My supervisor meetings don't lead anywhere
Turn meetings into decisions with an agenda sent ahead, notes taken during, and a summary sent after.
In short
Start here, today. Use the Supervisor Meeting Prep tool for your next meeting. Write the one thing the meeting must achieve, list decisions separately from questions, and send the agenda email two days ahead. This takes about 15 minutes.
After that, work through these steps. Choose one to jump to it.
Step by step
Tick each step as you finish it. Open a step for the how.
0 of 6 steps done
Send an agenda two days before
Keep it short: a few lines on what you've done since last time, then the decisions you need, then the questions. Attach anything they need to read and say which pages matter. Put the most important item first, because meetings run out of time at the end.
Bring decisions as proposals
For each decision, bring your own recommendation and the reason for it. Supervisors find it much easier to react to a proposal than to generate one on the spot, and it shows you're thinking independently. If you genuinely don't know, offer two options and ask which they would choose.
Take notes as you go
Write down decisions, actions and deadlines during the meeting, not afterwards. Before you leave, read the decisions back: “So we've agreed on two regions, and I'll send the revised interview guide by Friday?” It feels formal the first time and normal by the third. If you're working in a second language, ask whether you can record the meeting for your own notes.
Park the tangents
When the conversation drifts into a new idea, write it down and ask whether it's something to act on now or to keep for later. Many ideas supervisors offer are thinking out loud, not instructions. Treating every one as a task is how a three-chapter project quietly becomes a five-chapter one.
Send a summary within 24 hours
Use the template below. The “Still open” and “Parked for later” lines matter most: they stop unsettled questions from vanishing and stop tangents from quietly becoming tasks.
Keep decisions where you can find them
Copy each decision into the Decision Log with the date and the reason. When a settled question resurfaces three months later, you can look back at what was agreed and why, instead of comparing two memories.
Words you can use
Is this you? Signs to look for
- You leave meetings feeling encouraged but unsure what you're meant to do next.
- The same question comes up meeting after meeting and never gets settled.
- Conversations drift into your supervisor's other projects, or into interesting ideas that add months of work.
- On the way home you realise you never asked the thing you came to ask.
- Your supervisor sometimes remembers a decision differently from you.
Why this happens
A meeting without an agenda follows whoever has the most on their mind, and that is usually the supervisor. They often walk in straight from something else, with no time to reread your last email. If you arrive without a clear ask, the hour fills with conversation that feels useful and leaves nothing behind.
The other common problem is mixing up questions and decisions. “What do you think about the sample?” invites a long discussion. “I propose 24 interviews across two regions. Can we agree on that?” invites a yes, a no or a specific change. Both have their place, but only one ends with something settled.
In most supervisory relationships the student is expected to drive the meetings, even if nobody has said so. That means you can improve them without asking anyone's permission.
When to bring someone in
If your supervisor regularly cancels, arrives without having read what you sent, or reverses agreed decisions without explanation, raise it with them directly first, using your summary emails as the shared record. If that doesn't help, a co-supervisor, committee member or your graduate coordinator may be able to suggest a different structure, such as a regular joint meeting with a second supervisor.
Find the right person, or talk to Ify