Fig 2. There is no “one size fits all” approach to design or implement productive lab meetings.

Here are 2 different examples of how to envision lab meetings, the structures of goals, timelines, and collective or individual responsibilities. (A) A hierarchical approach to the design and implementation of productive lab meetings. This version emphasizes a nested design to represent how each component (or each Rule) influences and informs each other. These can be roughly grouped together based on how they fit into categories of process rules (mustard), group responsibility rules (turquoise), and individual responsibility rules (white), respectively. Although meeting dynamics may play out at several temporal and structural scales, one essential aspect of meeting culture weaves through all layers: being flexible and adaptable (See Rule 10). (B) An integrated approach to visualizing productive lab meetings wherein all components balance. This “balanced” approach illustrates how each aspect of lab meetings and the way in which they are conducted (such as through a set of Ten Simple Rules) all work together to get the desired end result. The facilitator moderates the participants as part of the meeting (work plan/lab session). The lab mission carries the most weight (heavier measurement), the group objectives carry less weight but are important, the roles and rules involve frequent, small, finely tuned changes to get to the end goal/s. The target (under the magnifying glass) can change through time indicating flexibility and adaptability.