Project Meetings

Project meetings can be the black hole of project management. Without some basic meeting guidelines, the project can grind to a halt as meeting after meeting takes over everyone's time. It does not have to be that way. Meetings can be a place where great progress is made and effective use of team member’s time. But you must make sure that you have the right people at the right meeting.

Too many times team members suffer from FoMS (Fear of Missing Something) and attend meetings outside of their role on the project. A way to combat FoMS is to make your project meeting schedule public and to make access to meeting minutes easy. Offering a way for project team members to view and comment on meetings they did not attend will also help combat FoMS.

All project meetings should be scheduled in advance and have a published agenda and attendance guidelines. Even in the event of an emergency meeting, a quick agenda (for example: Why is the server down?) and documented meeting results are critical. Action items from a meeting should be tracked through an issue management system.

Meeting minutes should be published and readily available to all team members as quickly as possible. The purpose of the meeting minutes is to create a history of the decisions made in meetings and to give project team members the information they need to decide which meetings to attend in the future.

The meeting minutes should contain the following information:

The person who called the meeting
The time the meeting occurred
The formal name of the project that the meeting is associated with
Brief description of the meeting purpose
List of all meeting attendees
The meeting agenda
Meeting Minutes

The meeting minutes are a summation of the discussions, action items and decisions from the meeting. It is very important to specify any decisions that were made at the meeting. Action items should be cross-referenced with an issue management system.

brainstorming

Brainstorming is a common technique used in project management planning to generate ideas and solutions for a project. It involves bringing together a group of people, encouraging them to think creatively, and capturing all of the ideas that are generated.

Here are some best practices for conducting a brainstorming session in the context of project management planning:

Define the problem or opportunity: Before conducting a brainstorming session, it's important to clearly define the problem or opportunity that the project is addressing. This will help to focus the brainstorming session and ensure that the ideas generated are relevant and aligned with the project's goals.
Assemble a diverse group of people: Brainstorming is most effective when it involves a diverse group of people with different backgrounds, perspectives, and expertise. This will help to generate a wide range of ideas, and it will ensure that all perspectives are considered.
Encourage creative thinking: The goal of a brainstorming session is to generate as many ideas as possible, so it's important to encourage creative thinking. This could involve using techniques such as lateral thinking, mind mapping, or the "six hats" method to stimulate creativity and encourage participants to think outside of the box.
Capture all ideas: During the brainstorming session, make sure to capture all of the ideas that are generated. This could involve using a whiteboard or flipchart, or using a digital tool such as a shared document or online whiteboard. It's important to capture all of the ideas, even if they seem impractical or unrealistic, as they may provide the seeds for more practical and achievable solutions.
Evaluate and prioritize the ideas: After the brainstorming session, it's important to evaluate and prioritize the ideas that were generated. This could involve using a decision-making framework, such as the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology, to evaluate the ideas based on their feasibility, cost, and potential impact. The most promising ideas can then be prioritized and included in the project plan.

Conducting a brainstorming session is a valuable tool for project management planning, as it can help to generate a wide range of ideas and perspectives that can be used to inform the project plan.

Brainstorming is a free-form approach to examining as broad a range of options as possible. Its most effective use is for developing ideas or identifying issues. A successful brainstorming session lets people be as creative as possible and does not restrict their ideas in any way.

Successful Brainstorming Guidelines

There are certain guidelines that should be followed during a brainstorming session to ensure that it is productive and effective

Encourage everyone to participate; do not hold back on any ideas, even if they seem silly at the time; the more ideas the better.
No sidebar discussions during the brainstorming session. That will come later.
No judgment. No one can criticize ideas, not even with a groan or grimace!
Let people hitchhike --- build upon ideas generated by others in the group.
Write all ideas on a flip chart so the whole group can easily scan them.

Sequence of Events

Review the topic, defining the subject of the brainstorming session. Often this process is done best as a "why" "how," or "what" question, ("How many different ways can we define this issue?").
Give everyone a minute or two of silence to think about the question.
Go around the room to allow each person to call out one idea or issue at a time. Keep going around the room until everyone runs out of ideas. If a person that is called upon does not have an idea, he/she may pass. The meeting facilitator should enforce the ground rules ("No discussion! Next idea...").
One participant or the facilitator should write down all ideas on the flip chart, pausing only to check accuracy.

