The MeetingMortem journal
Notes on the practice.
Field notes, guides, and the thinking behind MeetingMortem.
Latest · 6 min read
How to Say No in a Meeting: The 'Yes...Damn!' Effect and Why You Keep Volunteering for Work You Don't Have Time For
Learn how to say no in a meeting without sounding difficult. The 'yes...damn' effect explains why you keep volunteering for work you don't have time to do.
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More from the journal
- 02
Being Interrupted in Meetings: Why Getting Talked Over Feels Like Being Erased, and How to Hold the Floor
Being interrupted in meetings stings more than it should. Here is the turn-taking science behind why people cut you off, and how to keep the floor without a fight.
2026-10-26
6 min read
- 03
Awkward Silence in Meetings: Why Four Seconds Feels Like Rejection, and Why the Best Facilitators Wait Anyway
Awkward silence in meetings triggers a rejection response in about four seconds. Here's the research on why waiting through it gets better answers from everyone.
2026-10-26
7 min read
- 04
The Next-in-Line Effect: Why You Stop Listening in Meetings Right Before It's Your Turn to Speak
The next-in-line effect in meetings explains why you miss whatever is said right before your turn. The science of silent rehearsal, and how to actually hear your team.
2026-10-25
7 min read
- 05
Someone Took Credit for Your Idea in a Meeting? Cryptomnesia and Why They May Not Know They Did It
Someone took credit for my idea in a meeting, and they may not even know it. The psychology of cryptomnesia, and how to get your idea back without becoming the bitter one.
2026-10-25
7 min read
- 06
Left Out of Meetings at Work? Why Being Excluded From the Invite Hurts So Much, and What to Do With the Sting
Left out of meetings at work? Exclusion sets off the same alarm system as physical pain. Here's the science of the sting, and what to do in the hour after you notice.
2026-10-24
7 min read
- 07
How to Admit a Mistake in a Meeting: The Pratfall Effect and Why Being Wrong in Public Can Make People Trust You More
How to admit a mistake in a meeting without losing respect: the pratfall effect and the beautiful mess effect show why owning an error can make people trust you more.
2026-10-24
7 min read
- 08
Why Playing Devil's Advocate Doesn't Work in Meetings, and What Real Dissent Does Instead
Playing devil's advocate in meetings feels like rigor, but the research says role-played dissent rarely changes minds. Here's why, and what to do instead.
2026-10-23
7 min read
- 09
How to Run a Pre-Mortem Meeting: The Psychology of Imagining Your Project Already Failed
Learn how to run a pre-mortem meeting that brings out the doubts your team is too loyal to say aloud. Imagine the project has already failed, then ask what killed it.
2026-10-23
7 min read
- 10
Complaining in Meetings: Why One Gripe Becomes Twenty Minutes, and How to Break the Cycle
Complaining in meetings feels like honesty, but research shows one gripe reliably triggers the next. Here's how complaining cycles work, and how to break them.
2026-10-23
7 min read
- 11
Status Quo Bias in Meetings: Why the Idea Already in the Room Almost Always Wins
Status quo bias in meetings explains why good proposals lose to whatever you're already doing. Here's the science of inertia—and how to beat it.
2026-10-22
6 min read
- 12
Group Polarization in Meetings: Why Teams Leave More Extreme Than They Arrived
Group polarization in meetings turns mild leanings into bold commitments no one would make alone. Here's the psychology behind it, and how to catch it in time.
2026-10-22
7 min read
- 13
Why You Can't Get Anything Done Before a Meeting: The Psychology of Bounded Time
Why you can't get anything done before a meeting: the science of bounded time, how a 3 p.m. meeting quietly shrinks your whole afternoon — and how to win it back.
2026-07-12
6 min read
- 14
Confirmation Bias in Meetings: Why the Decision Was Made Before Anyone Walked In
Confirmation bias in meetings turns discussion into ratification. The science of why teams gather evidence for choices already made — and what actually changes minds.
