Discussion Forum > Best practice for meetings
Mark - I'll keep that one in my back pocket, since I can see when it could be useful.
Unfortunately, most of the time, I'm chairing the meetings myself. :-)
I'll go through them -- I can't remember discussing "best practice for meetings" on this forum before, and am looking forward to everyone's insights!
For example I have 18 meetings scheduled next week, ranging from 30 minutes to 6 hours. Unfortunately I am chairing 13 of them. And believe me, I would NOT be trying to get these particular things done though meetings, unless it were the only choice!
Five of the meetings are regularly-scheduled meetings for teams that I coordinate. Usually we are geographically dispersed and handle much of our work by email or instant messaging, but having a regular meeting is often more efficient.
Three of the meetings are regular 1:1 meetings, one with my boss, and the others with two of my key coworkers. We do often cancel these if other work is pressing and we feel we are already up-to-date with each others' work. (I'm not the only one who tries to avoid needless meetings!)
Another four meetings are one-off meetings I scheduled because we need to pull together a particular group of people to talk through an issue and make a decision.
Another "meeting" is a 6-hour training session that I am leading. Only one person signed up to receive the training, so I am hoping to cancel this and ask the person to attend at a different time. That will free up a whole day, since the training involved travel. :-)
One more meeting is in the evening for a group of political activists that I am coordinating. I actually can expect one or two more of these meetings to pop up during the week.
The other five meetings are run by other people. One is my boss' staff meeting. Another is HIS boss' staff meeting, which I need to attend only about once a month. And one is a one-off meeting with one of our key vendors who wants input on a new feature for their product. I can't really escape from these meetings - I need to be there.
Two more are tactical meetings for the major program that I support. In these two meetings, I can sometimes apply Mark's ideas and escape early. In fact, I've do that pretty regularly. Or, I may ask someone else to cover for me, and not attend at all. Sometimes I can trade off attending with one of my coworkers. But most of the time I really do need to be there for the whole thing.
Comparing my own calendar to my manager's, I would say I have it easy. He probably has 30 meetings scheduled every week, and his calendar is often double-booked. I know lots of people who work here whose calendars are like that -- usually managers or program managers or team leaders.
Unfortunately, most of the time, I'm chairing the meetings myself. :-)
I'll go through them -- I can't remember discussing "best practice for meetings" on this forum before, and am looking forward to everyone's insights!
For example I have 18 meetings scheduled next week, ranging from 30 minutes to 6 hours. Unfortunately I am chairing 13 of them. And believe me, I would NOT be trying to get these particular things done though meetings, unless it were the only choice!
Five of the meetings are regularly-scheduled meetings for teams that I coordinate. Usually we are geographically dispersed and handle much of our work by email or instant messaging, but having a regular meeting is often more efficient.
Three of the meetings are regular 1:1 meetings, one with my boss, and the others with two of my key coworkers. We do often cancel these if other work is pressing and we feel we are already up-to-date with each others' work. (I'm not the only one who tries to avoid needless meetings!)
Another four meetings are one-off meetings I scheduled because we need to pull together a particular group of people to talk through an issue and make a decision.
Another "meeting" is a 6-hour training session that I am leading. Only one person signed up to receive the training, so I am hoping to cancel this and ask the person to attend at a different time. That will free up a whole day, since the training involved travel. :-)
One more meeting is in the evening for a group of political activists that I am coordinating. I actually can expect one or two more of these meetings to pop up during the week.
The other five meetings are run by other people. One is my boss' staff meeting. Another is HIS boss' staff meeting, which I need to attend only about once a month. And one is a one-off meeting with one of our key vendors who wants input on a new feature for their product. I can't really escape from these meetings - I need to be there.
Two more are tactical meetings for the major program that I support. In these two meetings, I can sometimes apply Mark's ideas and escape early. In fact, I've do that pretty regularly. Or, I may ask someone else to cover for me, and not attend at all. Sometimes I can trade off attending with one of my coworkers. But most of the time I really do need to be there for the whole thing.
Comparing my own calendar to my manager's, I would say I have it easy. He probably has 30 meetings scheduled every week, and his calendar is often double-booked. I know lots of people who work here whose calendars are like that -- usually managers or program managers or team leaders.
