The Meeting Hypothesis

All meetings should have output. That should be a fairly safe axiom to hold; no?

I think you can go one step further and say that all meetings should have output (action items) for each individual in attendance.

There are a few scenarios where that might not necessarily be the case; say for instance a stakeholder who has some specific insight or perhaps a knowledge share situation.

That being the case lets change the original hypothesis:

All meetings should have output (action items) for almost all of the individuals in attendance.

If that’s not the case then I would ask:

1. Was the meeting necessary?
2. Was your attendance necessary?

The answer to both of these could certainly be yes, but they are worth while questions to ask if the initial test is negative.