Study Finds 93% of Action Items Become Meetings

The following is a satirical research summary. All statistics are invented for comedic purposes. The underlying observations are painfully accurate.

Abstract

A longitudinal study conducted by the MyOfficeTools Research Lab has found that 93% of action items generated in workplace meetings are eventually resolved through the scheduling of additional meetings. The remaining 7% are resolved through email, direct conversation, or the passage of time sufficient for the original issue to become irrelevant.

Methodology

Researchers tracked action items generated across a representative sample of workplace meetings over a twelve-week period. Action items were classified by ownership (individual vs. collective), specificity (clear deliverable vs. vague task), and deadline (specific date vs. "soon" vs. no deadline specified).

Follow-up was conducted at two-week intervals to determine the status of each action item.

Key findings

Finding 1: Action items assigned to "the team" were completed at a rate of 4%, compared to 61% for action items assigned to a named individual with a specific deadline.

Finding 2: The phrase "let's circle back on this" was associated with a 78% probability that the topic would resurface as an agenda item in a future meeting rather than being resolved asynchronously.

Finding 3: Action items described as "quick" took an average of 2.3 times longer to complete than action items described without a time qualifier.

Finding 4: 67% of action items generated in meetings were not mentioned in the meeting notes distributed afterward, suggesting that the meeting notes and the meeting were documenting different events.

Discussion

The findings suggest that the action item, as currently deployed in most workplace meetings, functions primarily as a social signal rather than a task management tool. The act of assigning an action item communicates that the topic has been addressed, regardless of whether the underlying task will be completed.

Researchers note that this is not a failure of individual participants but a structural feature of meeting culture that rewards the appearance of resolution over actual resolution.

Recommendations

The research team recommends that organizations adopt the following practices: assign action items to named individuals rather than teams, require specific deadlines for all action items, and follow up on action items before scheduling meetings to discuss why they have not been completed.

Read next

→ What Happens When Everybody Owns the Action Item

→ Action Item Inflation Report