I’ve started just flat out saying no to meetings where I’m not needed.

On very few occasions, the organizer will reach out to me and say “Hey can you come to this meeting?”

We’ll go back and forth on what they need from me, etc. I give them the answer on slack and they say, “Oh. Ok. I guess I don’t need the meeting.”

Works like 75% of the time.

The meetings where I’m really needed is if I have zero context and need different people to tell me their area of expertise. I limit those to 20 minutes and if they need more time, write it up with details so I can make a more informed decision.

It’s insane how many people just go to meetings because they were invited.