The spreadsheet
In early 2023 we added up every recurring status meeting across our old teams. Daily standups, weekly syncs, “quick check-ins” that were never quick. It came to 11 hours per person, per week.
Nobody hated their colleagues. They hated repeating the same update three times to three different groups.
Rule of thumb: if an update doesn’t need a reaction in the next hour, it doesn’t need a meeting.
What we cut
Daily standup call → async check-in by 10am
Weekly team sync → 25-minute fun sync, no status allowed
Monthly all-hands slides → Friday highlight reel
The Friday reel
Every Friday at 3pm, Wobble posts the week’s kudos, shipped work and one surprising stat. It takes two minutes to read and it’s the most-reacted message in our Slack.
“It’s the only Slack message I’ve ever seen people screenshot.”
— Jules, our co-founder
Results
Three months in, status meetings dropped from 11 hours to under 2 per person per week. Participation in check-ins sits at 92%. And yes — people still see each other, just for better reasons.
MO
Mia Okonkwo
Co-founder and CEO. Recovering meeting-holic. Writes about rituals, remote work and team culture.