April 29, 2012 at 17:17 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
Two of the most effective manager I've worked with were very fond of the Manager Tools methodologies podcasts. There they offer several useful advices re Meetings:
http://www.manager-tools.com/taxonomy/term/6
Namely:
"The 45 Minute Meeting"
http://www.manager-tools.com/2012/01/45-minute-meeting
"Effective Meetings Starter Model - Part 1 and 2"
http://www.manager-tools.com/2010/08/effective-meetings-starter-model-part-1
http://www.manager-tools.com/2010/09/effective-meetings-starter-model-part-2
http://www.manager-tools.com/taxonomy/term/6
Namely:
"The 45 Minute Meeting"
http://www.manager-tools.com/2012/01/45-minute-meeting
"Effective Meetings Starter Model - Part 1 and 2"
http://www.manager-tools.com/2010/08/effective-meetings-starter-model-part-1
http://www.manager-tools.com/2010/09/effective-meetings-starter-model-part-2
April 30, 2012 at 2:17 |
Hugo Ferreira
Hugo Ferreira
One thing that I found useful is to realise different type of meetings requires different strategies for the win.
http://www.andyeklund.com/creativestreak/2010/03/seven-different-types-of-meetings-.html listed 7 types ...
(1) Problem-Solving Meetings
(2) Decision-Making Meetings
(3) Planning Meetings
(4) Status Meetings
(5) Feedback or Follows-Up Meetings
(6) Leaderless Meetings
(7) Combination Meetings
http://www.andyeklund.com/creativestreak/2010/03/seven-different-types-of-meetings-.html listed 7 types ...
(1) Problem-Solving Meetings
(2) Decision-Making Meetings
(3) Planning Meetings
(4) Status Meetings
(5) Feedback or Follows-Up Meetings
(6) Leaderless Meetings
(7) Combination Meetings
April 30, 2012 at 4:32 |
sabre23t
sabre23t
There's also:
We need to keep everyone involved meetings
I need to know what everyone is doing meetings
We've always had this meeting meetings
We communicate better this way than in writing -- even though all we share is routine data.
We need to keep everyone involved meetings
I need to know what everyone is doing meetings
We've always had this meeting meetings
We communicate better this way than in writing -- even though all we share is routine data.
April 30, 2012 at 16:08 |
Cricket
Cricket
Hugo - Thanks for the resources. I listen to podcasts while I am commuting - I'll add this to the mix. Thanks! :-)
sabre23t - Yes, I think this is another way of emphasizing that every meeting should have a clear purpose, and the agenda should keep the meeting focused on that purpose.
Cricket - LOL! Those are the meetings I try to avoid. :-)
sabre23t - Yes, I think this is another way of emphasizing that every meeting should have a clear purpose, and the agenda should keep the meeting focused on that purpose.
Cricket - LOL! Those are the meetings I try to avoid. :-)
April 30, 2012 at 17:20 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
Some thoughts about my boss' all staff weekly meetings ...
(1) Longest agenda item would be going through updates for previous meetings. So my section I make sure I have the secretary update "Post meeting notes:" to the minutes circulated before the next meeting. So my section gets through cleanly without much discussion.
(2) When meeting goes through sections for others, I find those are the times I gather lots of new related tasks for my FV list.
(3) It's a good time to hone your non-verbal comms skills, by observing the speaking parties in the meeting. It also input when you have post-meeting non-face2face comms (email, phonecall, etc).
(1) Longest agenda item would be going through updates for previous meetings. So my section I make sure I have the secretary update "Post meeting notes:" to the minutes circulated before the next meeting. So my section gets through cleanly without much discussion.
(2) When meeting goes through sections for others, I find those are the times I gather lots of new related tasks for my FV list.
(3) It's a good time to hone your non-verbal comms skills, by observing the speaking parties in the meeting. It also input when you have post-meeting non-face2face comms (email, phonecall, etc).
May 1, 2012 at 7:10 |
sabre23t
sabre23t
That reminds me of "Minutes of last meeting." Last meeting, we had to sit through every line of the budget. This meeting we have to sit through the proof-reading of that part of the minutes. Apparently more time at the meeting = a more formal process.
