Ines

That explains why it is always the same container: it is the one whose start is slowest because it waits on a database. Presumably it comes up after the proxy every single time.

Book a standing 25 minute meeting, same slot every fortnight, and send an agenda the night before. Ad hoc requests fall off the list of a person with 40 emails a day. A recurring calendar entry does not.

Change what you count. Words per day punishes exactly the work that matters at this stage. I switched to counting sessions: did I sit down for 90 uninterrupted minutes with the document open and no browser? Four of those a week moved the thesis more than any word target ever did.

Make the list finite and written. At the end of the next meeting, out loud, say: "So the remaining items are A, B and C, and once those are done we're at defense." Then email a summary to everyone within 24 hours and ask them to correct anything you got wrong. Silence becomes agreement. The reason the requests never stop is that nobody has ever had to commit to a stopping point in writing, and each individual ask feels small to the person making it.

Then say it anyway, in the minutes, in your own voice. You are not asking for permission to summarise the meeting. If the same member later adds item D you can reply to your own email and ask whether D replaces C or is in addition, which quietly makes the cost visible.