Effective Project Management

Section N Project Meetings

Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely.

Southey's Colloquies, 1830, Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay

1

See Part VI, Section C for Managing and Conducting Meetings. Most project meetings are a necessary part of the work process. They are, however, big man‐hour consumers. Further, when people are attending meetings, they are not performing their normal productive work. Consequently, the time, frequency, and attendance at meetings should be structured so as to minimise their impact on productivity.

1.1

See Section A, subsection 7 regarding the kick‐off meeting and subsection 8 for the kick‐off meeting agenda.

1.2

See Part VI, Section A Communications, paragraph 4.2.2, for a morning update meeting.

1.3

See Section L, subsection 2, for trend meetings.

1.4

See Part V, Section C, paragraph 3.1, m and n, for cultural issues.

1.5

Arrange regular weekly reviews with key members of the project team and the client or owner. Encourage free and constructive interchange of information, but do not let it get out of hand.

1.6

Progress reviews are backward looking and do not control. Rather than spending time in a retrospective assessment of where the project was, we need to look forwards. This is the power of a risk‐review meeting since it helps us to control by preventing change. Consequently, we should invest more time in reviewing risk. Schedule a meeting at appropriate times, depending ...