People call meetings or send emails at the drop of a hat. Agendas, subjects and communication are often half-baked. Most often, people call meetings or send emails because they need answers. Most professionals are complaining about reeling from lowered productivity due to meeting and email overload, so I think it merits trying to get to the root cause of unnecessary meetings and email.

This comment on the 43folders blog nails it:

I find that the people who work for me will, if I’m available, use asking me something as a substitute for thinking (this I’ve learned after years of being instantly available and then wondering why the people working for me don’t seem to be developing critical thinking skills).

It's always easier to call meetings or send an email when you need answers that other people might have, but we should pause to think about the impact that disruption has on the productivity and focus of others.

Very often, answers can be found with a little thinking--without necessarily involving other people. Asking someone else may be easy, but it won't teach you how to think.