What do meetings that one experienced as valuable to attend — meetings one keeps going back to — have in common? Here are some responses people gave in a survey for a project post-mortem:

- The meetings address issues of concern.

- It is important to get everyone face to face, but also limit the time spent doing so.

- Everyone gets the same information.

- Everyone is made aware of the changes. Personally, the Sunday church meetings and the weekly toastmaster’s meetings are meetings the author keeps going back to, because they seem valuable. Effective meetings have several things in common:

1. The needs of each participant are met.

2. Concerns important to the group as a whole are addressed.

3. The purpose is clear.

4. The atmosphere is comfortable.

The following sections discuss what can be done to make meetings an effective communication tool:

- Identify the purpose of the meeting

- Define the deliverables or work products of meetings

- Create the atmosphere/context for success

Define the Purpose of the Meeting

There are mainly three types of meetings:

1. Meetings for exchanging information

2. Meetings for making decisions

3. Meetings for solving problems

Examples for each are (1) the project status meeting, which has the purpose of exchanging information; (2) scope/issue meetings, which have the purpose of making decisions; and (3) design meetings, which have the purpose of producing a quality product design.

An information exchange meeting achieves its purpose if all team members get the information they need to proceed with their work. Information exchange meetings are the place to disseminate product requirement changes, raise technical issues, announce changes in the lives of project team members, and report on risks that have either increased or decreased. Information exchange meetings are great forums for team members to use each other as sounding boards for their upcoming decisions.

An important part of a decision- making meeting is to provide participants with the facts they need to make decisions. A decision- making meeting does not achieve its purpose if the decisions are postponed. The purpose is to arrive at decisions that all participants agree to and can support.

The purpose of a problem-solving meeting is not only to develop a solution, but also to formulate jointly a common problem definition. It is important that all meeting participants have a chance to make a contribution. Just as with decision- making meetings, the purpose of problem-solving meetings is to decide on a solution. Once the purpose in general has been defined, the next step is to prepare a specific agenda. An agenda is an outline of the content for the meeting. What needs to be on the agenda depends on the task at hand. For example, the agenda for a change control board meeting will list the specific cases to be discussed. It also may contain a discussion and vote on procedural changes and an announcement of a personnel appointment. An agenda for a status meeting will list important milestones, such as the documentation freeze, the beta release, and the version of the upcoming software build.

When preparing a meeting agenda, ask questions that will help identify the topics to be addressed. For example, when preparing an agenda for a status meeting, ask the following questions:

- Which information is needed to begin work on upcoming tasks and who needs it?

- Which external information and decisions have an effect on the project?

- Which deliverables require coordination between several team members?

- Are there any concerns that were brought up?

- Which activities and tasks have been worked on?

Define the Work Products That Result from Meetings

No matter what the kind of meeting, it is necessary to record the information shared and the outcome of the meeting in meeting minutes. Without meeting minutes, all work accomplished in the meeting is lost. Having a person record the information shared, the decisions made, and the problems solved relieves other participants from keeping records themselves and allows them to participate in the meeting. Using a template for the meeting minutes makes them fast to prepare, easy to read, and assures that nothing is forgotten. There are additional work products, depending on the particular purpose of a meeting. Information exchange meetings usually have a list of action items as a result.

The work products of decision- making meetings are the alternatives that have been evaluated, the decisions made, and their supporting reasons. The resulting decisions are recorded in a permanent repository, preferably accessible to all team members now and in the future.

The work product of a problem-solving meeting varies and depends on the problem. It can be a design document, a project schedule, or a budget. Just as with the meeting minutes, it is important to assign ownership to a partic ipant who is responsible for recording the work product and for distributing it to all participants. For example, the purpose of a meeting may be to define a documentation plan consisting of templates for all internal documentation. The recorder/owner is responsible for creating the final electronic form of the templates and for sharing them with all interested parties.

Create an Atmosphere for Success

The atmosphere or context of a meeting is an important factor that allows people to share information, make decisions, and solve problems jointly. Knowing the purpose and work products of a meeting are necessary, but if meeting participants do not feel comfortable enough to share information or opinions, the meeting will not achieve its objective. People need to feel comfortable so they can focus on the task at hand. Participants need to feel and know that they can communicate openly, that their perspectives are respected, and that they can express their creativity.