I like this idea on the surface. The flipside though is that if everyone's reading the doc for the first time right before discussion, it doesn't allow for much depth of analysis. Do you also send the materials out beforehand?
You'll be amazed how good people at Amazon become at reading with experience. The discussion comments that come out are often fabulous.
On the other hand, I am indeed able to add a lot more value as a reviewer if I can read the document ahead of the time. So whenever I am the prime reviewer, I request the document to be sent one day ahead of meeting even if it is incomplete at that time.
Perhaps in a competitive/demanding culture, this is the best you can get.
Besides, very few people in decision making positions have time to study all the prep material beforehand. I sure as hell don't do that when I have back-back-back meeting schedules.
That imposes two problems: that I am limited to about 15 minutes of research time (limiting depth and basically eliminating "phone a friend" consultations) and it requires that one permits laptops into the meeting.
Nevertheless, I'm a supporter of the approach and have introduced it into the most important review meetings that we hold in my group. (We do bar laptops and other electronics, other than video conferencing equipment.) Results after 18 months seem quite positive on balance.
Generally people need some time to ponder new input in order to grasp edge cases, work through implications, identify unspoken assumptions, and so on. Some extraverted folks are happy to "think out loud" in a group, but even then it's too easy for a conversation to move quickly past a particular point that deserves more time.
