Comments on: I Hate Meetings – 10 Tips For Better Meetings

By: PM Tool Tip: Doodle | Project Management Guide

PM Tool Tip: Doodle | Project Management Guide — Mon, 23 May 2011 13:47:38 +0000

[...] I think everyone by now knows how I feel about meetings. Certainly they can be very painful to sit through when they are unnecessary, and I think most of [...]

By: Project Communications – Internal | Project Management Guide

Project Communications – Internal | Project Management Guide — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:24:24 +0000

[...] of this type of communication are the dreaded update meetings. I’ve written before about my general dislike for meetings, but they do have value as well. They are a very effective means of communication, so long as we [...]

By: Why Work Doesn’t Happen At Work | Project Management Guide

Why Work Doesn’t Happen At Work | Project Management Guide — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 13:58:06 +0000

[...] If nothing else, I can certainly get behind the idea of reducing meetings – maybe we can’t get rid of them altogether, but we can certainly improve on them – check out my post on 10 tips for better meetings. [...]

By: Teleconference Guide on Teleconference Services

Teleconference Guide on Teleconference Services — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 06:26:24 +0000

[...] 10 Guide Tips For Better Meetings with Teleconference Eventually, I was able to move to attending by teleconference, and ultimately to attending only every fortnight – not ideal, but at least I had reduced the amount of my time spent on this time-sink from 36 hours a month to 6. [...]

By: What did you do today? | Project Management Guide

What did you do today? | Project Management Guide — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:19:02 +0000

[...] whether these meetings actually need to include the whole team – I’ve already written about my dislike for meetings, so only have everyone there if it makes [...]

By: No-one likes Project Managers | Project Management Guide

No-one likes Project Managers | Project Management Guide — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:01:57 +0000

[...] of arcane documents, we get in their way while they are trying to just get on and do the work, and we hold far too many meetings. And don’t get them started on the metrics. Or the milestones. Or the project plans. Or the [...]

By: Claudio

Claudio — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 20:26:58 +0000

I disagree on point 1. A status meeting should only last for about 15 minutes. Ask 3 questions as a PM:
A: what did you do yesterday?
B: what are you going to do today?
C: do you have any impediments I (=you as a PM) should take care of?

This way you are fully up-to-date as a PM, day after day.

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 19:53:02 +0000

The recurring meeting is often the child of someone who thinks ‘there has to be a meeting’. They don’t ask ‘what for?’.

Meetings, as all communications, need to happen when they are the answer to one simple question:

“What is the best way to communicate the necessary information to the right people?”

If the answer to that is an all day meeting, then do it (it probably won’t be). If it’s an email, go email. If it’s sticking a post-it to Jane’s computer monitor, go get a post-it.

For update meetings, get people away from ‘This week I did…’ The temptation for the attendee is to update on all the things that they did well (especially if the corporate culture motivates against admitting any weakness).

As a manager, you couldn’t care less what’s going right- you need to know where the blockages are and whether anyone else in your team can help with them.

As an attendee, you need to know what other people are doing that has an impact on you, or whether there’s anything where you can work with someone else to help out, or they can work with you.

The update meeting should be more forward looking- helping to move the project on.

By: Pawel Brodzinski

Pawel Brodzinski — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:54:22 +0000

I think that's exactly what we learn sitting on endless boring meetings which steals our time. My recipe for effective meeting is similar to yours. I'd add that deciding on frequency of recurrent meetings is crucial, since if these meetings don't bring value you lose money with each recurring event.