How it works
Six answers decide the verdict, using our rules of thumb: hard news and relationship-building get a meeting; one-way updates become an email; decisions and ideas that people can read about first become a shared doc with a deadline; anything urgent that needs talk becomes a 15-minute call. The rules are written out in full below.
The cost is people times hours times the cost of one person-hour. The default, $49, is the average US employer cost for an hour of work in June 2026, wages plus benefits (BLS). Use your own figure if you have it. A repeating meeting is multiplied by 52, 26 or 12 a year.
Worked example: 8 people, 60 minutes, every other week, $49 an hour: $392 a meeting, $10,192 a year.
The rules
The table runs top to bottom; the first row that matches gives the verdict.
| When | Verdict | Reason shown |
|---|---|---|
| Hard news or sensitive feedback | Meeting | Hard news deserves a voice and a face, not an inbox. |
| Build a relationship (kickoff, 1:1, team time) | Meeting | Relationships are built in conversation. |
| Share an update, and no back-and-forth | A one-way update reads faster than it can be said. | |
| Share an update, a few questions | Send it as an email and invite questions by a set day. | |
| Needed today, with some or lots of talk | Short call | It can't wait and needs talk: a short call beats a thread. |
| Make a decision, with lots of debate | Meeting | A real decision with real debate: meet, decide, write it down. |
| Make a decision, can be read first | Async doc | Share the options in writing and ask for a decision by a date. |
| Make a decision, otherwise | Short call | Bring the options, decide in 15 minutes. |
| Get ideas or feedback, can be read first | Async doc | Ideas come out better written than on the spot. |
| Work through a problem, lots of talk | Meeting | Hard problems are where meetings earn their keep. |
| Anything else that can be read first | Async doc | People can read and reply in their own time. |
| Anything else | Short call | Keep it short: 15 minutes with only the people who must be there. |
Questions people ask
- How do I know if a meeting should be an email?
- If it's a one-way update, or people could read something and reply in writing, it can usually be an email or a shared doc. Meetings earn their place for hard news, relationships, and problems or decisions that need real back-and-forth. The rules here are our rule of thumb.
- How much does a meeting cost?
- Multiply the number of people by the hours and by what an hour of their time costs. With the US average employer cost of about $49 an hour including benefits (BLS, June 2026), a 30-minute meeting with six people costs about $147, or about $7,644 a year if it's weekly.
- What hourly rate should I use?
- Your organisation's real figure if you know it. Otherwise a yearly salary divided by 2,080 working hours gives the pay alone; the BLS figure used by default also counts benefits.
- How do I decline a meeting politely?
- Thank the organiser, name what the meeting is for, and offer a written alternative: an update now, or a doc with replies by a set day. The verdict above writes that email for you.
- Should meetings be 25 or 50 minutes?
- Shorter is the habit worth keeping: 25 instead of 30, 50 instead of 60. The spare minutes give people a break before their next meeting, and the verdict suggests it for meetings of an hour or more.
- What does a weekly meeting cost per year?
- Its cost times 52. Eight people for an hour at $49 an hour is $392 a meeting, or $20,384 a year if it's weekly. Set the repeat above to weekly and the cost card shows the yearly figure.
- Is my information sent anywhere?
- Your answers stay on this page, and your rate is saved in this browser.