3 Rules for More Productive Meetings

How often have had you attended a meeting with a short, sharp and focused approach by all in attendance, would have shaved half the time it eventually took to complete?  For a lot of business people one meeting then spawns another and on it goes.  To prevent what a I call the "meeting train", you can:

1. Keep the amount of attendees to 7. The Rule of 7 states that every attendee over 7 reduces the likelihood of making a good, quick and executable decision by 10%. Do the math and once you've hit 16 to 17 attendees your decision effectiveness is essentially zero (Mankins)!
2. Limit the time for most meetings to an hour.  Every additional minute generates costs in the form of unproductive time.  Try keep your meetings to between 30 or 45 minutes instead.
3. Use longer meetings sparingly. Create a new rule: any meetings scheduled to be 90 minutes or longer need senior approval