SOP: Async doc vs live meeting — the decision gate

SOP: Async doc vs live meeting — the decision gate

Run this before you book any recurring or ad-hoc meeting.

Stage 1 — Score the request (owner: meeting requester)
☐ Needs real-time back-and-forth to converge? (debate, negotiation)
☐ Touches a sensitive or emotional topic?
☐ Fewer than 5 people, all in 3 overlapping time zones?

Stage 2 — Route
☐ 2+ boxes checked → meeting. Write an agenda with a decision to make.
☐ 0-1 checked → async doc. Status, FYI, and reviews are always async.

Stage 3 — Guardrails (owner: requester)
☐ Async: set a comment deadline and a named decider.
☐ Live: cap at 25 min, assign a notetaker, post a written decision after.

Tradeoff: meetings buy speed of convergence and cost everyone's focus block. Async buys focus and costs latency. Pick on purpose.

Trigger: any "let's hop on a call." Done-when: routed and the decider is named.

Save this. Run it every time.