The meeting that doesn't eat your day: a complete system with AI

Here's a list of my meetings for the last [4] weeks: name, day,
time, length, number of participants, and my role (organizer /
invited).

[paste list]

Run an audit:
1. Calculate total meeting time and convert it into person-hours
   (length × number of participants). Rank meetings by person-hours,
   not by length.
2. Find recurring meetings that, over the tracked period, happened
   every time with the same group of people — for each, note how
   many person-hours a year it consumes.
3. Flag meetings that overlap in topic or participants and could
   probably be merged.
4. List the days where I don't have an uninterrupted block longer
   than 90 minutes between meetings, and count how many such days
   I have.
5. For each recurring meeting, suggest one of: CANCEL /
   SHORTEN / THIN OUT (less often) / REPLACE WITH A WRITTEN FORMAT /
   KEEP — with a one-sentence reason.

Calculate points 1-4 from the data I pasted. Point 5 is a proposal
for a decision, not a conclusion — for each one, also note the risk
that cancelling it would bring.

We're cancelling the recurring meeting [name], [frequency],
[length], [number] of participants.

What I think it was for:
[description — what information circulated there, what got
decided there, what people would miss]

Propose a replacement:
1. Which written or asynchronous format covers each of the
   functions I listed — for each one, the concrete form, who
   handles it, how often, and where it gets written down.
2. A template for that written format: what questions people
   should fill in, at most 5, phrased so the answer can't be
   dodged with one sentence saying work is “in progress.”
3. What stays uncovered, and when that will still make an
   actual meeting necessary — a one-sentence trigger, not a
   recurring slot.
4. A 6-sentence announcement for the team: what we're
   cancelling, why, where the information will come from
   instead and starting when, and what people need to do.

For point 4, write it plainly and without apologizing. Don't
promise anything on my behalf — where my decision is needed,
leave [FILL IN].

Prepare a meeting agenda. My input is scattered material —
notes, fragments from emails, and things carried over from
last time.

Meeting: [name], length [60] minutes, [recurring / one-off].
Participants and roles: [name — role, …]
What I want to be true after the meeting: [goal in one sentence]

Material:
[paste notes, excerpts from threads, unfinished items from
last time]

Build an agenda where every item is phrased as a question to
be answered or a decision to be made, not a topic.
For each item, give:
- the question or decision in one sentence
- type: DECISION / INPUT (collecting opinions, deciding later)
  / INFORMATION
- who introduces the item and who the decision-maker is
  (one name)
- a time limit in minutes
- what participants need to know beforehand to be able to
  decide

Put decision items in the first half. Keep the total time
10 minutes shorter than the meeting's length.

List separately:
a) items that, based on the material, don't need a meeting
   and can be resolved in writing — suggest a form for each
b) items where the material doesn't make clear who decides

Review this agenda as someone who's going to be sitting in
the meeting, and list what you find. Don't rewrite anything.

1. Items phrased as a topic, not as a question or a decision.
2. Items where it isn't clear how we'll know they're closed.
3. Participants who aren't touched by any agenda item — for
   each one, note which items they do relate to, and whether
   it would be enough to invite them just for that part.
4. Items that require material that doesn't exist yet.
5. An estimate of whether the time limits are realistic given
   the number of participants and the item's complexity; where
   they aren't, say why.

Agenda:
[paste]

Prepare materials for the meeting [name], happening [date].
Participants: [names and roles]. Decisions that need to be
made: [list from the agenda].

Materials:
[paste documents, numbers, email threads, analysis results]

Write materials that read in under 5 minutes:
1. Current state in at most 8 sentences — what's changed
   since last time.
2. For each decision item from the agenda: what the problem
   is, the realistic options (2 sentences each), what argues
   for and against each, and what needs to be known to decide.
3. The numbers the decision rests on — in a table, with a
   source for each figure.
4. Three questions participants should answer for themselves
   before the meeting.

