SPOKe - Meetings

A right approach will send you in the right way.

You don't need to reinvent the wheel. Many clever people have come before you. I'm sure you have experienced boring meetings or meetings that could have been an email. Become known for organizing the most effective meetings. Here's how...

Brainstorming

Gather the various stakeholders into a room to try to generate as many risks as possible. There are no bad suggestions. Initially, you are looking for as many risks to be mentioned as possible (divergent thinking) before focusing in on some risks and building on them (convergent thinking). If the group get stuck, then steer them towards the various project objectives (schedule, scope, quality, budget) and tasks (requirements, testing etc.)

You may want to use this link to plan your approach to your Brainstorming session and utilize these Brainstorming best practices.

The different types of Project meetings

Kickoff meeting. A formal meeting initiated by you to discuss the project in detail. Discuss and agree the scope, risks, milestones and the methods of communication.
Daily Status meeting. Its best to answer 3 questions here, depending on the time of day.
- What did you do yesterday?
- What do you plan to do today?
- What, if anything, is blocking you?
Weekly Status meeting. A meeting which should focus on the contents of the weekly status report. Use the Red Amber Green (RAG) status to guide the discussion. Discuss upcoming risks, issues and tasks.
Change Control meeting. A meeting to agree or reject any project changes, having reviewed its impact on the project constraints (time, cost, scope)
Stakeholder Meeting. A possibly informal chat with your stakeholder to give them a personal update on the project.
Steering Committee meeting. This meeting is with Senior Executives. You may not be invited to this meeting. But if you are, you will need to be over prepared.
Project Completion Meeting. A meeting to review and confirm that the project scope has been delivered. This happens once at the end of the project
Sprint/Iteration Retrospective. A regular meeting that happens every week, two weeks or month. There are various approaches to make this meeting productive. I prefer the Starfish approach.
Lessons Learned meeting. A review at the end of the project to see what went well and what could be done better. Assuming that everybody ties their best, it is a good idea to focus on the process here, not the people.
Brainstorming meeting. This meeting can happen at any time. There are various different approaches to making sure that this meeting is kept on topic and productive. Review these below.

When you are late for a meeting

If you are late to a meeting, you should apologize and ask the person if

they will allow you to join the meeting.
the meeting can be rescheduled.

This goes a long way in making amends for you being late.

Prevent off-topic conversations

Introduce a code-word that anyone can use to bring a conversation back on track.
Introduce a ‘Parking Lot’ area on a whiteboard or notepad. When off topic items are noted, the topic can be placed there.
I use ‘Jellyfish’ as my code-word. Anyone can use this phrase. When said, the conversation is reviewed against the agenda. If off-topic, then then that topic is placed in the ‘Parking Lot’ and can be returned to later, time allowing.

Run an effective meeting

Run through an overview of the agenda items.
State the purpose of the meeting and the desired outcome.
If the agenda has time-slots, state these and assign a timekeeper.
Gain input from the team.
Stress that this is a safe place to share ideas – especially if Brainstorming.
Take minutes during the meeting, noting down actions.
Stick to the time allowed.
Recap the meeting key points and actions at the end.

Prepare for a meeting

Plan in advance.
Determine the desired outcome, then plan the agenda.
Get agreement on the agenda in advance (Topics, sequence, duration).
Determine and book to physical venue, based on the available time of the attendees.
Consider the knowledge and skillset of your audience.
Only invite relevant people.
Identify the decision makers.
Determine how best to communicate to them.
Send the meeting invite.
Prepare any slides or diagrams in advance.

Delphi Technique

Having run a Brainstorming session, you may be wondering if using the Delphi Technique is overkill. The answer is no.

Some people do not speak up depending on who else is in the room. The Delphi technique is formal and structured and their feedback is anonymous.

To start a Delphi Technique you ask your panel of experts to openly discuss the project, defining the problems.

Based on this, provide them with survey or questionnaire to get their anonymous feedback.

Then you combine & publish their results.

Next you request feedback and repeat until you have everything you need.

A good step by step guide can can be found here.

Just remember to act on your findings!

Negotiate

Prepare for the next step

So, you have mastered the general meeting, now figure out how to negotiate like an expert.

Negotiation >

< SPOKe Home

Address

Dublin, Ireland

Contact

[email protected]