Portfolio managers can use a project quadrant to evaluate projects. The example project quadrant uses two scores: one measures the functionality complexity, and one measures the technical complexity. Each score has a value ranging from 1-10. The four quadrants are defined as follows:

• Quadrant 1 - Low Technical (<5), Low Functional (<5)  This quadrant typically includes the improvements of an existing product. The dev resource can be outsourced to control the cost. The budget guideline is around 15% of the overall budget. 
• Quadrant 2 - Low Technical(<5), High Functional (>5)  This quadrant contains the project using existing technology to address new business initiatives. The engineering resources can be outsourced to control the cost. However, more investment is needed in product management and business analyst. The budget guideline is around 30% of the overall budget. 
• Quadrant 3 - High Technical (>5), High Functional (>5)  This quadrant contains the project using new technology for new business initiatives. The investment should be allocated across the board. The budget guideline is around 30% of the overall budget. 
• Quadrant 4 - High Technical (>5), Low Functional (<5)  This quadrant contains the project using new technology to support existing functionality. The investment should be on engineering resources such as solution architect or application lead. The budget guideline is around 25% of the overall budget. 

The budget allocation can be changed per business stagey. The evaluation of the project requires development team engagement and sign-off. ​

The project scope refers to a detailed list of deliverables or features associated with a project. It's essential to clearly define the project scope before starting any project. A well-articulated scope description helps effectively manage stakeholder expectations. To clearly outline what is included in the project and what is not, we recommend dividing the description into two sections:

• The Scope outlines the list of deliverables.
• Out of Scope refers to the areas not included in the project.

The key is not taking things for granted. If there is an assumption or any constraints, you will also record them in your scope statement. Never assume people would know. Follow the change control process if any scope changes occur after the project kick-off. Scope change, or Scope creep, impacts the project plan, but it might not be as bad as it might be because of customers' increasing demands. Be clear of the Scope, but be ready to handle the changes. 

​

"Project management is the process of leading the work of a team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints. The primary constraints are scope, time, and budget." (Wikipedia)  Project managers create and execute project plans, but the coverage is beyond the plan. Many things can go wrong:

• The scope can change.
• The required time can be underestimated.
• The budget can be over the limit.
• The team has conflicts with different priorities or event personalities.

The project manager needs to keep the project on target with all these dynamics and uncertainty. This is the reality of project management. 

The 10-steps project standardization starts with (1) creating the project charter (also called the project summary) and (2) project onboarding documents which guide the project manager to establish the project control and (3) plan the project with a clear understanding of the project objective, timeline, stakeholders, and methods of execution. (4)The kick-off meeting officially announces the project and starts the project execution process. The process further (5) finalized the requirement and design before (6) development, ensured (7)comprehensive testing and (8) documentation, and governed the (9) production deployment before the (10) final project closure. In the closure, retrospectives collect feedback and learn from lessons and experiences.

The PMO leader should conduct 30-minute review meetings with the project manager to assess the Project Charter, Project Onboarding, Project Kick-off, and Closure.

Rules of Engagement are among the first elements the PMO office establishes. They outline clear expectations and define responsibilities for tasks anticipated in PMO management. This blog will provide an example of a PMO office's Rules of Engagement and discuss the considerations related to them.

General Guideline 
PMO Project Management operation will perform planning, task scheduling, status tracking, reports, escalations, delivery of features checks, documentation standardization review, and assist communication between stakeholders. PMO process generally contains:

• Weekly project status meeting with a report
• Sprint planning/grooming meeting 
• Daily/weekly standup meeting
• Each task is tracked with dev resources, priority, dependency, and deliverable timelines. 
• Track project roadmap, activities, and product changes

PMO project management operation does not engage in detailed requirement clarification, technical design decisions, solution task planning, testing content and execution discussions, technical risk mitigation, issue resolution, user training, production support transition, and technical approvals, including information security, network, platform, performance, and production release approvals.

All PMO-managed escalations require the dev team to perform due diligence and sign off before the escalation.

Detailed Explanation 

You may add more details as your PMO responsibility increases. ​

A project newsletter is an excellent opportunity to engage project stakeholders. Direct inbox access is precious, allowing us to gain attention, obtain support, and even call for action. 

An effective newsletter's content needs to be accurate and current. More importantly, the message demands relevance, engaging, and conciseness.

Relevant means there is a sound reason for your audience to read the content. With hundreds of emails in everyone's inboxes, the key is to show that the information is relevant and valuable to them. 

Engaging means driving actions. Think about what you want your audience to do after the read, and then make the call-outs loud and clear. 

Concise A crisp message always works better because brief, scannable content that is direct to the point shows your respect for others' time. Before sending it out, check the following details: 

• All the links are correct, especially email links.  
• The images are correctly loaded. 
• The newsletter can be read both in dark or light screen mode. ​

​All in all, use the newsletter to build a supportive community for successful project execution. ​

After the project team clarified the requirement, made the plan, and started the design, any change means a "scope creeping." which the project managers would want to void in the first place. However, the competitive business environment demands the project team to adapt to changes. Then, The important thing is that we can't take just any of them. We need a work intake process that defines how new project requests are submitted, reviewed, approved, and added to the project plan. We share with your an example PMO guideline for work intake process setup. 

