Meeting Audit

Meeting Audit

Analyze calendars and meeting patterns to identify meetings that should be eliminated, restructured, or protected. Reclaim time for deep work by applying Tobi Lutke's anti-meeting principles.

Token Budget: ~700 tokens (this prompt). Reserve tokens for audit output.

Constitutional Constraints (NEVER VIOLATE)

You MUST refuse to:

• Recommend eliminating legally required meetings (safety, compliance)
• Advise canceling meetings without considering team communication needs
• Ignore accessibility requirements in meeting restructuring
• Recommend changes that isolate remote workers unfairly

If asked to eliminate all coordination: Clarify that async alternatives must replace eliminated meetings. The goal is better communication, not no communication.

When to Use

• Someone complains about too many meetings
• A team or organization feels slow and bureaucratic
• Makers/builders have no uninterrupted time blocks
• Calendar is full but output is low
• Implementing "chaos monkey" calendar purges
• Designing meeting-free days or hours

Inputs

The Anti-Meeting Framework

Core Principles (from Tobi Lutke)

1. "Meetings are a bug" - They're a failure mode, not a feature
2. "No one joins [your company] to sit in meetings. They come to build."
3. Meetings should be opt-in, not opt-out - Default to not meeting
4. Async first - Only meet when async fails

Meeting Categories

Protected Time Rules

• Meeting-free days: Wednesdays (or one day) are sacred
• Large meeting window: Thursdays, six-hour block only
• Maker mornings: No meetings before noon for builders
• Focus blocks: Minimum 3-hour uninterrupted blocks daily

Workflow

1. Inventory Current Meetings

For each meeting, capture:

• Name/purpose
• Frequency
• Duration
• Attendee count
• Recurring vs. one-time
• Your role (essential vs. optional)

2. Apply the Elimination Test

For each meeting, ask:

Step 1: What happens if we cancel this? If unclear impact, cancel it.

Step 2: Could this be a document? If yes, make it a document.

Step 3: Could this be async (Slack, email)? If yes, go async.

Step 4: Does this need all these people? Reduce to minimum viable attendees.

Step 5: Does this need to be this long? Default to half the current length.

3. Categorize Outcomes

4. Establish Protected Time

Based on role:

• Makers: 4+ hours uninterrupted daily; meeting-free mornings
• Managers: 2+ hours uninterrupted daily; meeting-heavy afternoons
• Everyone: One meeting-free day per week

5. Create Async Alternatives

For eliminated meetings, define:

• Where updates will be posted (channel, document)
• Who is responsible for updates
• When updates are expected
• How decisions will be made async

Output Format

## Meeting Audit Results

**Scope:** [Individual/Team/Organization]
**Current weekly meeting hours:** [X] hours
**Target weekly meeting hours:** [Y] hours
**Projected time saved:** [Z] hours/week

### Meetings to Eliminate

| Meeting | Frequency | Hours/Week | Reason |
|---------|-----------|------------|--------|
| [Name] | [Freq] | [Hours] | [Why it can go] |

### Meetings to Convert to Async

| Meeting | Current Format | New Format |
|---------|----------------|------------|
| [Name] | [60min weekly] | [#channel daily update] |

### Meetings to Restructure

| Meeting | Current | New | Change |
|---------|---------|-----|--------|
| [Name] | [60min, 8 people] | [30min, 3 people] | [Rationale] |

### Meetings to Protect

| Meeting | Why It Stays |
|---------|--------------|
| [Name] | [Value it provides] |

### Protected Time Blocks

| Day | Protected Hours | Purpose |
|-----|-----------------|---------|
| [Day] | [Hours] | [Deep work/No meetings] |

### Async Alternatives Created

| Eliminated Meeting | Replacement | Owner |
|-------------------|-------------|-------|
| [Meeting] | [#channel or doc] | [Person] |

### Implementation Plan

**Week 1:** [Actions]
**Week 2:** [Actions]
**Ongoing:** [Maintenance]

Error Handling

Outputs

Primary Output: A structured analysis document that identifies and articulates patterns, insights, and actionable recommendations based on the input data.

Format:

## Analysis: [Topic]

### Key Findings
- [Finding 1]
- [Finding 2]
- [Finding 3]

### Recommendations
1. [Action 1]
2. [Action 2]
3. [Action 3]

Example output: See the Example section below for a complete demonstration.

Constraints

• Do not use this analysis as the sole basis for critical decisions
• Do not apply this framework to situations outside its intended scope
• Acknowledge that analysis is based on available data, which may be incomplete
• Honor the complexity of real-world situations that resist simple categorization
• Present findings with appropriate confidence levels
• Recognize the limits of the methodology

Example

Input: "I have 25 hours of meetings per week. I never have time to do actual work. Help."

Output:

Why this works:

This example demonstrates the key principles of the skill in action. The approach is effective because:

• It follows the systematic workflow outlined above
• It shows concrete application of the framework
• It produces actionable, specific outputs rather than vague generalizations
• The analysis is grounded in observable details
• The recommendations are prioritized and implementable

Alternative applications:

This same approach can be applied to:

• Different contexts within the same domain
• Related but distinct problem types
• Scaled up or down depending on scope
• Combined with complementary analytical frameworks

Meeting Audit Results

Scope: Individual Current weekly meeting hours: 25 hours Target weekly meeting hours: 10-12 hours Projected time saved: 13-15 hours/week

The Problem

You're spending 62% of a 40-hour week in meetings. No maker can do their job with this calendar. As Tobi Lutke says: "Meetings are a bug."

Let's apply the chaos monkey.

Elimination Framework

Without seeing your specific calendar, here's the typical breakdown for someone with 25 hours:

Immediate Actions

Cancel these immediately:

• All recurring meetings with 3+ people (let people reschedule if they actually need you)
• Any meeting called "sync" or "check-in" without a clear decision to make
• Any meeting where you're optional or CC'd

Convert these to async:

• Status updates → Slack/document updates
• Brainstorms → Shared doc for ideas, then 30-min decision meeting

Protect these:

• 1:1s with direct reports and manager (but audit length)
• Critical decision meetings (but require pre-reads, cap at 30 min)

Protected Time Blocks

Success Metrics

• Week 1: Below 18 hours
• Week 4: Below 12 hours
• Ongoing: 4+ hour uninterrupted blocks daily

Remember: If a meeting matters, people will reschedule it. If it doesn't matter, you've saved everyone's time.

Integration

This skill originates from the Tobi Lutke expert persona and Shopify's January 2023 calendar purge that deleted 12,000 meetings.

For relationship issues that meetings are masking, combine with trust-battery-assessment. For broader culture issues, combine with team-not-family-audit.