Our central operating rhythm
Meetings are our highest gear. It's expensive—in terms of coordination, time, effort, and focus—to plan and hold a meeting. As a result, we reserve meetings for situations where synchronous communication is the most effective option. If you can accomplish your goals with a thread in Discord, write up in Notion/a Google doc, video in Loom, or agreement in Murmur, do that first.
Structures over agendas. Pre-planned meeting agendas tend to be a blend of politics (who can get time) and aimlessness (meetings are just a series of monologues). Instead, we use distinct meeting types, and each type has a standard structure or format. If that structure includes time for processing items from participants, we generate them on-the-fly and move through as many as we can handle in the time allotted.
Facilitators make it happen. Every recurring meeting should have a facilitator, which is a named, elected, or rotational role that keeps the meeting on track. The facilitator's job is to manage energy, balance participation, honor the structure, and sense what's needed in the moment.
Pre-work doesn't work. We don't assign pre-work to meeting attendees unless absolutely necessary (think: time is limited and the focus of the meeting represents real existential risk). If you simply want someone's opinion on your work, share it in a Loom, let them comment on it asynchronously, and skip the meeting altogether.
These recurring meetings keep us on track and moving in the direction of our purpose, listed by their frequency:
Purpose: Sensing, steering, and filling empty seats Attendees: All Hands Facilitator: CoachJ & Viriya Frequency: Weekly on Tuesdays at 6:00pm - 7:00pm UTC Duration: 60 minutes Format:
Purpose: Accountability and commitment Attendees: Core and Trusted Contributors Facilitator: CoachJ & Viriya Frequency: Weekly on Mondays at 5:00pm - 6:00pm UTC Duration: 60 minutes Format:
The MMM Strategy session is also an invite-only weekly call with a co-created agenda.