Yes, time zone issues can be frustrating.

Being on schedule and over-scheduling time are the biggest problems.

I wonder if setting calendar's default meeting time to 30 minutes would help. There are ways to nudge people in the right direction.

I do like meetings to have a point though. An agenda seems too restrictive, but I get why it needs to be done given the audience. I do prefer the ad-hoc meetings as Brian alluded to above (hallways). I also like it when my manager walks around. Maybe I've been fortunate not to have the Office Space guy…

I would attribute my like of meetings probably to the fact that I am more social than many. I spend enough time sitting in front of the computer…give me some humans please.

Managing by walking around: check. Did that a lot when I had 12 people working for me in the same location. My goal wasn't to interrupt them constantly or “monitor” them, but to be available. An open door policy is fine, but some people are reluctant to interrupt others who seem busy typing on their computer, so wandering around may help here.

Where any meeting planning strategy starts to fail is when you have a lot of meetings with people in other orgs, who may or may not understand your “meeting etiquette” (or heaven forbid, use the same calendar… or any calendar for that matter). You may want to reserve mornings for coding, they may not. And blocking out chunks of time on the calendar doesn't necessarily work as people tend to give up finding free time slots when it gets too difficult.

Is there a perfect solution? Don't think so. There are lots of common sense rules that, if everyone were to follow them, would help cut down the number of meetings. Along the lines of only invite those who really need to be there. Don't schedule a meeting just because. Focus on the topic at hand. Be on time, so people don't have to wait. Accept/decline meetings in calendar, so the organizer actually knows whether the key people (well, there shouldn't be any others) will actually attend.

There's an air of wanting-something and/or eavesdropping that many managers can't avoid when they wander the halls. I get what you mean though.

The idea is that a lot of decisions are made during brief hallway discussions. If you don't wander around, listen, and look for these interactions, you lose the ability to influence them.

I have to say that 3 would be a bit odd. Any uncontrolled interruption breaks the concentration you need to work, and floating around feels a bit like Lumbergh micro-managing and telling me I need to come in on Saturday.

Open-door office hours allow for the same communication at the employee's request, minus the creepy over-the-shoulder vibe.

1) Have weekly team meetings at the same time each week. This lets their team schedule their “flow” time (god I hate that word!)

2) Have tiny “morning meetings” with each member individually. This catches people before work time, and gives them the individual attention they need.

3) Manage by walking around and listening. This helps catch small issues before they get big, and it doesn't interrupt anybody's schedule.