Rules:
- work exclusively from the material I pasted
- don't add numbers or conclusions that aren't in the material;
  where a figure is missing, write [MISSING: what]
- no recommendation on which option to pick — that's what the
  meeting is for
- no introduction and no closing summary, just the content

Here's the agenda for a [60]-minute meeting with [7]
participants.

Split the time across items and return a table:
item | type | minutes | why that much | what to do if time runs out

Rules for splitting:
- decision items get more time than information items
- for an item where every participant needs to speak, budget
  realistically for [1] minute per person plus time for a
  wrap-up
- put 3 minutes at the start for recapping last time's action
  items
- leave 5 minutes at the end for going through tasks and
  deadlines
- leave 10 percent of the time as an unallocated buffer

In the “what to do if time runs out” column, write a concrete
procedure: close by vote / push to next time / delegate to two
people outside the meeting / [name] decides alone by [deadline].

The minutes must add up to the meeting's length.

For each decision item on this agenda, prepare two things:

1. A CLOSING QUESTION — one sentence that ends the item so
   the answer is a decision, not another round of discussion.
   It must name the concrete options being chosen between.
2. A FALLBACK — what I do if consensus still doesn't happen
   even after the closing question: who decides alone, by
   when, and what they need for it.

For each item, also add one sentence I should NOT say, because
it reopens the discussion (typically a general question asking
for opinions).

Agenda:
[paste]

From the attached transcript, produce notes organized by the
agenda I'm attaching, not chronologically.

For each agenda item, give:
- what was decided (one sentence, stated as fact), who decided
  it, and who explicitly agreed
- if no decision was made, write NOT CLOSED and what's needed
  to close it, who owns getting it done, and by when
- tasks that came out of the item: action with a verb | one
  owner | deadline

At the end, add three sections:
ITEMS NOT DISCUSSED — what from the agenda never got opened
OFF AGENDA — what was discussed that wasn't on the agenda
NO OWNER — what needs doing but nobody took it

Work exclusively from the transcript. Where a deadline or
owner wasn't stated, write NO DEADLINE STATED / OWNER UNCLEAR
— don't guess.

Agenda:
[paste]

Transcript:
[paste]

Here are the notes from the last meeting and what I know
about the status of the tasks.

Notes from [date]:
[paste]

What's happened since then (emails, messages, status in the
task list):
[paste]

Prepare an opening block for today's meeting:
1. A table of last time's tasks: task | owner | deadline |
   status (DONE / IN PROGRESS / NOT STARTED / STATUS UNKNOWN)
2. Overdue tasks, sorted by how long they've been overdue.
3. Decisions from last time that have since turned out to be
   contested or that something has cast doubt on — quoting
   what raised the doubt.
4. Open items from last time that need closing today, sorted
   by urgency.
5. Three questions to open the meeting with.

Where I don't have status information, write STATUS UNKNOWN
and add it to the list of things to ask about — don't assume
it's done.

Every [Thursday at 8:00 AM], prepare material for the
afternoon meeting [name].

Steps:
1. Find the latest notes from this meeting in [storage /
   folder].
2. Go through my mail since the date of those notes and find
   messages relevant to the tasks listed in them.
3. For each task, determine a status from the messages found:
   DONE / IN PROGRESS / NO MENTION.
4. List overdue tasks, with the most recent mention, its
   date, and who sent it, for each.
5. Attach three questions to open the meeting with.

Don't send anything and don't message anyone — give the
output to me only.
Where you're not sure of the status, write NO MENTION, don't
guess.

I'm attaching notes from the [name] meeting for the last
[3] months.

Analyze the series:
1. Topics that came back three times or more without ever
   getting closed — for each, note when it first appeared and
   what's blocking closure.
2. Decisions that were later changed or reversed — both
   versions and the gap between them.
3. Task distribution by owner: who gets how many, and whose
   deadlines keep getting pushed.
4. The ratio of decisions to total meeting time — how many
   decisions per hour of meeting.
5. Items that show up on every agenda and never lead to a
   decision — candidates for dropping or moving to another
   format.

For each finding, cite which notes it's based on.
Where there isn't enough material for a conclusion, say so
instead of guessing.