Purpose

Project planning meetings are held, as the name implies, in order to develop all or part of the project plan. They are intended as both data-gathering and dataorganization sessions. They are intended to generate not only the project plan, but a consensus on that plan and its implementation. The agenda serves as a guide for how these sessions will be held.

Application

Project planning meetings may be held any time there is a major shift in project direction or when a new plan needs to be developed. They should be used when a unified vision on how to approach the project is critical (in contrast to situations where a single individual’s vision or approach will drive the entire effort). They may be used to generate a single component of the plan (such as the risk plan or schedule) or the entire plan. The agenda should be sent out (via e-mail or in hard copy) to attendees prior to the meeting to ensure that they are aware of the objective, schedule, and approach to the meeting.

Content

As with a project, the objective of the project planning meeting should be clearly defined. It is important to delineate the specific deliverables and artifacts that will be generated by the end of the meeting, in order to focus effort toward those artifacts. The agenda for a project planning meeting may include a participant list and information about whether they are on-site or “present” via a teleconference. If there are teleconferencing participants, they should be identified as such, because their participation levels will inherently differ from those who are physically present for such a gathering.

The planning meeting agenda starts with a clear, unambiguous statement of the deliverables or artifacts to be generated by the meeting and the intended use of those deliverables.

Background information is given on the project or subproject to provide a frame of reference as to how and why this set of artifacts is important or significant and why particular approaches are appropriate.

3.0 Facilitation of Artifacts

A variety of strategies (addressed below in the Approaches section) are used to develop the project plan or components associated with the meeting.

4.0 Review and Acceptance of Deliverables

This section contains the participants’ assessments of the meeting deliverables.

5.0 Review and Acceptance of Action Items

This is where the identification of outstanding action items and assignments is documented.

This is a line item indicating when the meeting is over.

An agenda may be elaborate or simple, but it should include at least the components listed above. The most significant level of effort will be associated with the facilitation of artifacts, because many components of the project plan may be generated for the first time in this meeting.

Approaches

The approach to the meeting may, in large part, determine the approach to the agenda. The approaches to developing project plans in a group setting are legion. Some project managers will begin with a suggested plan, encouraging participants to add or subtract elements from the plan as appropriate. Others will identify specific elements of the plan to be developed and will work from scratch to build these components. The latter approach requires more significant team coordination and a higher level of facilitation skills.

The facilitation should involve a reiteration of the deliverable and the identification of those individuals present in the meeting who can directly contribute (i.e., those who will actually lead the work or perform the work). Those individuals should be given the first opportunity to provide insight into the approach to the project that would be the most appropriate. The project manager/facilitator may extract this information verbally (through a brainstorming session) or in documentation (either on paper or Post-It notes) for further review by those present. The key role of the facilitator is to ensure that the entire project is covered by the plan and that the project is covered to a consistent level of depth. It is sometimes tempting to cover familiar areas of the project in far greater depth than those areas that are uncharted.

In the effort to build certain components of the plan, conflict is not uncommon. In schedule development using Post-It notes to generate the network, for example, team members may assert themselves aggressively to defend a particular approach or strategy. The facilitator is responsible for stemming such conflicts by working through the issues under consideration toward consensus. For the agenda, be certain to allot more time for facilitation efforts than for simple presentations or discussions.

Considerations

The agenda sets the tone for the meeting. It should be realistic in terms of the intent and the expectations for the amount of time each agenda item will take. Because project management is largely perceived as a scheduling function or practice, the agenda can often send the message as to whether or not the project manager is capable of adhering to a schedule.

In the meeting, the project manager’s role as agenda watcher may be compromised. The project manager may take on a variety of roles in this setting. The project manager may be called on to serve as facilitator, minute-taker, and participant. Regardless of the project manager’s effectiveness, no one can serve in all of those roles without diminishing at least one of them. That’s why the project managers may want to hire professionals to serve in the roles they do not see as being part of their strengths. Professional facilitators or archivists can keep the meeting moving forward, allowing the project manager to focus on the project and the concerns it raises. Also, if the meeting includes an extensive body of remote participants, certain types of activities (such as network scheduling) may prove impossible without the use of virtual whiteboards or other Internet-supported interactive displays. If the project planning meeting will include development of any extensive graphic artifacts, the participation modes to be used by remote participants should be considered before the meeting begins to ensure that the setup of these elements does not detract from the agenda.