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Learn strategies to implement Parkinson’s Law to your benefit and make online meetings more efficient and focused.
Parkinson's Law is a simple but powerful idea that says work expands to fill the time available for its completion. In other words, if you give yourself an hour to do a task, it will take an hour. If you give yourself two hours for the same task, it will somehow take two hours.
This concept was first introduced by Cyril Northcote Parkinson in 1955. Since then, people have seen this law at play in many areas of life and work.
How is Parkinson's Law related to meetings today?
Meetings often expand to fill their allotted time, a tendency exacerbated in the digital age. Without physical constraints like room availability or commutes, there's less urgency to finish promptly. Virtual settings also enable easy multitasking, leading to reduced focus and extended discussions as points are repeated or clarified. This combination of factors frequently results in meetings running longer than necessary, despite the actual content of the agenda.
How do we implement Parkinson's Law for meetings?
Applying Parkinson's Law to meetings can turn them from time-sinks into effective tools. By using smart time management, we create a culture of efficiency and respect. This change boosts productivity and job satisfaction. In the end, shorter, focused meetings lead to better ideas, quicker solutions, and a more energetic workplace.
We understand that meetings aren’t just a time block. There are a plethora of pre-, in, and post-meeting tasks involved in driving an effective meeting.
That’s why we are building the Video Calling App - it helps product and engineering teams capture meeting context, automate tasks, and focus on high-impact work.
VCA helps you make meetings contextual, productive, and efficient with features like nudges when discussions go off the agenda, a parking lot for future discussions, an in-meeting timer, and more.
We are still in the early stages and rolling out access every day. If that sounds interesting, join the waitlist or fill out this form, and we’ll be in touch super soon.
Feta puts all the best practices you just read into action. With Feta, product and engineering teams can capture meeting context, automate workflows, and keep everyone focused only on high-impact work.
