Meeting Norms
The Meeting Constitution
A ready-to-use framework for defining meeting norms — who speaks first, how dissent is handled, and when a meeting should be redesigned or retired.
Most teams have unspoken rules.
Unspoken meeting norms create friction: the same people dominate, decisions vanish into chat threads, and recurring meetings outlive their purpose. This framework makes the rules explicit — so meetings become repeatable, fair, and easier to improve.
What's inside
Who speaks first
A simple convention that opens conversation without defaulting to the loudest voice in the room.
How dissent is handled
A process for surfacing disagreement before a decision is locked, without derailing the meeting.
What requires a meeting vs. an async update
Clear criteria that help teams decide when real-time discussion is worth the cost.
How decisions get documented
A lightweight record of what was decided, who owns it, and who was informed.
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