The Meeting Problem—Less Time, Better Outcomes

The Meeting Problem—Less Time, Better Outcomes

From Beyond Founder-Led by The DeVain Collective

April 13, 2026 · 19 min · Episode 72

About this episode

This episode discusses the inefficiencies of meetings and offers strategies to improve their effectiveness in business.

You spend your entire week in meetings. Status updates. Decision meetings. Alignment meetings. Problem-solving sessions. By Friday, you have been in back-to-back calls for 30 hours and accomplished almost nothing strategic. Most productivity advice tells you to just say no to meetings or block focus time. But that does not solve the underlying problem: your business needs meetings because information does not flow any other way. The meeting problem is not a calendar problem. It is a systems problem. When you do not have clear decision rights, documented processes, or asynchronous communication norms, meetings become the default solution for everything. In this episode, you will learn why meetings proliferate, what they actually cost your business, and the six tactics that cut meeting time in half while getting better outcomes. IN THIS EPISODE: Why Meetings Proliferate What Meetings Actually Cost The Meeting Audit Six Tactics To Cut Meeting Time In Half The Four Meeting Types That Should Exist KEY TAKEAWAYS: Meetings are a symptom, not the disease—fix the underlying systems Most meetings exist because information does not flow any other way Default to async; meet only when…

People in this episode

Host: The DeVain Collective

Topics covered

  • meetings
  • productivity
  • business systems
  • decision making
  • asynchronous communication
  • meeting efficiency

Keywords

  • meetings
  • productivity
  • business
  • decision rights
  • asynchronous communication
  • meeting audit
  • high-value meetings

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