How to use the online timer
Half an hour is the default meeting length in most calendars, and it fills whatever it is given. A meeting with a clear purpose usually finishes in twenty minutes; one without a purpose expands to thirty and then asks for another. The countdown is a small, visible way of making that difference obvious to everybody in the room rather than just to whoever called it.
Start the count as the meeting starts, not five minutes in while people are still joining. Put it on a shared screen if there is one — a visible clock changes how people speak, generally for the better. Keep this tab open for the whole half hour, because the count is held in the page and ends the moment somebody closes it during a screen share.
Leave the last five minutes for actions: who is doing what, by when. Meetings that run to the second without deciding anything are the most expensive kind. In an office spread across several time zones — colleagues in Europe, India or the Americas — finishing on time matters more than usual, because the next call is already waiting for somebody in the room.
Common questions
Should the countdown be visible to everyone?
If there is a shared screen, yes. A visible clock changes how people speak, generally for the better, and it makes the ending a shared fact rather than one person deciding to wrap up.
What should the last five minutes be for?
Actions: who is doing what, by when. A meeting that runs exactly to time without deciding anything is the most expensive kind, particularly when colleagues in other time zones are waiting on the outcome.
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