How to Stop 'Other Business' from Killing Your Meeting Productivity

Ever notice how the best ideas in meetings get pushed to 'other business' at the end, when everyone's exhausted and checking their phones? You're not alone. If your important topics keep getting buried under endless discussion, it's time to bring them back to life with timeboxing.

Why Important Topics Get Buried in Meetings

Here's the truth: when time is open-ended, discussion expands to fill every available minute. That fascinating debate about coffee machine placement? It somehow takes 20 minutes. Meanwhile, the strategic initiative that could transform your quarter gets squeezed into the last five minutes—or worse, postponed again.

This isn't a people problem. It's a structure problem. Without clear time limits, meetings naturally drift toward whatever's easiest or most comfortable to discuss, leaving the important-but-challenging topics for 'later'. And 'later' rarely comes.

The Power of Timeboxing Your Meeting Agenda

Timeboxing is your solution. It's simple: assign a specific time limit to each agenda item before the meeting starts. Think of it as creating organizer trays for the junk drawer that is 'other business'.

When you timebox, you're doing two powerful things:

• You're protecting important topics from being crowded out by urgent-but-trivial discussions
• You're giving your team permission to move on when time's up, preventing those energy-draining marathon debates

The result? Important work stops being an afterthought and becomes the actual point of the meeting.

How to Structure a Timeboxed Meeting

Ready to transform your meetings? Here's your new structure:

Start with a one-line purpose. What's the single outcome this meeting exists to achieve? Write it at the top of your agenda. If you can't articulate it, you probably don't need the meeting.

List 2-4 agenda items with timeboxes. Be realistic. 'Strategy review: 15 mins' works. 'Solve all our problems: 10 mins' doesn't. Put your most important topic first, while everyone's fresh.

Reserve a slot for the important-but-not-urgent. That big-picture discussion you keep postponing? Give it 10-15 minutes in the middle of the agenda. Stop letting it live in 'other business' limbo.

Assign an owner for each item. Who's responsible for leading the discussion and capturing the outcome? Name them. This simple act dramatically increases accountability.

Finish with next steps and dates. Spend the last five minutes confirming who's doing what by when. No vague promises allowed.

The Results You'll See from Timeboxed Meetings

Implement this structure a few times and you'll notice the shift. Meetings become shorter—often 30% shorter. Outcomes become clearer. And those 'we'll get to it next time' promises? They start turning into actual progress.

Your team will feel it too. There's something energising about a meeting that respects everyone's time and actually moves work forward. Instead of leaving feeling drained, people leave feeling focused.

The transformation isn't magic—it's structure. And structure is what turns scattered meetings into productive ones.

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