Facilitated Sessions

A highly structured meeting in which the meeting leader (the facilitator) guides the participants through a series of pre-defined steps to arrive at a result that is created, understood and accepted by all participants.

Guidelines

The following guidelines will help to ensure that our sessions run smoothly and that we achieve our objectives.

Rank: Leave rank/position in the company at the door. When we convene for these meetings, our objective is to provide as creative an atmosphere as possible. Pulling rank can stifle creativity. When must all actively promote ourselves as equals in the workshop sessions.
Judgment: Participants need to suspend judgment while generating ideas and discussing issues. We should only judge under limited circumstances. For example, we need our judgment to prioritize or vote on issues. However, the key is to listen and learn from other participants. Try to avoid using "killer phrases" such as, "That will never work," or "That is a terrible idea." Finally, recognize that not everyone in the room may share your opinion and we must respect the opinion of others.
Attendance: Participants should place a high priority on both large groups and break our group meetings. Interruptions to meetings fall under the "100 Mile Rule." This rule states, " No one should be called from the meeting unless it is so important that the disruption would occur even if the meeting was 100 miles away from the workplace.
Promptness: All meetings should start and end on time. This adherence to schedule makes it easier to stay on target with the agenda.
Participation: Everyone's viewpoint is valuable. Every participant can make a unique contribution to the project. Therefore, we must emphasize the importance of both speaking freely and listening attentively. If unequal participation is a problem, we must structure discussions so that everyone can contribute. Keep your comments short so that all participants have the opportunity to participate. Dominating the discussions will not only limit others' participation but may also intimidate some of the group members.

Basic Conversational Courtesies

Listen attentively and respectfully to others; do not interrupt; one conversation at a time; and so forth.

Breaks

We will take scheduled breaks periodically throughout the morning and afternoon sessions. We will limit these breaks to 15 minutes. All participants must return from breaks on time to enable the group to meet the workshop objectives.

Consensus

Participants will be asked to reach decisions by consensus. Consensus is more efficient and allows greater buy-in to decisions than voting or unanimous agreement.

What is the role of the facilitator?

Guide

The facilitator must know the steps of the process from beginning to end, and he must carefully guide the participants through each phase.

Motivator

From the rousing opening statement, to the closing words of cheer, the facilitator must ignite a fire within the group and keep it well lit. The facilitator must establish momentum and keep pace.

Bridge Builder

Where other people see differences, the facilitator must see similarities and use the similarities to establish a foundation for building bridges to consensus.

Clairvoyant

Throughout the session, the facilitator must watch carefully for potential signs of strain, weariness, aggravation, dis-empowerment and respond in advance to avoid dysfunctional behavior.

Peacemaker

While it is almost always better to avoid a direct confrontation between participants, should such an event occur the facilitator must quickly step in, re-establish order and direct the energy toward constructive resolution.

Taskmaster

The facilitator is ultimately responsible for keeping the session on track; this means tactfully cutting short irrelevant discussions, preventing detours off the main course and maintaining a consistent level of detail throughout.

Praiser

At every opportunity to do so, the facilitator should praise the effort put forth, the progress made, and the results achieved. Praise well, praise often, praise specifically.

What are the other roles in a facilitated session?

Project Sponsor

Sets the overall objectives for the session. Typically kicks off the facilitated session to demonstrate support for the activity.

Project Manager

Oversees the content of the facilitated session to ensure that the project objectives are being met.

Documentor

Documents the results of the session as recorded by the facilitator, being sure to avoid any paraphrasing or alteration.

Timekeeper

Tracks the time of each activity in the session, and alerts the group when an activity exceeds the time allotted.

Participant

Participates in the facilitated session by contributing to the discussion and ensuring that the content is accurate, acceptable and sufficiently comprehensive; should arrive at the session prepared to participate.

Observer

Quietly observes the session activity without impacting the result.

Ensure that you have a clear understanding of the session objective:

Why are we having this session?
What is the purpose?
What are the expected results from the session?
What is it that made you ecstatic?
Pretend for a minute that we were at the end of the session and about to wrap up,and you were ecstatic because as a result of the session we... Fill in the blank.

