Project Meeting Protocols

by Hal on December 6, 2004

in PM practice, books, leadership, teams

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Article Series - Project Meeting Protocols

  1. Project Meeting Protocols
  2. Look-Ahead Planning
  3. Weekly Work Planning
  4. Daily Coordination for Managing Promises
  5. Improving the Planning System Performance
  6. Starting a Project Well Begins with a Kickoff Meeting
  7. Project Meeting Protocols: Managing Commitments in a Stand-Up Setting

Meetings, meetings, meetings…we have far too many that don't produce the value for the attendees or the project. Patrick Lencioni's latest book, Death by Meeting, makes the case for different meeting approaches depending on the purpose pursued. For more than 8 years the founders of the Lean Construction Institute have advised people doing projects on a lean basis to have special-purpose weekly project meetings. Over the next week or so I will offer my proposals for protocols for conducting a series of meetings that address a coherent set of project concerns.

I have identified four five protocols that are consistent with the Last Planner System®. These five represent distinct phases of the workflow of project work.

  1. Look-Ahead Planning — Making work ready
  2. Weekly Work Planning — Promising task completions
  3. Daily Coordination — Declaring complete on promises
  4. System Improvement — Learning, innovating, and system design
  5. Project Kick-Off — Beginning well

I am calling these protocols rather than meeting agendas or processes to indicate there are further design opportunities to address the specific circumstances of your project. However, please consider these meeting descriptions as more than just Hal's good ideas. These protocols represent a collected wisdom from collaborating on projects ranging from defense contracts, construction, architecture, engineering, and software development. While I am sure these protocols can be improved upon, I am also quite confident in their usefulness just as is.

Stay tuned…

Next in series

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

1 Evelyn Mitchell December 7, 2004 at 5:28 pm

I look forward to hearing more about these protocols. They sound like the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle:

Look-Ahead Planning = Plan
Weekly Work Planning = Do
Daily coordination = Check
System Improvement = Act

Your terms are much clearer than PDCA on first reading. (What’s the difference between Do and Act to the average listener?)

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