Every recurring meeting should earn its place on the calendar. Most don't.
They got scheduled once, for a good reason. And then nobody ever questioned whether they should keep happening. They just... kept happening.
That's how teams end up with meetings that nobody prepped for, nobody wants to be in, and nothing ever gets decided in.
The Problem with Recurring Meetings
Once a meeting becomes recurring, it develops inertia. It takes energy to cancel it. Nobody wants to be the person who says "can we just stop doing this?" So it continues.
And because it continues, people stop investing in it. They come unprepared. They multitask. They half-pay attention. The meeting becomes a ritual, not a tool.
When a Recurring Meeting Should Stop
When the purpose is gone
The reason for the meeting no longer exists. Maybe the project ended. Maybe the team structure changed. The meeting persists anyway.
When it could be async
The meeting exists to share information. Information can be shared in a doc. The meeting persists anyway.
When nobody prepped for the last three
If the last three meetings had no clear agenda and nothing was decided, the meeting is a ritual, not a tool.
When the wrong people are in it
The meeting was designed for a different team. People have changed roles. The meeting persists anyway.
How to Question a Recurring Meeting
Before the next occurrence, ask: "If we didn't have this meeting scheduled, would we schedule it today?"
If the answer is no, cancel it. Don't wait for it to naturally die.
And if you do keep it, ask: "What's one thing we could do to make this meeting worth showing up for?"
The answers are usually obvious. The follow-through is what's missing.
The Real Problem
The real problem with recurring meetings isn't that they're recurring. It's that nobody ever takes responsibility for them.
Someone needs to own each recurring meeting. Their job: make sure the meeting is worth having, or cancel it.
If nobody owns it, the meeting will persist by default. And meetings that persist by default are usually meetings that should have been cancelled months ago.
Your calendar is full of meetings that nobody questions. Today is a good day to start questioning them.
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