meetingsucks.com left here by anarlog

a few things written during a very productive meeting

Tuesday   /   9:00 am01

Meeting notes

* generous description

Subject: weekly sync the same meeting, again

Today's agenda:

find out what today's agenda is.

  1. “Let's give everyone a couple of minutes.”
  2. Someone asks why we're here.
    Strong start.
  3. Recap of the last meeting.
    Which was a recap of the one before.
  4. “I think we're all saying the same thing.”
    We are not.
  5. The actual question arrives.
  6. “Let's take this offline.”

Decision: have another meeting.

Fictional meeting.
Suspiciously familiar.

30 min × 6 people
= 3 hours.

Next time, count
everyone's time.

Checked the numbers   /   Aug 10 – Sep 6, 202602

Some calendars
need extra pages.

A sample of recordings
from Anarlog users, over four weeks.

Hours and hours recorded.

Average recordings per week
All regular recorders 5.2
The busiest 10% 16.2

A meaningful share of users were active in at least 3 of 4 weeks.
Includes the busiest slice.

9.6 hours a week
for that busiest tenth.

How long was “a quick one”?
5–15 min 18.2%
15–30 min 31.2%
30–60 min 35.3%
1–2 hours 13.6%
2–4 hours 1.7%

Median length: 30.2 minutes.

Source: Anarlog analytics in PostHog. How we counted ↓

Aug 10 – Sep 6, 202603

When the
recording starts.

63.5% of recordings
started Tuesday–Thursday.

Estimated local time · 2-hour blocks.
Tap a square, or use the arrow keys.

local
hour		Mon18.2%Tue21%Wed21.2%Thu21.3%Fri16.6%Sat0.9%Sun0.8%
00:00
02:00
04:00
06:00
08:00
10:00
12:00
14:00
16:00
18:00
20:00
22:00
share of recordings (%)more

Tuesday, 10 am–noon: 5.3% of recordings.

Striped: fewer than 10 contributors; share withheld.

How we counted

Aug 10 – Sep 6, 2026. Four complete Monday–Sunday weeks, assigned using each recording's estimated local start time.

We counted completed recordings in the stable Anarlog desktop app lasting 5 minutes to 4 hours. Known internal accounts, recovered captures, and entries without a timezone were excluded. Exact duplicate completion records were counted once.

A recording start is estimated from its completion timestamp minus its reported duration. Each start is converted with the timezone attached to that event, including daylight saving time. That timezone comes from IP location; VPNs and travel can make it inaccurate.

Regular recorders had a qualifying recording in at least three of the four weeks. Their weekly average divides the four-week total by four, including a week with no recordings. The busiest tenth is ranked by recording count.

The heatmap and length chart use all qualifying recordings in the sample. Duration bands include their lower limit; the last includes four hours. Percentages are rounded. Each visible group has at least 10 contributors; small heatmap groups are withheld and empty squares mean none observed.

This is a snapshot of recordings reported to Anarlog's analytics. It misses unrecorded meetings and telemetry-disabled use. A recording can also be a solo note or part of a meeting. These numbers cannot tell us whether a meeting was useful.

Only aggregate statistics are included in this page. No names, account IDs, meeting titles, or transcripts. The site uses a fixed snapshot, not a live connection to PostHog.

Later. Had some coffee.04

Okay, all meetings suck.

That seems unfair.

Some conversations are worth closing the laptop for.

Things I'm keeping:

  • A 1:1 where someone finally says what's wrong.
  • Making a decision we've been stuck on all week.

The problem is the meeting that exists because someone
clicked “repeat weekly” in 2021.

“It's Tuesday” isn't a reason.

Things to try next Tuesday:

  • Put the question in the invite.“Can we ship on Thursday?” gives us something to prepare for.
  • Keep the guest list small.Invite the people whose input you need. Send everyone else the decision.
  • Leave when we're done.Solved it in 12 minutes? The remaining 18 minutes will cope.
  • Give recurring meetings an end date.Book four weeks, then check whether we need a fifth.

An invite can retire without a farewell meeting.

Note to future me05

Please write down
what we actually decided.

Three weeks from now, this will be no help:

“Discussed launch. Team to follow up.”

Follow up on what, past me?

Try this instead:

What: launch on September 17.

Why: signup still fails on mobile.

Who: Alex fixes signup by September 15.
Priya retests September 16.

If signup still fails: pick a new date.

Imaginary launch.

Keep the decision and the reason with the notes.
Read them before reopening the discussion.

P.S. We make Anarlog.

It's an open-source notepad for meetings.
It transcribes the conversation and drafts a summary you can edit.
Your notes stay on your device by default.
No bot joins the call.

Giving the weekly sync a purpose is still our job.

give Anarlog a try (or peek at the code)

Closing my laptop now.