"Learning is the residue of thinking.
Planning meetings can feel productive because conversation creates motion. Under deadline pressure, that motion can substitute for thinking, and everyone leaves with a different plan in their head.
Perkins’ line is a reminder that learning is not attendance; it is the residue left behind when the team thinks clearly. In engineering, that residue is usually an artifact: an assumption surfaced, a decision line written, or a boundary clarified so execution doesn’t keep reopening the same debate.
When the calendar is already promised, pick one assumption the plan depends on and name the signal that would break it. Put the decision and the signal in writing so the next update adds information instead of restarting the negotiation. That is what turns a meeting into learning.