In January we counted. The average person at Pixl spent 11 hours a week in recurring meetings. So we tried something a little reckless: we deleted all of them for 30 days.

The rules were simple. No recurring meetings of any kind. One-off calls were allowed if someone could explain, in a pixl, why a call was faster. Everything else moved async.

Week one was weird

People didn’t know when to post updates. A few of us over-recorded. By Thursday, a rhythm appeared: short morning pixls, threaded replies, and one big weekly recap from each team lead.

“I got my Tuesday afternoons back. I didn’t realise how much I missed them.” Rui Costa, Engineering

What we kept

• A 25-minute weekly planning call per team

• A monthly all-hands, recorded for other time zones

• One-on-ones, because humans

Total meeting time dropped from 11 hours to 3.5 hours per person per week. Shipping velocity went up 22%. And nobody asked to bring the old calendar back.