May 1, 2012 at 13:06 |
Cricket
Cricket
People hate meetings
Because they are boring, they take too long, they aren't fully engaged, too many items don't concern them, and they are discussed ad nauseum. Little is done, and less is relevanT.
These are realities, not just perception. Sometimes chairs are oblivious because to them all issues matter, but they don't consider the attendees' perspective.
So make them as short as possible, with as few as are necessary.
Reports should be briefly stated, and anything else written and published well in advance (including minutes). Expect anyone who cares will read it, and for those who don't care (not their focus), only mention the highlights that affect them. Discuss non-central issues outside the meeting with whomever it affects. Same with problem solving. Only if it's a central issue affecting everyone and requiring their input do we have a broad discussion - and then make it clear the objective, and break off when it's clear which subset of attendees are prepared to solve it.
Extreme Programming takes this to extreme: except biweekly planning sessions which are also streamlined, they meet only once a day for <5 minutes. But all other time is two person problem solving meetings - action. Team Kanban says meetings are waste, and attempts to replace all with highly visible status reports, supplemented by small discussions.
Because they are boring, they take too long, they aren't fully engaged, too many items don't concern them, and they are discussed ad nauseum. Little is done, and less is relevanT.
These are realities, not just perception. Sometimes chairs are oblivious because to them all issues matter, but they don't consider the attendees' perspective.
So make them as short as possible, with as few as are necessary.
Reports should be briefly stated, and anything else written and published well in advance (including minutes). Expect anyone who cares will read it, and for those who don't care (not their focus), only mention the highlights that affect them. Discuss non-central issues outside the meeting with whomever it affects. Same with problem solving. Only if it's a central issue affecting everyone and requiring their input do we have a broad discussion - and then make it clear the objective, and break off when it's clear which subset of attendees are prepared to solve it.
Extreme Programming takes this to extreme: except biweekly planning sessions which are also streamlined, they meet only once a day for <5 minutes. But all other time is two person problem solving meetings - action. Team Kanban says meetings are waste, and attempts to replace all with highly visible status reports, supplemented by small discussions.
May 1, 2012 at 13:47 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
So Seraphim, is anything helping?
May 4, 2012 at 17:04 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
Hi Alan,
No, not really.
I realized the problem isn't the meetings. Our meetings are about as effective as they can be. The problem is there is just too much work to be done - that's the root cause. There is a lot of collaborative work that we need to do, and that's why we can't escape the meetings. For collaborative discussion, email just doesn't do the job. A well-run meeting is a lot more efficient for everyone involved. And I think most of our meetings are pretty well-run.
The real solution is that I need to do some serious renegotiated of commitments with my manager. We are having a spike right now, but even after we get past this milestone and the work levels off somewhat, there will still be too much.
Like Mark has written in DIT and has posted here many times, ultimately the tasks are the result of our commitments, and our team has just got too many commitments right now. We need to decide what to drop or reassign, or stuff will get dropped whether we like it or not.
No, not really.
I realized the problem isn't the meetings. Our meetings are about as effective as they can be. The problem is there is just too much work to be done - that's the root cause. There is a lot of collaborative work that we need to do, and that's why we can't escape the meetings. For collaborative discussion, email just doesn't do the job. A well-run meeting is a lot more efficient for everyone involved. And I think most of our meetings are pretty well-run.
The real solution is that I need to do some serious renegotiated of commitments with my manager. We are having a spike right now, but even after we get past this milestone and the work levels off somewhat, there will still be too much.
Like Mark has written in DIT and has posted here many times, ultimately the tasks are the result of our commitments, and our team has just got too many commitments right now. We need to decide what to drop or reassign, or stuff will get dropped whether we like it or not.
May 5, 2012 at 6:22 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
Mark Forster offered some great advice:
<<I learnt this one through observing one of my colleagues:
When you arrive at a meeting tell the Chair that you have to leave early (preferably after not more than 30 minutes) because of an important appointment (genuine or fictitious).
He or she will then not only excuse you but will often re-arrange the agenda so that any parts which affect you are done first.
When I tried it myself, it worked like a dream! >>
I thought this was worth it's own thread, so I am starting it here.