I see the manager/managee relationship from both sides. This advice will benefit both of you.
Managees: prepare (well) for your meetings with your manager.
My most recent manager was (is) an extremely generous and extremely busy person. We met for 30 minutes every other week. When the meeting started we would greet each other and he would look at me expectantly. I would begin, moving down my list…
Why did I need a list?
I needed to cover:
• What was important for my manager to know?
• What decisions did I need?
• What advice did I want?
So, before you meet with your manager, make an agenda.
It can be simple, just that list of topics. Consider the order. Sometimes there are some easy things that you take care of at the top of the meeting. More often, you start with the topics that you absolutely need to cover, first.
Your manager will super appreciate this, and you will get what you most need from them.