Team manager
David Okeke
Corporate operations
Problem
David Okeke manages a team of eight. Meetings multiply because a decision that could have been a short note becomes a 30-minute call, and the call ends without an owner. His calendar shows status meetings about status meetings. People are tired, and he does not want a chatbot to write fake enthusiasm or to monitor anyone. He wants a simpler rule for what deserves a meeting, an agenda that states the decision needed, and notes that name an owner. Gemini can draft those artifacts from his outline. It cannot decide for the team or surveil their work.
Gemini strategy
David wrote a meeting test: if there is no decision, no draft to react to, or no blocker that needs live discussion, it is a written update. He asks Gemini to turn his bullets into a half-page agenda and a notes template that requires an owner and a date. The prompt bans motivational filler and any comment about individual performance. His verification step is to check the agenda against his own judgment and then ask one teammate if the decision sentence is clear before he sends it. After the meeting, he confirms the notes with the people named in them. He pastes no private employee details.
Prompts
Draft an agenda that names the decision
You are helping a manager of a team of eight write a short agenda. I will paste bullets. Do not add goals I did not write, and do not comment on any person's performance. Start with one sentence: the decision this meeting must make. Then list up to three discussion items with a purpose and a suggested time. Add a notes section with blanks for decision, owner, and date. If my bullets do not contain a real decision, say "make this a written update" and explain why. Keep the tone neutral. Do not write a motivational opening.
Clean the notes without inventing owners
Here are rough notes from a meeting that already happened. Format them into: decision, owner, date, and unresolved. Use only what the notes say. If an owner is missing, write "owner missing" rather than guessing who cares most. Do not praise the team or evaluate individuals. Do not add action items nobody stated. Flag anything that looks like a personal or performance detail I should remove before this goes into a shared doc. Offer a three-line recap I can send for people to correct. Remind me that the recap is draft until the named people confirm it.
Process
- 1. Apply the meeting test before scheduling another call.
- 2. Draft an agenda whose first line is the decision.
- 3. Check it himself and with one teammate, then send.
- 4. Confirm owners in the notes with the people named.
Result
David's estimate is that a few recurring meetings became written updates, and the ones that stayed are slightly shorter because the decision is visible at the top. Not everyone likes the stricter agenda. One teammate said it felt blunt, then used the notes template without being asked. He still gets pulled into extra calls during busy weeks. He did not ask Gemini to judge his team. The change he will defend is modest: more meetings end with a named owner, and some meetings do not happen.
Lessons
- If there is no decision, do not hold the meeting.
- Verify the agenda with a human before you send it.
- Never paste private employee details or ask a model to judge people.