agenda-or-cancel

Agenda Or Cancel Skill

The agenda isn't paperwork — it's the meeting's existence test. A meeting whose organizer can't write three lines (what this is for, what we'll decide, what to read first) is a meeting that hasn't earned its attendee-hours, and the kindest outcome is its cancellation or conversion to a message. This skill writes the agenda when one can be written, renders the cancel verdict when it can't, and scripts the graceful exits — because "no agenda, no meeting" only works as a norm when declining is socially cheap.

What This Skill Produces

• The three-line agenda — purpose (one sentence), decisions/outcomes sought (listed), pre-reads with time cost
• The verdict — happen / shorten / convert-to-async / cancel — from the agenda-writing attempt itself
• The scripts — the polite cancel, the convert-to-message, and the decline-without-agenda lines
• The norm rollout — how a team installs the rule without a compliance war

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• The meeting's claimed purpose — what the organizer thinks it's for; the agenda attempt tests whether that survives writing down
• The attendee list and length — the cost side (people × time), which the purpose must justify
• What a good outcome looks like — a decision? alignment? information moved? If the outcome is "information moved," the convert-to-async branch is already winning
• The recurring-or-oneoff status — recurring meetings route to [standing-meeting-audit](../standing-meeting-audit/SKILL.md) for the deeper treatment

Framework: The Test Rules

1. The agenda is three lines or the meeting is fiction: Purpose: why we're gathering, one sentence. Outcomes: the decisions or artifacts this meeting produces (verbs, not topics). Pre-reads: what to read and how long it takes. If line two can't list a decision or artifact, the meeting is a broadcast — and broadcasts are messages.
2. The 24-hour rule: agenda ships with (or ≥24h before) the invite — attendees who can't prepare attend as audience, and audiences don't decide. Meetings that can't produce an agenda a day out aren't urgent; they're unformed.
3. The verdict follows the attempt: agenda writes cleanly → happen (at the length the outcomes justify — most three-line agendas fit 25 minutes). Outcomes are all information-transfer → convert to a message/doc. Purpose exists but no decisions this week → shorten or skip this instance. Nothing survives writing down → cancel, with the script.
4. Declining needs a cheap script: "Happy to join — could you share the agenda first so I can prep?" does the enforcement politely; the norm survives only if asking is routine, not confrontational. Organizer-side cancel: "Cancelling — the two items resolved async / aren't ready for decisions yet. Reconvening when [trigger]."
5. Roll out as a gift, not a law: the team adopts "agenda-or-cancel" by the leader modeling it on their own meetings first (cancelling one publicly is worth ten policy emails), the three-line format pinned where invites happen, and the decline script blessed explicitly so juniors can use it upward.

Output Format

Agenda Test: [meeting]

The Three Lines

Purpose: … Outcomes: [decisions/artifacts, verbs] Pre-reads: [links + minutes]

The Verdict

[Happen ([N] min) / shorten / convert / cancel — with the reasoning from the attempt]

Scripts (as needed)

[The cancel · the convert-to-message · the agenda-first decline]

Rollout (for teams installing the norm)

[Leader models on own meetings · format pinned · decline script blessed downward and upward]

Quality Checks

• [ ] The outcomes line contains decisions or artifacts, not topic nouns
• [ ] Pre-reads carry their time cost
• [ ] The verdict came from the writing attempt, not from meeting-hating priors
• [ ] Every script is usable by the most junior attendee
• [ ] Recurring meetings were routed to the audit instead of one-off verdicts

Anti-Patterns

• [ ] Do not write topic agendas — "discuss roadmap" is a location, not a purpose
• [ ] Do not accept "we'll figure it out live" — that's the agenda test failing in real time, at full attendance
• [ ] Do not use the rule as a weapon — the verdict includes "happen"; meeting-zero is not the goal, meeting-earned is
• [ ] Do not ship the agenda at meeting-start — unprepped deciders are attendees
• [ ] Do not install the norm by decree — the leader's own cancelled meeting is the announcement