Project Management Tips and Techniques - Meeting Fundamentals
Tom Mochal

Each month, Tom Mochal presents a set of project management tips and techniques for handling various aspects of planning and managing a project. Tom has over 23 years of IT experience. He has developed a comprehensive, scalable project management process called TenStep (www.TenStep.com). He has also developed PMOStep (www.PMOStep.com), which is focused on building, implementing and supporting project management methodology through a Project Management Office. Tom also has a comprehensive application support methodology called SupportStep (www.SupportStep.com). 

In general, all meetings should have an agenda. The creation of the agenda takes a little extra work, but it can be as simple as writing it in an email and sending it to the meeting participants. Regularly scheduled meetings do not need a published agenda every week, if they stick to the same agenda format. In those cases, the agenda is of value while the team is first meeting. Once everyone understands the purpose and standard agenda, a basic model can be reused every time. Other meeting considerations include:

• There should be a meeting facilitator, although the role can be rotated for regularly scheduled meetings. This is usually the person who requested the meeting, unless other arrangements have been made.
   
• The agenda should be sent out ahead of time.
   
• Make sure the participants know ahead of time of anything they need to bring to the meeting or any advance preparation that needs to take place.
   
• Only those people that need to be there should be invited. Others may dilute the effectiveness of the meeting.
   
• The meeting should start on time, with some allowance for those that may be coming from another meeting.
   
• The person who requested the meeting should explain the purpose and what is the expected outcome.
   
• Follow the agenda, and watch the time, to make sure everything gets covered.
   
• Someone should document any action items during the meeting. This will be the facilitator unless other arrangements have been made.
   
• Toward the end of the meeting, recap all outstanding action items, including who is responsible, what is expected, and when the action item is due.
   
• Recap any decisions that were made, and document them in an email (or other project communication file, if appropriate).

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