One of the key points to have a productive meeting is to write down a list of actions with the person responsible to do it and the due date.

But this is just a requirement to get things done.  How many times have you committed to do something in a meeting and then you didn’t do it because your daily  activity made you forget it?  As a project manager, you have to make sure that actions are completed on time.  You have to do a follow-up.

Depending on the complexity of the actions, you may want to do a follow-up meeting, write an email or just make a phone call.  A follow-up meeting is necessary when the actions are complex or when there are interrelationships between different tasks.  In this case it is better to get the responsible of the related actions together and discuss the progress and the problems that may have arisen.

In most cases, an email or a phone call will be enough.  But bear in mind that what you are doing is trying to help someone else to do his job, not just controlling his job.  What is the difference?  Have a look at these two approaches:

• Regarding action X, do you have all the information you need?  If you need  something or find a problem please let me know and I’ll try to help.
• How are you doing with action X?  Have you finished?  Will you finish on time?

I guess you can see the difference.  If your team feels that you are there to help and not just to control, they will work much more comfortably.  Communication will also improve, because when they find a problem, they won’t hesitate to tell you, and you will be able to take action earlier.  And that is key to avoid project delays.

It is also important to know when to do the follow-up.  It is clear that you don’t want to wait until the day before the due date, because you wouldn’t be helping but controlling.  On the other hand, you don’t want to do it too early, because people have to start their task to know if they need help or if there is a problem they didn’t see initially.  It also depends on the person assigned to the action.  If you know that that person usually waits until the last minute to start something, you may want to do an earlier follow-up.  Just follow your common sense and learn from the results that you get and you will be fine.

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.