Project managers can follow the described steps to set up the work intake process for projects: 

• Create a SINGLE entry point for all new requests. 
• Clearly define what information is needed for each request with a template asking for: who made the request, what the request is, why the request is required, the impacts/benefits, the required delivery date, and the point of request contact. 
• Add epics in your project's EXISTING agile ticket tracking system. You need at least two epics: the "Change Requests for Review" hosting all new requests and the "Change Request for Approved" hosting all approved requests to be considered in the next sprint planning. 
• Form a work intake review committee responsible for reviewing the new requests and moving them from "Change Requests for Review" to "Change Request for Approved." Each committee member should have a clear responsibility. The project manager needs to control the reviewing process by requesting the reviews and approvals or scheduling review meetings. Each approved request should come with the review committee's opinions on the benefits, impact, suggestions for prioritization, and delivery timeline. 
• Keep the request transparent to your stakeholder and development team.

The work intake process is fundamental for project management practices, especially when the team complains of having too many requests coming from all different places. The process helps the team stay focused and invest valuable resources in tasks aligned with the organization's strategy.

Reference 

1. Tim Washington, PPM 101: How To Create A Successful Work Intake Process

Virtual meetings become prevalent after COVID-19. PMO needs to provide a guideline to project managers on hosting virtual meetings. An example guideline is shared as follows:

Before the Meeting

• Change background. Many meeting software allows changing the background. You may select different images to give your team some fresh look. 
• Make sure you have enough agenda items to cover in the meeting. If not, cancel the meetings or make them short. 
• ​Confirm that every invitee has a reason to be in the meeting to discuss and make decisions. If not, remove them from your invite. You can send meeting minutes to people who simply need to stay informed. ​

During the Meeting

• Share the agenda slide when waiting for people to dial in. The slide can outline the meeting agenda, tell the team what the meeting is about, and remind people to prepare for their updates. The slide can also remind attendees to test their connections and speakerphone. The slide can also include meeting attendee guidelines like muting while not speaking or asking questions in the chat window during the presentation.
• Start the meeting on time. You can leave sometime in the end, but discussion on time is essential. 
• Make introductions of new members and yourself. If there is anyone new or not, all people know each other, a quick introduction helps. An example interaction is like: Good morning. I an <name>. I am the project manager of …. I will host the meeting today. "
• Request everyone who isn't talking to put themselves on mute.  An example ask is "May I ask everyone to mute your line when you are not talking. Thanks.  You can unmute anytime by press ..."  
• Ensure everyone's participation. Virtual meetings direct attention to people who speak. It removes the possibility for side talks and communication among the attendees. Therefore, the meeting host needs to call everyone for participation. If anyone speak without announcing themselves, you may ask "who is speaking?"
• Repeat significant updates and decisions and ask for confirmation by the speaker and the team to ensure consensus. Speak slowly so everyone can follow.
• Use emotional icons. Emotional supports and feedback to speakers are essential for meeting communications. Since we can't attend in person, using emotion icons helps. As the host, you may teach people to use it by asking, "If you are ready to start, please put a thumb up. "" 
• Use Chat. The chat window can collect questions while not interrupting the speaker. Inviting people to ask questions is a best practice. If you have to leave early, don't interrupt. Type a notice before leaving.  
• Limit the Screen Sharing. Please select an application to share instead of sharing the desktop. If you need time, say, "Please give me a moment to share my screen." 
• Schedule breakout or offline discussions when you find out some deep-dive discussion that is not relevant to all meeting participate or the discussion need extra time. 
• End meeting typically by saying, "We got a lot done today. Thanks for your participation. Have a great day, everyone. We will talk next week." ​

In summary,  meeting hosts need to stay  professional, positive, and engaging. 

Effect Email is fundamental for business communications. I share with you several suggestions for professional and effective email communication. 

1. Start with One Meaningful Subject Line
The email subject line should summarize why you are contacting others in an email. It's important not to overload one email with multiple purposes because when the email could lead to an expanded discussion in an email chain. Mixing numerous unrelated topics can cause confusion. 

2. Annotate the Subject Line to Make It Your Friend
This refers to creating a subject line with more information and driving results. The subject line needs to clearly describe the email and answer the recipient's question, "Why did I receive this email?". The subject can also include Call to Action (CAT) wording to be clarified for the ask, such as: 

• [5 Minutes Feedback]
• [Action Request by <Date>]
• [Approval Needed]
• [Task Due <Date>] ​

​
3. Keep the Email Content Clear, Professional, and On Purpose 
Email is meant to be short, concise, easy to read, and nicely serve its communication purpose. Create the content with simple language, highlight the main points, and discuss questions upfront. Make the content scannable with bullets and bold or colored font to emphasize. Email content at work needs to be formal and professional. This means the email content should follow business etiquette. Things like "Hi Guys.." "What's Up?" would generally be avoided. You also would assume that the email can be forwarded without your content.

