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What do meetings that one experienced as valuable to attend — meetings one keeps
going back to — have in common? Here are some responses people gave in a survey
for a project post-mortem:
- The meetings address issues of concern.
- It is important to get everyone face to face, but also limit the time spent
doing so.
- Everyone gets the same information.
- Everyone is made aware of the changes.
Personally, the Sunday church meetings and the weekly toastmaster’s meetings are
meetings the author keeps going back to, because they seem valuable. Effective
meetings have several things in common:
1. The needs of each participant are met.
2. Concerns important to the group as a whole are addressed.
3. The purpose is clear.
4. The atmosphere is comfortable.
The following sections discuss what can be done to make meetings an effective
communication tool:
- Identify the purpose of the meeting
- Define the deliverables or work products of meetings
- Create the atmosphere/context for success
Define the Purpose of the Meeting
There are mainly three types of meetings:
1. Meetings for exchanging information
2. Meetings for making decisions
3. Meetings for solving problems
Examples for each are (1) the project status meeting, which has the purpose of
exchanging information; (2) scope/issue meetings, which have the purpose of
making decisions; and (3) design meetings, which have the purpose of producing a
quality product design.
An information exchange meeting achieves its purpose if all team members get the
information they need to proceed with their work. Information exchange meetings
are the place to disseminate product requirement changes, raise technical issues,
announce changes in the lives of project team members, and report on risks that
have either increased or decreased. Information exchange meetings are great
forums for team members to use each other as sounding boards for their upcoming
decisions.
An important part of a decision- making meeting is to provide participants with the
facts they need to make decisions. A decision- making meeting does not achieve its
purpose if the decisions are postponed. The purpose is to arrive at decisions that all
participants agree to and can support.
The purpose of a problem-solving meeting is not only to develop a solution, but also
to formulate jointly a common problem definition. It is important that all meeting
participants have a chance to make a contribution. Just as with decision- making
meetings, the purpose of problem-solving meetings is to decide on a solution.
Once the purpose in general has been defined, the next step is to prepare a specific
agenda. An agenda is an outline of the content for the meeting. What needs to be on
the agenda depends on the task at hand. For example, the agenda for a change
control board meeting will list the specific cases to be discussed. It also may contain
a discussion and vote on procedural changes and an announcement of a personnel
appointment. An agenda for a status meeting will list important milestones, such as
the documentation freeze, the beta release, and the version of the upcoming
software build.
When preparing a meeting agenda, ask questions that will help identify the topics to
be addressed. For example, when preparing an agenda for a status meeting, ask the
following questions:
- Which information is needed to begin work on upcoming tasks and who needs
it?
- Which external information and decisions have an effect on the project?
- Which deliverables require coordination between several team members?
- Are there any concerns that were brought up?
- Which activities and tasks have been worked on?
Define the Work Products That Result from Meetings
No matter what the kind of meeting, it is necessary to record the information shared
and the outcome of the meeting in meeting minutes. Without meeting minutes, all
work accomplished in the meeting is lost. Having a person record the information
shared, the decisions made, and the problems solved relieves other participants from
keeping records themselves and allows them to participate in the meeting.
Using a template for the meeting minutes makes them fast to prepare, easy to read,
and assures that nothing is forgotten.
There are additional work products, depending on the particular purpose of a
meeting. Information exchange meetings usually have a list of action items as a
result.
The work products of decision- making meetings are the alternatives that have been
evaluated, the decisions made, and their supporting reasons. The resulting decisions
are recorded in a permanent repository, preferably accessible to all team members
now and in the future.
The work product of a problem-solving meeting varies and depends on the problem.
It can be a design document, a project schedule, or a budget. Just as with the
meeting minutes, it is important to assign ownership to a partic ipant who is
responsible for recording the work product and for distributing it to all participants.
For example, the purpose of a meeting may be to define a documentation plan
consisting of templates for all internal documentation. The recorder/owner is
responsible for creating the final electronic form of the templates and for sharing
them with all interested parties.
Create an Atmosphere for Success
The atmosphere or context of a meeting is an important factor that allows people to
share information, make decisions, and solve problems jointly. Knowing the purpose
and work products of a meeting are necessary, but if meeting participants do not feel
comfortable enough to share information or opinions, the meeting will not achieve its
objective. People need to feel comfortable so they can focus on the task at hand.
Participants need to feel and know that they can communicate openly, that their
perspectives are respected, and that they can express their creativity. | 
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