Have you ever been to a meeting that meets any (or many) of these criteria?

• You don’t know why you were called to that meeting
• The meeting lasts way longer than the scheduled duration
• People digress and no decisions are made
• You contribute to the meeting for 10 minutes but have to be there for an hour
• The meeting started 15 minutes late because not everyone was on time

I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been to many of those!  In my opinion, inefficient meetings are one of the biggest time robbers nowadays.  Every time we find a problem we tend to call a meeting with lots of people to decide what to do. Or the project manager calls the whole team to update the status of the project.  Or the boss has a new bright idea and wants everyone to listen to it.

Don’t get me wrong.  Meetings are a powerful tool if used correctly.  Try the following guidelines and you will notice an increase in productivity:

• Send an agenda with enough time in advance so that everyone can prepare the meeting.  This includes the material that has to be prepared beforehand
• Start the meeting on time.  Many people do not consider highly important to be on time for a meeting (in the end it is not a train that would leave.  The meeting will still be there if I am late).  I personally consider it a lack of respect for the ones that were on time.  If you can start the meeting, go ahead without the missing people.  If you can’t, let him/her know that you have been waiting for them, and they will probably be on time next time.
• Set a time limit for each item on the agenda.
• Call only the people that are necessary for the meeting.  And as you have set a time limit for each topic, you could have someone attending only part of the meeting.
• Do not discuss about topics that are not on the agenda.  Avoid going off-topic or you will lose control.  If the topic is relevant, write it down and discuss it either at the end of the meeting (if there is time) or in a future meeting.
• Make a short summary after each item on the agenda.  You have to make sure that everyone has the same understanding after the discussion.
• For each of the actions that arise, identify the scope of the action, the person responsible to do it and the deadline.  It’s very typical to hear something like “we have to do this”, and it usually results in nothing being done.
• Write the minutes and distribute them, identifying all the agreements and actions.

There is nothing is these guidelines that is difficult to do.  It is just a matter of getting used to it and educate your co-workers to do the same.  After a few meetings you it will become natural and you will have much more effective meetings.

Although the steps above assume you are the meeting leader, it also works when you are not.  In that case you are obviously more limited, but you can try to help the leader.  For instance, you can ask for the agenda when you receive something like “Project X meeting from 10:00 to 12:00″ or you can suggest to talk about that new topic at the end of the meeting if there is a deviation from the agenda.  People are usually smart and if they see that their meetings are better when they follow your recommendations, they will end up adopting them.

It sometimes happens that your are unexpectedly promoted to being a project manager, or you are already managing a project but you are moved to a much bigger one.  There is a range of different reactions you may have at first: excitement for the challenge, fear, boost of self-esteem, panic…

Whatever your initial feelings are, you have to make sure you think you are up for the challenge.  Different things may make you doubt you are the correct person for the job:  necessary skills, some people in the project may think you are not valid for the role, the customer may be difficult to deal with, big project risks…

Analyse it and be honest with yourself.  Don’t be too gentle or hard to yourself.  List the things you have to learn, the areas where you will need more help and the possible risks or conflicts.  After this analysis your feeling about the project may be different:  you were confident at the beginning and then realized the project was more demanding than you thought or you thought you were not ready for it and now you are confident you can perform the job.

After this process there are two possible options:  you think you are able to lead the project to success, or you don’t.  If you do, congratulations!  If you don’t, it’s time to talk to your boss about it.  He may have seen something on you that you haven’t and you are readier for the job than you think.  Or you may not, and in that case it better to let someone else to take over.  There will be another chance.

Don’t underestimate the power of the confidence in success of the project manager.  As a leader, he will transmit what he feels.  Lack of confidence can lead an easy project to failure and a strong confident leader can make a complex project be a complete success.