Most teams lack the discipline for effective recurring meetings.
The best-known exception is Amazon.
They have two policies to prevent meetings from slipping into the abyss.
The meeting owner creates a detailed, written document.
Before the meeting starts, everyone reads the document.
This doesn't guarantee a productive meeting. Someone could hijack the conversation to talk about God knows what. However, it ensures every meeting has a purpose and everyone is prepared.
Compare this to recurring status check-ins.
My experience is that most people show up late and unprepared. Because the meetings are ineffective, people try to multi-task, further reducing their effectiveness. Sometimes a leader drives the meeting, but often it becomes a watercooler conversation. Half the people on each call may not need to be there, but continue to show up because it's on the calendar.
Familiar?
It happens to almost everyone UNLESS you are extremely disciplined.
What's the solution?
You can double down and salvage a previously productive meeting.
Or take the Shopify approach: purge everything periodically.
Delete all recurring meetings.
Resist the urge to replace them! See if a meeting can be an email update or occasional async Slack conversation.
If you need to add something back in, call it something new with a new agenda. Don’t just add everyone back. Be strategic. Don’t just pick 30 or 60 minutes because they’re the defaults. Keep it to a tight 15. Maintain a 1 meeting, 1 goal focus.
It's not a cure-all, but it's better than limping along doing the same ole same ole for the past 1-10 years.
Sometimes you need to change things up. A change of attitude, posture, and positive pressure can make a meeting more creative and effective.