No offense, but ALL meetings are a waste of time.

I'm the CEO of my own business and have nearly a thousand employees under my wing. [CEO & Lead R&D Specialist, ShadowSystems, Advanced Military Systems Design. No, I will *not* give you my real email address, not as long as "Uncle Sam" is paying for my services, thanks.]

If it can't be resolved by email/phone/IM/face-to-face-passing-in-the-hall, then someone isn't doing their job.

Using your example, if someone from Sales has sold a product we don't make, then that EX-Employee gets to go back to the Customer, explain that they're an utter smeghead, and beg for a new job, because they sure as heck don't work for ME anymore.

Sure, we MIGHT make it in the future if it's a viable product we can be reasonably sure of generating a profit from, but if we don't ALREADY produce it, then they've gone beyond their sphere of command and committed the company to a course of action not approved by upper management (me).

It would be like if the used car salesweenie sold you the newest model car that isn't even on the lot yet, and told you that "it can hover!"

If it doesn't hover, that Salestwit has just put the dealership in the position of getting it's tush sued off by the customer.The Customer has a contract in hand that says "Pay $x and we'll deliver Y" & a a receipt showing they've paid; if you can't deliver Y, *you're dead meat*.You'd better deliver a car that hovers, or kiss your butt goodbye.

Now apply that to the fictional meeting from your example.If that Salesweasle has sold something that doesn't technicaly exist, you'd better DAMN well hope the customer doesn't take your butt to court for it.Fraud is illegal you know.

So how could this have been avoided?

Simple.

Communication.

A simple IM from the Salesperson to their immediate Supervisor, even something as brief as "Hey, do we have [Product X], something that can do [what-ever], or any plans on producing it?" could have saved EVERYONE a hell of a large headache & potential for losing your business.

If said product/feature WERE available, the Supervisor could send back a simple IM/Phone Call/SMS Text Message/Motorola 2-Way Walkie-Talkie communique of "Yeah! Sell it! In fact, if they're willing to buy ten or more, cut them a 10% deal!" and then there's no problem. Conversely, if it's not available, the message returned is more like "Are you smoking crack? NO ONE makes a car that hovers!"

See what I mean?

You don't need a meeting to solve a problem, you merely need open, honest, no-BS communication between everyone who needs to know.

If you can't manage that, meetings are the LAST of your worries.