Ep 147: Meetings that Move Projects Forward
SUMMARY
If your team walks out of meetings feeling busy but not better, you're not alone. Most creative team meetings are just status updates in disguise — and they're quietly killing your momentum. In this episode of Creativity Made Easy, Dustin Pead breaks down the three-part framework for running creative meetings that actually unblock your team, move decisions forward, and get work done.
Here's the hard truth: the majority of creative meetings are structured around updating each other, not advancing the work. Teams spend 50 out of 60 minutes reviewing where things stand, and only 10 minutes (if that) making actual decisions. The result? Projects get discussed, but they don't get done. Team members leave unclear on next steps, ownership is fuzzy, and the same issues get re-litigated week after week.
The fix isn't more meetings — it's better ones.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
⚡️ Meetings should unblock work, not just report on it. Structure your agenda around blockers, decisions, and next actions — not status updates.
⚡️ Every meeting ends with: Who does what, by when? Vague takeaways kill momentum. Assign ownership and deadlines before the meeting closes.
⚡️ Fewer people in the room = better decisions. Only invite team members who are part of a blocker or a solution. Protect everyone else's time.
NOTABLE QUOTES
💬 "Most creative team meetings are status updates just disguised as progress." — Dustin Pead
💬 "Stop having meetings just to talk about the work. Make sure meetings are meetings to unblock the work, to make decisions, and to assign next actions — then get back to the actual creating." — Dustin Pead
💬 "We're not gonna park here. We're either gonna decide or we're gonna delegate." — Dustin Pead
EPISODE RESOURCES
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TRANSCRIPT
So most creative team meetings are status updates just disguised as progress. But real progress in meetings identifies blockers, makes decisions, and assigns next steps — then ends. Today we're going to get into the meeting that actually moves projects forward. Let's get into it.
Welcome back to Creativity Made Easy, y'all. I'm your host, Dustin Pead — creative process coach, consultant, partner, all the things. Look, there's a lot going on in my world right now and in the world of Chief Creative, and we've got some very exciting things coming up. But I didn't want to delay getting another episode out to you, so I wanted to get into today's episode talking about the meetings that move projects forward.
The problem that I see often with my clients and other creatives that I'm talking to all the time is that meetings just stay on the calendar continuously. We just show up and we don't know why. They feel productive sometimes during the meeting, but afterward there's nothing that actually moves the project forward. We spend an hour in meetings where 50 minutes of that is just updates, and then 10 minutes is actual decision-making. That leaves you and your team super frustrated. It leaves everybody unclear on what their next steps are and who owns what. And so the projects get discussed, but the projects don't necessarily get advanced.
What I want to offer you today is a simple solution to help your creative meetings actually move the project forward.
What I'm not saying is every meeting should get right down to business first. Take a few minutes, recognize there are real people in the room with real struggles and real things going on. Take a few moments there — but keep those moments tight. Otherwise, those moments can derail the entire rest of the meeting.
So with the three parts of a good creative meeting — what I call Creative Meeting Success — it's going to look like this. First, you're going to tackle blockers. Then you're going to handle decisions that are required. And from there, you're going to determine next actions. Let's break those down.
First: tackle the blockers. This is where we ask, "Hey, what's stuck and preventing you from progress on this?" It's a great open-ended question because it assumes there already are things getting them stuck and preventing their progress. Don't discuss solutions yet — this is just surfacing all the blockers. Get them all up on the table. Write down all the problems.
Examples might be: we're waiting on client approval, we're missing the necessary assets, or we're unclear on what direction to take this project. Those are project blockers. Identify those first. Take 15 minutes if you need to, to really identify those blockers. That will set the rest of your meeting up for success.
Once you do that, we move on to the second part: decisions required. We ask things like, "What needs a decision today in order to unblock some of the blockers we just named?" Are there decisions we can make right here in this moment? Is there information we can gather? Are there assets we can get? Make the decision, or assign the decision owner with a deadline right then and there. There's no parking lot. We're not going to just park here. We're either going to decide or we're going to delegate.
And then from there, every great meeting ends with: now what are we going to do? Every meeting ends with who is doing what and by when. I'll say it again — who does what, by when? That "by when" is the D.U.E. date. So who does the D.O., by what, by when — D.U.E. No vague "we'll work on that" or "we'll get that covered soon." None of that. Who does what, by when.
Take 10 minutes at the end of your meeting — and now you have a 45-minute meeting where you spent 15 minutes identifying blockers, 20 minutes making decisions required to unblock those things, and 10 minutes to determine next actions. Document those next actions in your project management system so they don't get lost right then, right there in the meeting, before you close your laptop and move on.
Now there are a couple of key rules I want you to remember to keep these creative meetings from failing — from falling into the trap of just another meeting.
Number one: no status updates. You can read those before the meeting. Status updates can be in an email, they can be in Slack — there's no need to have another meeting just for status updates.
Also: no attendees without action items. If you're not blocking or being blocked, or providing solutions, then you don't need to attend the meeting. Too many people attend too many meetings that aren't necessary for them. Reevaluate who you have in your meetings.
And another rule: action items must be assigned before adjournment. The meeting doesn't end until every blocker that's come up has an owner. No status updates. No one attends the meeting unless they are part of the problem or the solution. And the action items have to be assigned before the meeting ends.
When assigning things, we use the DO vs. DUE Framework. That's where we identify when it's D.U.E. so that we can work backwards and create the margin before it's due. Now we know when we're actually going to sit down and D.O. this thing. You're going to identify your D.U.E. dates — your deadlines — but you're also going to schedule your D.O. dates. That is proactive work. That is planning the work so that next time you sit down, all you have to do is work the plan.
The Future You Framework — the Future You note-taking methodology — plays a big role here as well. Meeting notes document decisions for your future self so that you don't have to re-litigate the same issue over and over again. Use an audio recorder on your phone, use PLOD if you're meeting online, use something like a Fathom note taker or Otter, or something like that to take good notes and have those transcripts at your ready when you need them. Put them in your calendar for the next meeting so that everybody can reference the previous meeting. Whatever you need to do — provide that clarity.
So this week, let's just go through your meetings. What percent is status versus what percent is actual decision-making? At your next meeting, try that blocker-decision-action method. What are the blockers? What are the decisions we need to make? What are the actions we need to take? Assign those. Just do that for one meeting. Try it out. And I promise you, you'll see a massive result.
Stop having meetings just to talk about the work. Make sure meetings are meetings to unblock the work, to make decisions, and to assign next actions — then get back to the actual creating.
Like I mentioned at the top of this short episode, we've got some amazing news coming up that I cannot wait to share with you. We're still fine-tuning all the little kinks, but stay tuned. We're coming up on our 150th podcast episode, and I hope on that episode I'm able to share that news with you.
If there's anything that we can do for you — me, myself, or my business, Chief Creative Consultants — feel free to reach out. You can email me at dp@dustinpead.com. I would love to help you and your team unleash your best work yet.