This all kind of happened naturally while I wasn’t looking but, in short, I have a hierarchy of meetings - specifically, what I name them.

A chat is usually short (15-30 minutes) and I’m not looking for any enormous details, but high-level stuff. Ideas. Thoughts. “Hey, what about…” types of things.

A discussion is a bit more serious, but will likely run 15-60 minutes. This is where we’re going to get together and really figure a few things out, and hopefully we’ll all know that we have other stuff to do when we’re done.

A meeting is serious. It’s 30-60 minutes. Something really needs attention. We’ve got to do Actual Work in the meeting and afterwards too.

The formality of each is reflected in its name, so I include that in invites when possible too.