On Meetings

08/25/20171 Min Read — In Office, Project Management

A rule to live by is: never misuse time. Always communicate the meeting value to the attendees. To make the best use of meetings, please consider the following:

  • Check your teammate's schedules before you send invitations
  • Use the resource status in the office calendar to book that room
  • Explicitly state the purpose of the meeting and output expected in the invitation
  • Listen actively, delegate someone to whiteboard or take notes
  • Begin and end meetings on time, even if it's uncomfortable
  • Honor the agenda, it is your promise, keep your promises
  • Check meeting process and ground rules periodically
  • Manage air time constructively: No one-on-ones, side meetings or interruptions
  • Leave meeting with clear next steps, who will do what by when, state action items to close the meeting
  • Capture notes/whiteboards/takeaways and share them with the team
  • Post meeting notes to the Slack room right after the meeting
  • For client-facing meetings, email a summary of decisions/action items/dates immediately after