A common complaint in organizations adopting Scrum is that Scrum has too many meetings. However, people may not be considering all the time they spent meeting before Scrum—and how effective that time really was. As long as you keep meetings focused, people should waste less time in meetings than they did before Scrum.

One of the most common complaints of any software team during a retrospective is the issue of too many meetings. Agile ceremonies can provide a lot of value to the team, but only when they're done correctly. Here are four ways to get the most out of meetings, avoid wasting time, and gain value for everyone involved.

Simply listening to what a new boss says can be a good way to detect what’s important to them. Instead of bombarding the boss with an overview of your accomplishments or a declaration of what you view as significant, start by paying attention. You’ll be showing an interest in their needs and demonstrating your value.