2026-07-12
6 min read
- 15
Why You Can't Think Clearly in Meetings: Social Facilitation and the Hidden Cost of Being Watched
Ever find the perfect answer an hour after the meeting ends? Social facilitation explains why you can't think in meetings — and what actually fixes it.
2026-07-11
6 min read
- 16
The Illusory Truth Effect in Meetings: Why an Idea Repeated Enough Times Becomes a Fact
The illusory truth effect in meetings turns repeated claims into office facts no one checks — here's the psychology, and how to catch it before it shapes your roadmap.
2026-07-11
7 min read
- 17
Should This Meeting Have Been an Email? The Real Science Behind the Joke
Should this meeting have been an email? Communication science has an actual answer — a two-word test that tells you when to meet and when to just write it down.
2026-07-11
7 min read
- 18
The Fundamental Attribution Error in Meetings: Why You Judge Your Coworkers by Their Worst Hour
The fundamental attribution error in meetings makes you read a quiet colleague as disengaged and yourself as merely busy. The science of why — and how to stop.
2026-07-10
7 min read
- 19
Egocentric Bias in Meetings: Why Everyone Thinks They Talked the Least and Did the Most
Egocentric bias in meetings makes every person quietly certain they contributed more and spoke less than they did. Here's the memory glitch behind it — and the fix.
2026-07-10
7 min read
- 20
Hindsight Bias in Retrospectives: Why Every Meeting Postmortem Concludes It Was Obvious
Hindsight bias in retrospectives quietly rewrites what your team knew before the decision — turning an honest hard call into an obvious mistake. Here's how to stop it.
2026-07-09
7 min read
- 21
Emotional Contagion in Meetings: Why One Person's Bad Mood Quietly Rewrites the Room
Emotional contagion in meetings means moods spread faster than ideas — one tense voice can reshape a whole decision. Here's the science, and how to stop being a carrier.
2026-07-09
7 min read
- 22
The Spotlight Effect: Why You Overthink What You Said in a Meeting Long After Everyone Else Forgot
Why you overthink what you said in a meeting comes down to the spotlight effect—the bias that makes your stumbles feel unforgettable while everyone else has already moved on.
2026-07-08
6 min read
- 23
The IKEA Effect in Meetings: Why We Defend the Ideas We Built Ourselves
The IKEA effect explains why we defend our own ideas in meetings even when they stop making sense — and how to separate authorship from ownership so the best idea wins.
2026-07-08
6 min read
- 24
The Curse of Knowledge: Why the Person Who Knows the Most Is the Hardest to Follow in Meetings
The curse of knowledge in meetings explains why experts explain things badly: once you know something, you can't un-know it. Here's the mechanism and the fix.
2026-07-08
6 min read
- 25
Why Talkative People Seem Like Leaders in Meetings: The Babble Hypothesis
Why talkative people seem like leaders in meetings has less to do with what they say than how much they say it. Meet the babble hypothesis — and how to fix it.
2026-07-07
6 min read
- 26
Groupthink in Meetings: Why the Most Agreeable Teams Make the Worst Decisions
Groupthink in meetings makes smart teams choose badly when everyone agrees too quickly. Here's the psychology behind it—and how to build in the doubt that saves you.
2026-07-07
6 min read
- 27
Decision Fatigue in Meetings: Why Afternoon Meetings Make Worse Decisions
Decision fatigue in meetings explains why the same team that reasons carefully at 10 a.m. defaults, defers, and rubber-stamps by 4 p.m. — and how to schedule around it.
2026-07-06
7 min read
- 28
Authority Bias in Meetings: Why the Highest-Paid Person's Opinion Quietly Wins
Authority bias in meetings means the highest-paid person's opinion quietly wins. Here's the science of why teams defer—and how to design the deference out.
2026-07-06
6 min read
- 29
Why No One Remembers What Was Decided in Meetings: The Science of Team Memory
Why no one remembers what was decided in meetings: the next-in-line effect, transactive memory, and why five smart listeners leave with five different versions.
2026-07-04
6 min read
- 30
The Illusion of Transparency: Why Everyone Leaves the Same Meeting With a Different Version of It
The illusion of transparency in meetings convinces speakers they were understood and listeners that they understood. The psychology of the gap — and how to close it.
