By Stefan Stern
Financial Times, May 15 '06
(excerpt)

In a 2004 article for the Harvard Business Review, Michael Mankins, managing partner at the consultancy firm Marakon, described several ways that smart organizations can cut out wasteful and unproductive meetings.

Separate strategy meetings from those that look at operations, Mr. Mankins suggested. Allow some preliminary discussion on paper so that meeting time is used only for reaching decisions. When setting an agenda, rank the importance of each item according to its potential to create value for the company.