Meetings

One of the first things that comes to mind when discussing cross-functional teams is meetings. Meetings are an effective project management tool, but they get bad press when they are applied improperly in fast-paced business environments. In a slower-paced, fairly predictable world, meetings may be large but infrequent. It may make sense to get the whole team and all stakeholders together to present status reports and discuss accomplishments. People want to be involved and informed, and it's politically correct to invite everyone even remotely involved with the project. In general, such meetings may be valuable but not efficient. Any given participant may only be actively involved in ten minutes of an hour meeting. Still, it may be an acceptable price to pay to maintain full involvement.

Agile Strategy

Improve meeting effectiveness by increasing the number of project meetings, but limiting their scope and narrowing the invite list to only those applicable team members.

Now let's take a look at how meetings are affected by the fast-paced and uncertain business environment. First, the frequency of meetings is proportional to the level of uncertainty. Since we've already determined that there is a higher degree of uncertainty, then it follows that, in general, we need to have more meetings (see Figure 4-4). This usually happens by default as part of the problem-solving process. However, in our zeal to keep everyone involved, we tend to "over invite". This leads to a situation where some participants are heavily involved (which is good) and some are hardly involved (which becomes frustrating). Meeting organizers need to narrow the invite list to key contributors, and participants need to qualify their need to be present at meetings by pushing back if they feel that they cannot gain or add value.

Figure 4-4: Meetings in an agile versus classic environment.

Second, project managers and team members now commonly participate in numerous projects simultaneously. It is very difficult to assess people's priorities and schedules related to projects that you are not involved in. This situation leads to meeting overload. People need the information to do their jobs but don't want more meetings. Their perception of meetings is still stuck in the past. Project managers and meeting organizers need to help shift that perception to the present. We need to be sensitive to the time demands on our resources and do everything we can to respect and support those demands. This leads me to the next point: Meetings must be run more efficiently.

Agile Strategy

Respect the time demands of team members by clearly identifying required and optional attendees at meetings. Many team members may like to remain on the distribution list and contribute when they have the time. Let them make this decision by listing them as optional attendees.

No one wants to waste time in a poorly organized and run meeting. If meetings are perceived as time-wasters, then people will stop attending, making the meeting even more inefficient for the remaining people and eventually sending the team into a downward spiral. Meeting efficiency must be emphasized in today's project teams, and while the leadership lies with the meeting organizer, the participants must also take some responsibility. Numerous books have been written on how to run good meetings, but the most important element is the agenda. You must have a good one. Enough said.

Agile Strategy

Increase meeting efficiency by sending out an agenda in advance. Include the overall meeting objectives and be clear about what you expect from attendees, so that they come prepared.

It's a "chicken or egg" situation when it comes to meetings that support project agility. We need more meetings to navigate the fast and uncertain waters, but no one wants more meetings until they can be proven to be real value-adders. A fundamental change in perceptions and culture around meetings is required for project teams to become truly agile. This is a slow process, but the first step is recognizing how changes in the project environment are reflected in our project meetings, as previously discussed.