Interested to see how everyone addresses this topic since everyone's dynamics are different.
For me, it's very simple. We have a 3-step process:
1. Is it urgent? If yes, then move to 2. If not, then set a reminder and circle back if it becomes urgent.
2. Now that it's urgent, who is directly responsible for answering questions? If a few people come to mind, do not email- directly Slack and text them to get on a meeting or phone call ASAP.
3. Now that you're on the call, you have 3 minutes to discuss the problem and the solution. There will be 2 minutes between all of you to address the issue or elevate it if the meeting is about something extremely time-sensitive/important.
And overall, if you feel like you aren't contributing anything to a meeting, just leave it. You won't get doxxed by anyone, just keep building and doing valuable work instead. You should never have to sit through a meeting for no reason unless it directly has to do with you or your onboarding.
A lot of this stems from corporate culture, and as someone who started out building startups right out of university and during, I can never look at a meeting the same as how effective our 3-step meeting rule is/was.