the\u00a0APM project planning course<\/a>.<\/p>\n1. NECESSARY ATTENDEES<\/b><\/h3>\n
It can be tempting to assume that because you operate an all-inclusive team environment that everyone who is everyone needs to be invited.<\/p>\n
It may be, however, that in the case of a certain meeting focusing on a key area, that you need only representatives from key sectors of the team.<\/p>\n
This is not about exclusion but pinpointing what input the meeting needs to move the project to where it needs to be.<\/p>\n
Bigger groups are useful for when problems and solutions need brainstorming or there needs to be a review of the project thus far.<\/p>\n
2. AGENDA<\/b><\/h3>\n
In effect, deciding who does or doesn\u2019t need to be there depends on the agenda.<\/p>\n
An agenda is a list of things that need to be discussed and actioned at a meeting. A meeting without an agenda is a like a ship without a tiller, at the mercy of each wave to push it around and following no particular course.<\/p>\n
But an agenda can also be the tool that sets out clearly the objective of the meeting, something that is essential. It may sound a little contrite but if it\u2019s not on the agenda, it\u2019s not being discussed!<\/p>\n
Contact attendees before the meeting with the agenda and ask if there is anything else that needs discussing. Keep items under \u2018any other business\u2019 short and small. Circulate the final agenda in advance asking for feedback and opinions for when the discussion starts.<\/i><\/p>\n3. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION<\/b><\/h3>\n
Project management can, at times, becomes complex. There is the budget to examine, the product to review, resources to be re-allocated and so on. This means certain people producing information that needs to be discussed.<\/p>\n
Disseminating it on the day and asking for meaningful feedback is a futile exercise. This is why any additional information should be distributed before the meeting. This way, people have a chance to think about what it is they want to contribute based on the information they have.<\/p>\n
4. START ON TIME<\/b><\/h3>\n
A small point but one that is deceptively simple yet makes a big difference: starts on time.<\/p>\n
5. ACCURATE RECORDS<\/b><\/h3>\n
Making minutes of meetings is a practice as old as time\u2019s itself but taking effective and true minutes is a more difficult skill.<\/p>\n
Rather than it being a text-laden and garbled text of who said what to whom and when, create a simple to read table \u2013 use Microsoft\u2019s One Note, for points or even Excel \u2013 with main agenda items in one column, a summary of the discussion in the next column and in the third column what action is being taken.<\/p>\n
This table can be circulated before the next meeting, acting as a short but detailed account of where things were at, how the project was being moved on and who was responsible for what and \u2013 the important bit! \u2013 by when.<\/p>\n
6. CONSENSUS DECISIONS<\/b><\/h3>\n
Agile thinking brings many skills to the fore in project management, one being the collaborative approach to decision making. A diverse team is a strong team, steeped in innovative practices and solutions.<\/p>\n
But it is not always an easy space for everyone to agree. Respectful conflict is the tool that moves projects on from ordinary to extraordinarily successful and so consensus decision is key in making a decision within a team that \u2018doesn\u2019t put anyone\u2019s nose out of joint\u2019 or stalls the project with disagreement.<\/p>\n
Be prepared \u2013 this could be a prolonged process but one from which you could learn so much.<\/p>\n
7. SUMMARY AND ACTION<\/b><\/h3>\n
You may have been discussing key areas of the project for 20 minutes or you may have set aside a whole afternoon to reach a consensus decision on the next step, no matter how short or long your meeting, you need to wrap it up with a clear, concise \u2018summary and action\u2019.<\/p>\n
Review what was discussed, who agreed to take to key points and roles. But you also need to make expectations clear and that people who have agreed to take on certain actions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Meetings are essential for a project to be completed successfully. They should be a chance to iron out problems, discuss solutions, appropriate resources and air views, concerns and ideas. And yet, all too often, project meetings run on too long and are a monumental waste of a lot of time. The items under discussion could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20,29,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advice","category-productivity-tips","category-ultimate-guide"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingbytesize.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingbytesize.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingbytesize.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingbytesize.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingbytesize.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingbytesize.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingbytesize.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingbytesize.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingbytesize.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingbytesize.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}