From my experience, most projects are already in Meeting Hell. So the next few posts will be focused on stopping meeting hell. These experience will hopefully not only come from me, but from the rest of the blogosphere. Remember to leave a comment or contact me, in order to share your stories.
I have gone into several meetings and have had Person A giving their status report and then Person B raises an objection to the way Person A is implementing a feature. Soon it evolves (or devolves in my opinion), to a large discussion of what exactly is being done and why. Then Person C (who really just wants to leave the meeting and get some work done) says hey why don't we have meeting on this (knowing full well they either won't show up or wont be invited). Everyone thinks that seems like a reasonable idea and the PM is left with scheduling another meeting.
This scenario seems to play itself out at least once during a meeting. The trick is to just say NO (just like smoking again). Either as a member of the team or as the PM, suggest that the two people with the problem meet at one of their desks, talk through the issue, come to a resolution, implement the resolution, and give a status update at the next meeting. I know I just suggested having another meeting. I have used this in meetings several times and it seems to work.
Another meeting with the entire group has now just been avoided . That alone is a big win. Everyone is happy that they don't have another meeting scheduled and everyone can actually get work done, keeping the project from slipping. Everyone is also equally relieved that the meeting can continue.
Now it is true that two people must now meet, but they are meeting on less hostile terms. Conference rooms full of your peers can be intimidating and everyone seems to be just a bit tenser (another reason discussions seem to spiral out of control). By having these two people in a more relaxed setting, seems to get the issue resolved faster than if you had another meeting or let the meeting continue on. Finally the two people show up at the next meeting, with a quick status update on what has been done to resolve the conflict and everything is good to go.
Please leave a comment or contact me, so that I may share your stories.