1. someone has to be the boss, the person who makes the final decision for the group. it may not always be their own first choice, but after taking input from the group, the decision must be made, and followed. finding this person is hard because they have to override their own opinion sometimes. although for the right group leader, the best decision for the group/goals is their first choice by definition.
2. meet every single day first thing in the morning and go over open issues, blockers, eta, and priorities. note that these are not problem solving sessions, just identification sessions. you can call this agile, a stand-up, a ticket review, whatever. just makes sure it happens. once you get into the groove you can usually keep it to 15 minutes. every effective organization i've been in does this or something very similar (maybe every other day). i've seen some small groups do this 2x a day. once or twice a week is not often enough.
you will find that doing this actually reduces the meeting workload overall, especially when combined with #1.