The default assumption should be that a meeting is the last resort, not the first. If the purpose is to share information, write the note instead — people read faster than they listen, and they read when it suits them. If the purpose is to decide something, the meeting needs a decision attached, or it is just a chat.
The test for a meeting that must exist: it changes someone's calendar only if it changes someone's mind. Debates, design reviews, and hard conversations earn their hour. Status updates, FYIs, and progress reports do not — send them as notes and free the room for the work.
When you do schedule, give the meeting a job: an agenda of two or three questions, a decision on the table, and an owner for the follow-up. A meeting with a job ends on time. A meeting without one ends by accident — usually twenty minutes late.