2026-07-04
7 min read
- 31
The True Cost of Meetings: Opportunity Cost Neglect, or Why an Hour Never Feels Expensive
Meetings feel free because no invoice ever arrives. Learn the true cost of meetings, the psychology of opportunity cost neglect, and how to make the price visible.
2026-07-03
6 min read
- 32
How to End a Meeting Effectively: The Peak-End Rule and Why the Last Five Minutes Matter Most
Learn how to end a meeting effectively. The peak-end rule shows the final minutes shape how everyone remembers the whole hour — and whether decisions stick.
2026-07-03
6 min read
- 33
Anchoring Bias in Meetings: Why the First Idea Spoken Sets the Whole Decision
Anchoring bias in meetings means the first number or idea spoken quietly sets the range for everything after. Here's the science — and how to break the anchor.
2026-07-03
7 min read
- 34
Why Video Calls Are So Exhausting: The Science of Zoom Fatigue
Why are video calls so exhausting? Stanford researchers named four mechanisms behind Zoom fatigue — close-up gaze, self-view, and more — and what actually helps.
2026-07-02
6 min read
- 35
The Sunk Cost Fallacy: Why Recurring Meetings Outlive Their Purpose
The sunk cost fallacy explains why recurring meetings never get cancelled long after they stop being useful. Learn the psychology and how to retire dead meetings.
2026-06-27
7 min read
- 36
Parkinson's Law: Why Every Meeting Expands to Fill the Full Hour
Why meetings always run the full hour, explained by Parkinson's Law. Learn how the time you book becomes the time you spend — and how to shrink it.
2026-06-27
7 min read
- 37
Why Group Brainstorming Produces Fewer Ideas: Production Blocking Explained
Why group brainstorming produces fewer ideas than people thinking alone — production blocking explained, plus the simple structure that gives a meeting its ideas back.
2026-06-26
7 min read
- 38
Why You Can't Focus After Back-to-Back Meetings: Attention Residue Explained
Attention residue is why you can't focus after back-to-back meetings — your mind stays stuck on the last call. Here's the science and how to clear it.
2026-06-24
7 min read
- 39
The Common Knowledge Effect: Why Meetings Rehash What Everyone Already Knows
The common knowledge effect explains why meetings rehash shared facts and bury the one detail that mattered. Learn the hidden profile problem and how to fix it.
2026-06-24
7 min read
- 40
Bikeshedding: Why Meetings Spend the Most Time on the Least Important Decisions
Bikeshedding in meetings explains why your team debates the coffee budget for an hour but approves a six-figure plan in minutes. Here's the mechanism — and the fix.
2026-06-23
7 min read
- 41
Why People Don't Speak Up in Meetings — and the Hidden Cost of the Silence
Why people don't speak up in meetings usually isn't apathy — it's psychological safety, evaluation apprehension, and anchoring. Here's what silence really costs you, and how to fix it.
2026-06-22
7 min read
- 42
Why Large Meetings Get Less Done: The Ringelmann Effect and the Hidden Math of Group Effort
Why large meetings get less done isn't about bad facilitation—it's the Ringelmann effect and social loafing. Learn the science of group effort and the fix.
2026-06-22
7 min read
- 43
The Abilene Paradox: Why Teams Agree to Decisions No One Actually Wants
The Abilene paradox explains why teams agree to decisions no one wants. Learn the mechanism behind false consensus in meetings—and how to surface real dissent before it's too late.
2026-06-22
7 min read
- 44
Why Meeting Action Items Don't Get Done — And How to Make Them Stick
Why meeting action items don't get done, explained through the psychology of diffusion of responsibility and implementation intentions — plus how to write follow-ups that actually happen.
2026-06-19
7 min read
- 45
Why Your Meetings Run Long: The Planning Fallacy and How to Fix Time Estimates
Meetings run long because of the planning fallacy—our brain's bias toward best-case time estimates. Learn the science of why and how to fix meeting time estimates.
2026-06-16
7 min read