Academic Meetings: A Productivity Drain

Academic meetings are often seen as a necessary part of the job, but in reality, many of them are a waste of time. They drive me absolutely mad. They don’t lead to decisions, nor do they move your work forward. Instead, they consume hours that could be better spent on research, writing, or professional skills development. Why are academic meetings so counterproductive?

The Myth of Collegial Meetings

Academia is built on the idea of collaboration and collegiality, but too often, this leads to meetings that feel like a performance rather than a productive exchange of ideas. As I was preparing for another project, I came across a quote from Thomas Sowell that made me laugh, because it hit a nerve: "The least productive people are usually the ones who are most in favour of holding meetings."This rings true for academia, where meetings are often called not to make decisions but to discuss what’s already been decided. Decisions are often made elsewhere—whether at a departmental level or higher up in the university’s hierarchy—and meetings are just a formality to make it appear as though opinions are being canvassed.

The ‘Regulatory Meetings’ Trap

In many universities, particularly in the UK, academic meetings such as exam boards and boards of studies serve as an example of what I call regulatory meetings. These meetings are a relic from the past, where staff were actively involved in decision-making. Now, in most cases, the decisions have already been made by a computer or an administrator, and the meeting serves only to read out numbers or confirm predetermined outcomes. In my own experience, I’ve spent hours in exam boards that didn’t make any decisions, because everything was already automated. Yet, we were still required to sit in these meetings, often for hours on end, and review student grades that had already been decided. This waste of time—where no meaningful decisions were made—was a huge source of frustration.

Why Meetings Are Not Productive

The core issue with academic meetings is that no work gets done during them. They often involve listening to updates, reviewing numbers, or having discussions that don’t lead anywhere. In reality, meetings are not where work happens. True productivity happens in solo work—in quiet moments of research, writing, and planning. Meetings in academia can feel like an endless cycle of busy work, with little to no tangible output. They give the illusion of productivity but rarely result in anything substantial.

Time Wasted in Meetings

Here’s the real issue: time in meetings is time you’re not writing or researching. Every hour spent in a meeting could have been used to write a section of your paper, analyse your research, or prepare a grant proposal. If you’re spending your week in endless meetings, ask yourself—what could you have done with that time instead? Let’s say you spend five hours in meetings each week. That’s five hours of writing, five hours of thinking, five hours of deep work lost. This is time you’ll never get back, and when you tally up the hours across a semester or year, it becomes a huge drain achieving meaningful progress in your career.

The ‘Busy Work’ Fallacy

Why do so many people love meetings? The truth is, meetings feel like work, even though they’re often just busy work. When people can’t manage their time effectively or don’t know how to prioritise, they opt for meetings because it feels like they’re doing something.

But meetings are not real work. They take up time and energy, yet nothing is produced from them. People who spend all their time in meetings aren’t the ones who are making meaningful progress in their careers—they’re caught in a cycle of pseudo-productivity.

If you are ready to break out of this endless busywork, head here:

USE TIME FOR WHAT MATTERS
 

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