Micro Meetings

I define a micro meeting as an event with four or less individuals that quickly reviews, discusses, and decides on a single problem within 15 minutes. I know from experience that these can be very effective and efficient uses of time. While micro meetings are often employed by a wide variety of organizations when a crisis occurs and rapid answers are required, there is no good reason why this type of meeting should be reserved solely for such occurrences.

An additional twist on this idea is to have a stand-up meeting (surprise: no chairs allowed) to insure the meeting is rapidly concluded and that is stays on track to the single issue. Many lean and agile organizations utilize standing micro meetings instead of the typical one hour meeting.

Try it! The next time you have a small issue, assemble the team and let them know that time is limited and that the goal is to find a solution within the next 20 minutes. You will likely be surprised by how successful this can be.