1. Set an agenda, thus defining the objective.

Request a meeting agenda ahead of time, that outlines what the participants want to discuss and the best way of using the allocated time. Agendas need to have flexibility, and should act as a tool that force individuals to think about what they want to accomplish in meetings. The agenda helps all involved to focus on what they are trying to achieve and how best to reach that objective.

2. Assign a note-taker.

I'm a big believer in capturing an official set of notes, so inaccuracies and inconsistencies can be caught immediately. All those who attended, and those who missed the meetings receive a copy of the notes. When people are trying to remember what decisions were made, in what direction the team is going, and what actions need to be taken, they can simply review the notes.

3. Discourage politics, use the information at hand.

This idea can and should apply to meetings in organizations in which people feel as though the boss will use favoritism for the individual instead of embracing the idea. Use the Six Thinking Hats, or at least talk on the raw information you have. Don't mix in feelings, without letting people know that it is just feelings.

4. Stick to the clock.

To add a little pressure to keep meetings focused, get a timer on the wall, counting down the minutes left for a particular meeting or topic. Impose structure amidst creative chaos. The timer exerts a subtle pressure to keep meetings running on schedule.

You cannot only ask the right questions, you have to ask them the right way as well.

Reference: Wikiquote and somewhere in dialog.

What's the least we could do, that would have all the necessary functionality to be shipped. In software/web industry you can change your product every day. Don't make the developing list be set for the next year or two.
Rest assure, the requirements for what's needed will change as you go along. Figure out what the necessary features are, and filter out the nice-to-have's, build quicker and deploy.

Text: Smidig 2008 [no] Picture: Modern Art

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

The only thing I miss is:

Purpose and Outcomes over Solutions and Features

Reference: Manifesto for Agile Software Development and Dan North's "Outcomes over Features – the fifth agile value?"

Speed up your development with not adding options to your code, apply sensible defaults instead. Ask yourself: What will 80% of my users be happy with? If you find an answer - cut the option - only add the option, if most people would ask/asks for it.
Example: Adding a drop-down to choose number of results per page? Set the default to 25 items per page. Sensible defaults also helps for consistency in your code.

Reference: Getting Real: It Just Doesn't Matter by 37 Signals