Making the Most of Meetings

John D’Entremont, PMP, is a program manager with over 15 years experience in training, managing training teams and designing materials to enhance the skills of managers and executives.

  Communications Management   ProjectsAtWork  

Do your teams see value in your meetings? As with other facets of project management, the time that you spend planning meetings can pay dividends when it comes time for action. Here are some tips to assist you in getting the most out of your team check-ins.

A common challenge with leading project teams is getting the most out of team meetings. The two most frequent themes are that meetings lack focus, or they fail to end on time. Fortunately, both of these obstacles can be overcome by following some basic rules.

First, keep in mind the objectives of time management. Use your meeting preparation time to ensure that you feel confident about the status of the following activities:

   __ Define activities. Have all work packages been decomposed to the activity level?

   __ Sequence activities. Has a network diagram been created to show the order in which the work will be performed? This can be a useful tool to ensure that each team member understands the impact that his or her efforts have on each other.

   __ Estimate activity resources and durations. Have you planned for any necessary equipment and materials? Did you consult with individual task owners to determine timeframes? Is there any other existing data that you should consider?

   __ Develop schedule. Has all pertinent data been put into your scheduling tool? …

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