Project management meetings
Description
Project management is a time-bound process of planning, implementing and evaluating a project from start to finish. Recurrent project management meetings are an essential part of the process. Recurrent team meetings keep the project moving forward, ensure timely and accountable completion of each task, and steward the project from initial ideas to successful completion.
Checklists
Structural
Before organizing any meetings, define the project clearly and put together a single, centralized list of resources for people to consult.
Checklist for initial organization
- Define the project clearly, including scope, timeline, and outputs.
- Determine desired meeting frequency.
- Create a central list of documents, including a running agenda document.
Pre-meeting
For each meeting, establish objectives and an agenda before the meeting, and assign roles so that attendees know what to expect.
Checklist before each meeting
- Define meeting objectives.
- Create a clear agenda.
- Provide meeting information at top of agenda, including links to background documents.
- Assign meeting roles on a rotating basis: chair, notetaker(s), timekeeper.
In meeting
The meeting agenda document should capture all relevant ideas and discussion, as well as actions stemming from the meeting.
Checklist for in-meeting agenda and organization
- Review goals of overall project and this meeting specifically.
- Stick to the agenda!
- Capture ideas and discussion in notes on the agenda; encourage meeting attendees to curate and correct.
- Assign actions, indicating the responsible person(s) for each item.
- Push longer discussions into ad hoc groups that report back in the future.
Post-meeting
After the meeting, send updates to remind people of what happened at the meeting and what needs to happen.
Checklist for immediate post-meeting actions
- Send post-meeting summaries (within 1 hour of meeting end).
- Remind team members of action items as needed.