How to Make a Timeboxed Event
                     How to Make a Timeboxed Event More Effect
ive?
How do we better utilize our time attending an insane 
number of meetings?
Coaches get this asked a lot. While little can be done 
about the number of meetings just like driving in bumper 
to bumper traffic, we can surely improve the in-car time 
utilization!
 
To make the situation worse, we are in the middle of a 
pandemic, and one thing that we all have experienced is 
the spike in the sheer number of meetings. What makes 
this situation more annoying is the purposeless, 
lacklustre, voice dropping due to poor internet 
connections and an absolute lack of timeboxing sense in 
a virtual environment.
Those who are applying scrum have to deal with the 
additional pain of  all the events being timeboxed. Below is 
an estimate of the time spent across various events based 
on the sprint size. Sprint Size
Meetings 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week
Sprint Planning 2 Hrs 4 Hrs 6 Hrs 8 Hrs
Daily Scrum 15 Min 15 Min 15 Min 15 Min
Refinement 30 Min 1-2 Hrs 3-5 Hrs 5-8 Hrs
Review 1 Hrs 2 Hrs 3 Hrs 4 Hrs
Retrospective 45 Min 1.5 Hrs 2 Hr 15 Min 3 Hrs
* Timeboxing for Refinement event is not mentioned in 
scrum guide and is purely based on experience
 
So how does one rationalize the time spent on these events? How 
does one make best use of the time allotted, focusing on keeping 
the event productive and motivate team members to contribute 
effectively and efficiently so that everyone’s time is better utilized?
Below are some of the things which have worked for us.
 
• All the events should be booked in advance and we should emphasize 
invitees on accepting or rejecting the event. No action leads to confusion 
on their participation
• It’s Ok to wait for people if they haven’t shown up on time but that should 
be not more than 2 minutes. 
• We should have a facilitator of the meeting and if there is none then by 
default the organiser of the event should facilitate
• Try to keep 4 parts of your meeting –
Header – To read the objective of meeting, the ground 
rules, expected takeaways and also if any participant 
want to add something more to agenda
Body – This is where we discuss the agenda items in 
detail and fulfil them.
Tail – This is about concluding the takeaways of the 
meeting. Checking if we have fulfilled the agenda and 
the mutual agreements
Next steps – In case we are vouching to meet again 
then we need to talk about what could be the agenda 
of that meeting
• We believe that any meeting without an agenda should be rejected 🙂
• Many times, we get stuck in endless loop and in that case the facilitator 
should be empowered to cut it and let people get aligned with agenda 
again
• Also, try to find a ‘no meeting zone’ where a stretch of 5-6 hours in a day 
should be for individuals to do their ‘work’. For example, we can insist all 
stakeholders keep meetings before 11 am or after 5 pm so that the team 
members could have productive time for finishing their daily commitments.
PS – At few customers, we have kickstarted ‘No 
meeting Fridays’. We all need some breathing 
space for ourselves.
 
Wishing you all the best in your Agile Journey!
 
Do leave your comments, we will love to hear 
your experience and unique perspectives.