Importance of meetings in Project Management

Do not waste your time with explanations. People only hear what they want to hear.

A Project Meeting is a regular event that involves everyone, who shares or is interested in the project, in communicating with other participants and stakeholders by discussing issues, making proposals, approving or rejecting offers, for the purpose of generating group decisions that contribute to quicker project delivery, according to the planned goals and expected results.

The Importance of Meetings in Project Management

Effective project meetings

An effective Project Meeting is the one that involves reasonable and productive exchange of status reports, and project strategies. It is the responsibility of the project manager to ensure that meetings are planned and conducted to identify bottlenecks and address issues, with an aim to come up with possible solutions. Moreover, it is also essential to make sure that the people involved in the meeting, be it team members, or the higher management, are informed in advance regarding the purpose and agenda of the meeting.

Types of Project Meetings

According to American Management Association, project meetings are classified into seven major categories based on purpose for which meetings are conducted. We present the types of meetings, with a brief description against each one.

1. Kick-off: This meeting involves the presentation of project goals, participants’ introduction, and coming up with a final decision on certain logistical questions. Kick-off meetings usually occur when the team gets together for the first time, and the project sponsor speaks to the team with an aim to generate enthusiasm.
2. Planning: These meetings involve the development of a project plan, coupled with the assignment of roles and responsibilities, as well as making interim or final decisions on the approach to be used to carry out the project tasks.
3. Walk-through: Walk-through meetings are quick and crisp, and involve a read-through of the project plan and/or other significant documentation to uncover problems and clarify information.
4. Problem Solving: Such meetings are conducted to identify problem-solving measures for issues that require members of the team and/or management, in order to generate alternative solutions.
5. De-brief: Meetings that aim to provide critical information to higher levels of management are known as De-brief meetings. Such meetings focus on goals, results, budget and schedule. These meetings are usually conducted to seek approval for next steps from the higher management.
6. Presentations: Meetings that are conducted only to make formal presentations to managers, stakeholders, and others about the results at the end of the project come under this category.
7. Milestone: These are formal meet-ups conducted to discuss and review the progress against plan at specific critical points defined in the project plan when important interim steps are completed. Milestone meetings present interim results to the session participants.

Importance of Project Meetings

Although some project managers and team members consider meetings to be an interruption to their daily routine, it is not irony when we say that project meetings play a vital role in successful completion of the project.

Project meetings could be productive or non-productive, while it depends on the project manager and the participants involved. Meanwhile, issues discussed during project meetings are to be documented to ensure that that any proposed changes discussed during the meeting are actually implemented within the team or the organisation as planned.

Effective project meetings involve either brief/detailed communication within the participants, which could be limited to team mates, or also the members of higher management. A well-planned project meeting, with a clearly defined agenda and a specific purpose, undoubtedly contributes to positive outcomes.

However, too many unplanned/badly-planned meetings could impact project efficiency and overall productivity, eventually resulting in a lot of time being wasted. Hence, it is essential to maintain a clear balance while planning project meetings, so that project deliverables and deadlines are not affected.

Tips to conduct effective Project Meetings

• Meeting Participants: One basic rule to conduct effective project meetings is to ensure that only concerned people are invited, participants are sent meeting invites in advance, and everyone is allowed to communicate during the meeting. One more important consideration while sending meeting invites is to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are invited, to prevent any last minute miscommunications.
• Meeting Purpose: Despite being a brief stand-up session or a detailed stakeholder meeting, every meeting is required to have a purpose, and a clearly-defined objective. A defined meeting agenda ensures that none of the participants would go off-agenda/objective, and everyone is in sync with the topic that is being discussed.
• Meeting Plan: Another basic rule to ensure that a project meeting runs successfully is to set an agenda, and define an objective for each meeting. It is always a better option to share the meeting agenda with team members, and other participants so that everyone is aware of the purpose of the meeting and are prepared.
• Meeting Documentation: It is always essential to confirm that each and every point discussed during the meeting is documented so that none of the commitments or modifications to the project plan made during the session goes unattended. It is advisable to share the ‘Minutes of Meeting’ (MoM) document with the participants within a minimum of 24 hours after the completion of the meeting.

One last rule to ensure a successful and productive project meeting is to let every participant share their views or ideas on the topic under discussion, to facilitate the contribution of better ideas in the form of relevant questions, and suggested improvements. Maintaining strict start and end times for a session are also crucial to improve meeting productiveness.

References:

• https://www.amanet.org/articles/everything-you-need-to-know-about-running-a-project-meeting/
• http://mymanagementguide.com/basics/what-is-a-project-meeting/

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