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Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

Start your meetings at 5 minutes past

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

1. Cultural/Leadership Discipline Over Scheduling Hacks

Punctuality requires strong culture and enforcement, not time shifts. "There's no substitute for leadership establishing a culture of meeting discipline." (rectang) "Meetings running over is avoidable. People just need to stop enabling bad behavior." (al_borland)

2. Novelty Fades; Meetings Slip Anyway (Treadmill Effect)

Shifting starts creates temporary relief but people adjust, running late regardless. "Yeah, this works because it's novel. If it became the norm, people would adjust to it and we'd right back where we started." (wvenable) "We do this at my work and guess what - meetings tend to run 5 minutes late because everyone knows the next meeting doesn’t start until 5 past." (exegete)

3. Works Well in Some Orgs, Builds Break Acceptance

Effective in disciplined tech cultures like Qualcomm/Google for bio-breaks. "This is standard at the large tech company where I work and is extremely effective and universally respected." (etrautmann) "We've been doing this at Qualcomm for a while, and I really like it... the practice has still built this acceptance around short breaks between meetings." (kayson)

4. Prefer Ending Early or Shorter Meetings

Ending 5 min early > starting late; pair with agendas/fewer meetings. "To me ending at 0:55 is a million times more logical than starting at 0:05." (bonesss) "Only host important meetings. Cancel useless ones. Start and end on time." (MeetingsBrowser)

🚀 Project Ideas

Meeting Buffer Enforcer Calendar Plugin

Summary

  • Browser extension or calendar add-on that automatically shortens meetings by 5-10 minutes, offsets start times to :05/:25/:50, and adds visual timers/countdowns in Google Calendar/Outlook.
  • Core value: Enforces buffers org-wide without cultural fights, preventing back-to-backs and overruns.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Engineering managers, ICs in tech companies with heavy meeting loads
Core Feature Auto-adjusts invites, shared buffer policy enforcement, end-meeting alerts with auto-eject links for Zoom/Teams
Tech Stack Chrome/Firefox extension + Google Workspace/Outlook API + WebSockets for real-time sync
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: Freemium ($5/user/mo pro features)

Notes

  • HN users hate cultural hacks failing ("wvenable: If it became the norm, people would adjust..."; "chatmasta: starts 5 minutes later but has no plan for ending 5 minutes earlier"); this automates it.
  • High utility for remote teams; sparks debates on defaults vs. enforcement.

Agenda-First Meeting Bot

Summary

  • Slack/Teams bot that requires agendas/notes before approving invites, auto-generates summaries from past meetings, and rejects back-to-backs without justification.
  • Core value: Cuts useless chit-chat and no-agenda meetings, ensuring only valuable syncs happen.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Teams frustrated with chit-chat and poor prep (ICs skipping greetings)
Core Feature Pre-meeting agenda validation, auto-catch-up notes for late joiners, quorum check before starting
Tech Stack Node.js bot + Slack/Teams APIs + OpenAI for note generation
Difficulty Low
Monetization Revenue-ready: $10/team/mo

Notes

  • Directly addresses "sys_64738: Any meeting without an agenda is a waste"; "onion2k: Does it even need to be a meeting?" – HN loves async-first tools.
  • Practical for orgs; could go viral via HN shares on reducing meeting hell.

Real-Time Meeting Cost Ticker

Summary

  • Overlay for Zoom/Teams showing ticking dollar cost based on participant roles/salaries, with overrun alerts and "end now" polls.
  • Core value: Gamifies discipline, shames overruns, prioritizes high-impact meetings.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Leaders/PMs enabling bad behavior ("al_borland: People just start hanging up")
Core Feature Salary/role estimator, per-minute cost display, auto-suggest shorten/reschedule
Tech Stack Electron app + Zoom/Teams SDK + simple ML for role detection
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: $20/team/mo enterprise

Notes

  • Echoes "teamonkey: show me the dollar cost... effective at reducing"; HN data nerds would fork/customize it.
  • Discussion potential on productivity metrics; real utility in cost-conscious startups.

Smart Scheduler with AI Breaks

Summary

  • Calendar AI that scans schedules, inserts mandatory bio/focus breaks, prioritizes IC vs. manager prefs, and reschedules low-value meetings to async.
  • Core value: Prevents back-to-backs intelligently, based on data like tanvach's analysis (managers want buffers, ICs hate waiting).

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Busy managers and ICs with fragmented days
Core Feature ML predicts overruns from history, auto-declines/relocates conflicts, break enforcer
Tech Stack Python/Flask + Google/Outlook APIs + scikit-learn for scheduling optimization
Difficulty High
Monetization Revenue-ready: Subscription ($15/user/mo)

Notes

  • Solves "tanvach: managers prefer starting late... ICs negative"; "throwaway150: reduce the number of meetings" – HN would debate AI vs. culture.
  • Utility for scaling teams; extensible to enterprise integrations.

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