THE STATUS CALL — An event agency unveiled a bold plan to save its client time: a ninety-minute workshop about why everyone was spending so much time in workshops.

The account director described the session as an 'alignment acceleration experience.' The producer described it as Tuesday. A junior strategist was asked to take notes on whether note-taking could be streamlined.

The meeting produced four follow-up calls, a recap deck and a separate workstream to approve the recap deck. Procurement requested an explanation of the hours, which the agency offered to provide in a meeting.

Asked what the agency actually sold, the account lead paused beneath a slide reading 'We Architect Human Possibility.' 'Hours,' she said. The client thanked her for the honesty and requested a shorter invoice. That revision was billable.