One problem I have encountered is to how to continue to have weekly project team status meetings be productive? Any suggestions? Some brainstorming on my part include rotating the chairperson of the meeting, icebreakers, etc. Saving Changes...
I'm into Risk Mitigation on our project. My boss has the feeling not all risks are being identified so he wants to come up with an award for the "stinkest" risk award. I'm looking for ideas. Saving Changes...
Stephen MayeSenior Vice PresidentVa, United States
Let me make sure I get this... Are you looking for ideas for the award itself (what to give away), or a really nasty risk (you name it, so you get the award), or something else?
I'll stay tuned... Saving Changes...
Stephen MayeSenior Vice PresidentVa, United States
In reply to Anthony's questions about meetings and the productivity thereof -- let me first recommend a book I read a bunch of years back, The Strategy of Meeting. If you can look past the somewhat cut-throat nature of some of the suggestions, there is a lot of value in there.
Secondly, let me say I need to give it some thought. What is working well for others? Saving Changes...
Andy JordanPresident| Roffensian Consulting S.A.Cherry Grove, AB, Canada
In my experience, an unproductive meeting is probably not the problem, more the symptom. Are the meetings too formal, too long, too accusatory etc.
Depending upon the type of project I have used 5 minute daily water cooler meetings to shorten the length of the weekly meeting - that can help.
Other than that, maybe using facilitation techniques that ensure everyone has a chance to contribute (and everyone's contribution is limited) - round table rather than open forum for example. Saving Changes...
Stephen MayeSenior Vice PresidentVa, United States
Good point. One of the things that seems obvious, but is not done as often as one might expect is the creation and use of an agenda. In consulting, I never ceased to be amazed at how often people would call a meeting and have no real agenda and no stated purpose (or intended outcome) for the meeting. To say you are going to meet to "discuss our program communication plan" is very different from saying "we are going to draft the list of target audiences and the primary message for each". So, (generally) no agenda, no meeting. If you will just ask for an agenda to be distributed every time you are invited to a meeting, you will raise the quality and productivity of most of the meetings that you attend.
BTW, if the meeting organizer doesn't have an agenda and you do -- you're in charge.
Another thing that we currently do in our management meetings is to start by having each manager give a three-minute (can be less) summary of their status, issues, etc. We also review action items (from the previous meeting) religiously.
Minutes are a complete waste of time unless they focus on action items. DO NOT let people leave the room without the action items being captured and assigned. It is also useful to distribute the action items ASAP so that people have an opportunity to review (and respond if necessary) while the information is fresh and there is still time to do something about it. Saving Changes...
Andy JordanPresident| Roffensian Consulting S.A.Cherry Grove, AB, Canada
I would go even further with agendas. It can be hard work getting them accepted by people not used to them, but well worth it.
My agendas always have 5 columns - the item, the technique to be used (round table, brain storm, presentation, Q&A etc.), the desired outcome (very important), the person responsible (can be all attendees for discussions) and finally the time allotted.
In addition I have standard items on my agenda: Ground rules - first item (how are we going to behave - no idea is a bad idea, one person talking at once, start and finish on time etc - these can carry over from meeting to meeting and so it soon becomes a quick review) Overview - straight after review of previous minutes - quick run through of what we are going to do Action items - at the end - what has been assigned to whom for completion by when Parking Lot - straight after action items - items for future resolution - couldn't be dealt with in the time allotted (you did stick to the time limit didn't you!!!!), and can be left to a future meeting Quality Review - final item - what in the meeting went well, what should we improve upon next time - finish on the positives.
Sure it is an additional overhead of time, but it puts structure into the meetings, and quickly pays for itself.
In addition my agendas go out at least 24 hours in advance, my minutes no more than 48 hours after - they are both ground rules!! Saving Changes...
Stephen MayeSenior Vice PresidentVa, United States
Great tips! I'll keep an eye open for more... BFN Saving Changes...
Michael WoodProject Manager / Business Analyst / Business Process Improvement Guru| Independent ContractorGig Harbor, Wa, United States
After running more projects than I care to count, I have found a few techniques that have served me well to keep project status meetings productive and interesting. First, I focus the team on exceptions and corrective actions. Second, I only focus on the next 2 weeks and stay away from hashing through the plan details. Third, I publish the commitments made by team members to get tasks completed - shows up on the updated project plan. Last, I keep the meetings short and do them at the end of the day. As the project nears the go live date, I have short daily meetings and post a real time punch list on a white boards. The key is to keep everyone focused on getting things done; looking forward and not backward; and on the project not each other. Saving Changes...
What has worked for me for the weekly status meeting is this - a) status check - here we see as a team - whether the scheduled milestone or checkpoint got done or not ( milestone measurement criteria should be defined clearly) b) go through the risk items . Any one in the team could have raised an issue as a potential risk. We identify the correct way of resolving this risk and put a name ( only one name) and date against it. Saving Changes...
What I have done in the past is to first filter my schedule to what is yet to be done only. I don't care about what we did already. Second, I filter it to what is due this week (or is overdue), what is due next week, and what is due the week after. I go through the tasks. If it done, we are done talking about it. If it isn't done, I want to know obstacles, etc. How do I get it going? I also look at tasks for the next two weeks. If it is going to be done on time, I don't want to talk about it any more. If not, what do we do to pull it back in line. I also be sure to collect all issues and revisit the most critical to be sure we are working towards resolution. I also revisit my list of top ten risks (plus or minus 2). I let my team add or remove risks and move risks up and down the scale. I can work my mitigation later. I like to invite customers to this meeting and keep it under an hour. I use the same agenda every week. The PM must keep the meeting moving. If you get into details, make a note and take it off line. Saving Changes...
