I Replaced All My Meetings With 5-Minute Loom Videos. Here's What Happened

Three months ago I made a radical decision: no more internal meetings unless someone is literally on fire.

Instead, everything became async. Loom videos, shared docs, and Slack threads.

The results after 90 days

Time saved: 12 hours per week across the team

Decisions made faster: Surprisingly yes. When you write something down, you think harder about it. Meetings let people ramble. Written communication forces clarity.

What I replaced:

The unexpected benefits

1. Introverts started contributing more. Some of my best people never spoke up in meetings. In async, they write the most thoughtful responses.

2. No more "can you repeat that?" Everything is recorded. Missed it? Watch it at 2x speed.

3. Time zones stopped mattering. We have people in 3 time zones. Async made that invisible.

4. Better decisions. When you have to write your argument, you realize half your ideas are half-baked. Meetings hide that. Documents expose it.

The one exception

We kept ONE weekly meeting: 30 minutes, cameras on, purely social. No agenda. Just humans being humans.

Because async solves the productivity problem. But it does not solve the loneliness problem.

The honest downsides

• Some conversations DO need real-time back and forth. Complex negotiations, emotional topics, conflict resolution.
• You need a team that can write clearly. Not everyone can.
• The first 2 weeks felt weird. People kept trying to schedule "just a quick call."

Try this for one week

Pick your most recurring meeting. Cancel it. Replace it with a Loom video or a shared doc.

Track what happens. I bet you will never go back.

---

What is the most useless recurring meeting on your calendar right now?