Your room and other aids:

Use a "horse shoe" or "open U" or semi circle seating arrangement.
Post ground rules, parking boards and session objective and agenda at the front.
Ensure adequate supplies are available (flip chart, multi-colored markers, tape, name tags, coffee, cups, water).

Your opening words must:

Inform the participants about what is going to happen through the session objective.
Get them excited about the process by giving them a clear vision of the overall result to be achieved and the benefits.
Get them involved in the process by having them speak as early as possible (e.g. asking their personal objectives).
Empower them by discussing the important role they play in the process, the reason they were selected, the authority that has been given to them, etc.

Getting Started:

Arrive early
Set up
Interact with Participants during the gathering period
Kick-off promptly
Give opening statement
Review purpose, agenda, ground rules, parking boards, and housekeeping

Sample Ground Rules:

Everyone speaks
Respect the speaker
Everyone in equal
No idea is dumb
Avoid “sidebar discussion”
Start on time/end on time
“Choo, Choo”
(think outside the nine dots)

Parking Boards:

Help you keep the group focused by having a place to “park” discussion topics that don’t need to be addressed at the moment they come up. By “parking” a topic, you are telling the participant that the input was valuable and will be addressed at a later date.

Issues List

items relevant to the session that need to be discussed later in the session or outside the session.

Decisions List

decisions that are made by the group that should be documented for future reference.

Actions List

actions to be performed sometime after completion of the session.

Warm up the Group:

It is typical for participants in a session to be initially reserved and very willing to allow others to speak first. Therefore, it is not unusual for the first question the facilitator asks to be met with complete silence. To ensure that you avoid this question/silence pitfall, it is important to warm-up the group. Get them used to responding, first non-verbally, then verbally:

Ask a series of pre-questions (at least two) which lead up to your primary question
Structure each pre-question so that the response requires some level of non-verbal participant involvement (e.g. raised hand)
“How many of you have ever participated in a facilitated session?”
“How many of you have ever participated in a requirements definition project?”

Focusing the Group:

Label your charts
Avoid detours by using
1. Objective
2. Ground rules
3. Parking Boards
4. Redirecting questions
  (“What you are saying is interesting,should we put it on the issues list...” and then focus back)
Be conscious of time constraints

The Seven Deadly Sins of Facilitation:

More times than not, these sins by the facilitator will lead to some form of dysfunctional behavior by one or more members o the group. If the facilitator continues his/her behavior, full scale revolt by the participants is quite possible.

The facilitator chooses which comments are worthy to be recorded on the flip charts.
The facilitator interprets the words that are spoken and records the interpretation, instead of recording what is said.
The facilitator permits the group to wander away from the stated objective for extended periods of time.
The facilitator permits the ground rules to be broken without taking visible, corrective action.
The facilitator is perceived as losing neutrality and favoring one position over another.
The facilitator speaks emotionally charged words at a session attendee or permits a session attendee to speak emotionally charged words to another, and does not take visible, corrective action.
The facilitator allows an atmosphere of distrust or disrespect to build between himself/herself and the session attendees.

The Power of the Pen:

Write first, discuss second.
Write what is said, not what your heard.
Write so they can read it.
Edit by adding, use a different colored pen.
Slow down a speaker who is talking too fast by speaking as you write.
If more than one person tries to speak, order the speakers.

Information Gathering:

Listing:

to gather detail

Brain-storming

to generate ideas

Grouping

to categorize

Prioritize

to identify the most important items

Questions:

Type	Purpose	Example
Direct Probe	Challenge or probe	Why is that important?
Indirect Probe	Probe/clarify	Is the reason that’s important because...?
Redirection	Get back on track	That’s a good point. Can we put that on the issues list?
Playback	Confirm	It sounds like what you are saying
Leading Question	Lead to other thoughts	Are there solutions in the area of...?
Prompt Question	Keep the ideas flowing	What else...
Tag Question	Get acknowledgment	That’s important, isn’t it?
Float an Idea	Give a possible solution	What about...? What are the

Closing the Session:

Review activities performed during the session.
Review all parking boards, decisions made and issues outstanding
Identify a spokesperson
Close the session by thanking the participants and reviewing next steps