How do you plan a raid or group night that has a hard two-hour cap?

I'm trying to work out a schedule for people who only have a solid two hours free most evenings, no more. Between getting everyone summoned, buffed, and briefed, it feels like a third of the time is gone before anything real happens.

What I'm weighing:

• Setting a hard stop time in advance so people aren't left hanging mid-pull.
• Cutting trash and going straight for objectives to save time.
• Splitting a longer instance across two shorter sessions instead of one long one.
• Deciding loot and next steps at the very start so there's no scramble at the end.

I don't want to be the group that always runs over and burns people out, but I also don't want every night to feel rushed and unfinished.

How do you structure a two-hour session so it actually feels complete when the clock runs out? What's your cutoff routine, and do you plan the pulls differently knowing you have to stop on time? Share your timings and how you handle it when the group is right in the middle of something when the clock hits zero.

The point about deciding loot and next steps at the start really jumped out at me, that alone sounds like it would save a lot of the awkward end-of-night scramble I keep running into. I haven't had to plan an actual session yet since I'm still relearning the basics after coming back, but I've noticed even for me just getting summoned and buffed before anything happens eats a surprising chunk of time, so I get why that first third feels wasted.

One thing I don't fully understand though: when you say splitting a longer instance across two shorter sessions, does that mean the group actually logs out mid-dungeon and picks up later from where you stopped, or do you reset and start over next time? I ask because I honestly don't know if instances stay saved like that or if stepping away resets your progress inside. If someone knows how that works I'd like to hear it, since it seems useful for exactly the kind of hard two-hour cap you're describing.