows time for reflection and contribution.
  5. Will this meeting disrupt anyone’s workflow? Meetings interrupt focus time. Asynchronous methods let people choose when to join, reducing work disruptions. For example, someone might prefer working on important tasks first and joining discussions later.

❤️ Meetings and wellbeing

As a global company, how we schedule meetings can have a big impact on the wellbeing of our colleagues.

3 rules to follow when booking meetings:

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1️⃣ We don't expect people to join meetings if they are outside of their working hours. If a meeting falls outside a person's working hours:

2️⃣ Avoid inviting people to meetings just for the sake of it. Only invite individuals who can actively contribute and add value to the discussion. Consider those who can help accomplish the meeting's objectives and those who will be impacted by the outcomes.

3️⃣ Use asynchronous communication to enable every timezone to participate. Record the meeting and solicit asynchronous communication in the meeting notes so that everyone can be involved.