How to Run a Better Status Meeting

By: The Project Management Institute

What’s going on? That is a question every project manager must always be asking throughout a project. And status meetings are where it can best be answered and shared — by and for team members, stakeholders, and other project participants.

But some status meetings are better than others. Too often, these meetings can be inefficient and ineffective. Team members view them as a waste of precious time that could be better spent doing “the actual work.” This bad vibe can go beyond the meeting, negatively impacting morale, performance and cohesion.

The good news is that there are time-tested techniques that project managers can employ to improve their status meetings.

You need a meeting agenda

A well-run status meeting begins with an informative agenda. This includes a brief description of the items to cover, the time allocated for each item and who will be involved in the discussion. If a key decision is expected, or some other key outcome is desired, include it on the agenda.

Choosing the agenda items is important, as it informs attendees what will and will not be addressed, which allows them to prepare and actively engage in the meeting. Selecting the time spent on each item is also valuable because it gives everyone an idea of the expected discussion length and helps gauge if the meeting is staying on track.

Sometimes the project manager will be the leader of the entire meeting, but there are cases when certain topics are best covered by others.?Naming a point-person for each item will help everyone prepare better.

Note that while it’s certainly okay to spend the first few minutes of a meeting simply chatting with each other about the weather or the weekend, the rest of the meeting should remain focused so that everyone’s time is well spent.

What should a status meeting cover?

To start, the project manager should note all people in attendance, all missing and anyone attending as a proxy on behalf of another attendee.

Then the project manager should review open items. This is effectively the review of the previous meeting’s action items, but only for items that remain unresolved. Communicate Items that have been closed prior to the meeting to the team separately as these do not require lengthy discussion in the meeting.

The core of a status meeting should focus on issues and variances. This addresses current work falling outside of acceptable tolerances versus the plan and requires team input to resolve or agree on a course of action.

Next, the meeting should turn to upcoming items. The focus here is not on future milestones or tasks that are proceeding according to plan. This is about items that are several weeks out but may need attention before they become issues or variances.

During the meeting, identify any items that are not directly relevant to the discussion and “park” them to avoid derailing the conversation. At the end of the meeting, review the parked items, resolving them by either adding them to the action plan or confirming the subject is now resolved.

Finally, your status meeting must establish action items. These are any items that require follow up after the meeting along with an owner and a date for resolution or update. These will form the basis for the review of open items in the next meeting, but only for any items that are still open or where the action specifically calls for an update to the group.

Handle all other status-related information outside of status meetings as there is no added value in having everyone hear — or tune out — updates that require no actions. Convey such information through regular status reports instead.

How often should status meetings be held?

A project manager should be able to report up-to-date information to project sponsors and clients at any time, so status meetings should be conducted regularly. How often depends on several factors, including project complexity; size of the team; and the level of information required by project sponsors, client and others.

Status meetings not only help the project manager by providing timely task updates, but also benefit the entire team, by providing a venue to recognize achievements, share information, and bring problems and issues to the team.

Facilitating is different than leading a meeting

Most project managers feel comfortable leading a meeting, but leading a meeting differs from facilitating it. A meeting facilitator guides the group toward its goals by focusing on the processes the group will use to achieve desired outcomes. In short, the meeting leader often focuses on the what, while the facilitator often focuses on the how.

While project managers can designate someone as a facilitator, they often need to wear both hats. In either case, there are specific facilitation tasks that project managers can perform or delegate?to optimize a status meeting. These include:

• Keeping track of time
• Alerting the team if discussion gets off topic
• Documenting action items
• Developing a parking lot
• Asking questions of those not contributing to the discussion
• Playing devil’s advocate if no one in the group is questioning

Don’t get sidetracked

One of the biggest challenges that project managers face during status meetings is staying focused on the key issues. Everyone seems to have a “soap box” issue that they love to discuss in detail, whether it’s on the agenda or not. These tangents steal critical time and can cause meetings to go late. Even worse, they can interrupt the discussion and resolution of issues that are on the agenda.

Project managers can try a few simple techniques to help maintain focus during their status meetings:

• Ask someone on the team to “raise a flag” or otherwise point out when the discussion is veering off topic
• Question whether the issue raised can be taken offline
• Use an egg timer or similar device to “time box” discussions about issues not on the agenda (but the team agrees should be discussed)
• Redirect the issue to the parking lot
• Develop ground rules for keeping the group on topic (e.g., ELMO — “Everyone, Let’s Move On”)

The key to implementing any of these techniques successfully is to surface the potential problem with the team early in the project cycle and identify techniques that the team will support to address it.

A healthy pulse

Status meetings are how project leaders keep their fingers on the pulse of the project. They are where team members and stakeholders raise, address and resolve issues. They are an indispensable tool in project management. But they can also waste time and frustrate project participants if they aren't conducted with purpose and structure.

The good news is that effective and efficient status meetings yield tremendous results. They increase team morale, share timely information, uncover potential risks, provide a forum for discussion, and improve project performance. So, focus on making your status meeting better, and your project’s pulse will be healthier.

This article was originally published on The Official PMI Blog.