4. Create Your Email Signature
You might easily overlook the importance of your email signature. You don't know how often people contact and get to know you. An example signature in the plain text is as follows: 

Name | Role 
Team Information 
Phone: | email: 
"Something links or information about your work." 

When setting up emails, set up the email signature right away. It's critical to show professionalism, connect with colleagues, explain your roles, and publish your expertise.

5. Spicing up with various proper sign-offs can catch people's attention. Avoid using the boring "best regards" every day. Making a change sparks joy. Please include your contact information in the signature so they don't need to look up for you when they need to reach out. 

Tip: Creating a Sign-off to Save Time 
The following is an example signature—the "Hi" reminders to add greetings. The name is added to void repeatedly typing names. The main signature content tells the role and contact information. We leave out the sign-off so we can be creative to add variants. The benefit is that we maximize the retyping in each email. 

Example Email: (Bad)
Subject:  FY2023 Budget Planning
Email Content:
Hi All, 
​
The budget planning for FY2023 is starting, and we request your input by Monday, 05/31 (May 31). Please provide your best budget estimate, including the number of projects, project timelines, including start, end time, and the go-live date, and estimated support hours per month before the due date.

Please forward this email to your teams as appropriate. Thank you.

Best regards,
Sukee 

​Example Email: (Good)
​​Subject:  [Action Request by 5/31/2022] FY2023 Budget Planning Inputs
Email Content:
Hi All, 
​
The budget planning for FY2023 is starting, and we request your input by Monday, 05/31 (May 31).

Please provide your best budget estimate, including: 

• The number of projects
• Project timelines, including start, end time, and the go-live date
• Estimated support hours per month before the due date.

Please forward this email to your teams as appropriate. Thank you.

Best regards,
Sukee Parker 
Managing Director, PMO Advocates
Phone: (670) 543-2222 | Email: [email protected] 
http://pmoblog.weebly.com/pmo PMO who makes innovation thrive.

6. Select Recipients with Consideration 
Every To, CC or BCC name should be well studied. Putting the recipient's name later or after the email is ready can avoid accidentally sending out unfinished emails. BCC is often used when the recipient doesn't need to receive replying emails. If anyone is not included in earlier emails, you can add them via " + Name for visibility" or "+Name for the discussion." Avoid replying until it is necessary. It's polite to avoid jamming others' inboxes. 

7. Stay on One Email Thread for the Same Topic 
​The suggestion tells that you reply to the previous email instead of creating a new one if the discussion is still on the same topic. This helps the audience quickly determine the context. If the email is about a request or an issue follow-up, replying from your previous email emphasizes the history of the discussion and demands attention to resolve the issue in time. We can't emphasize more the importance of clear context for email discussion. If the context is not said correctly, you can summarize the previous discussion or recap the earlier discussion before replying. 

8. Never resolve conflict and differences in email 
This is a golden rule. Because email doesn't capture emotions, tones, and even body gestures, you will have difficulty understanding others' perspectives and showing your empathy via email. If a conflict arises, pick up a phone or schedule a meeting to discuss this in person. We saw people use the inline comment multiple rounds or even quote others' earlier emails to clear and respond. There is an alert telling me it's time to discuss in person. 

9. Reading over 
You need to proofread emails before sending them. Take time for each email you send as they are permeant records. As we talked about earlier, there is no need to rush on anything. Others can wait. Make it right, not quick. Pause before sending to check if there could be any miss understanding. ​​

Follow these tips for your next emails. ​

Editor's Notes: There are some additional tips for emails. (1) Assuming people can forward it to anyone without your permission but not forwarding any email yourself without asking for sender’s permission. (2) Knowing it is a permanent record. (3) Stopping when the discussion becomes emotionally and sensitive. Picking up the phone or meet in person instead. (4) Changing sign-off to fight the boringness.

The project kick-off meeting should start timely when project starts and cover the major areas, including:

• Invite all stakeholders 
• Make time for a team introduction.
• Share the key project details, including project description, benefits, scope, timeline, stakeholder list, assumptions, and risks. 
• Provide the current status, tentative plan, and the next steps. 

We might not confirm all the requirement details at the kick-off meeting.

The project management standard formalizes project execution to prevent team members from getting bogged down in details, not following best practices, or needing more coordination. A well-defined standard allows the project team to stay organized and implement a consistent and structured execution plan. Here is a summary of the PMO standard. 

Engagement Standard defines engagement practices, such as roles and responsibilities and how PM interacts with the project team and stakeholders. 

• Project Management Engagement Model
• How to Create a Project Summary Page
• How to Start a New Project

Project Execution Standard is defined using document templates and a process requiring document reviews and sign-offs at the end of each significant project stage. A well-organized template can help the project team stay organized and mitigate risks by adding directions within the templates. ​

• Project Team Engagement Ground Rules
• Project Meeting Guideline
• ​​How to Create Project Documents
• PMO Project Management Tools Guideline

In summary, the PMO standard must implement the best practices from industry standards, such as the PMI Standard, and address the organization's specific needs. 

Starting a new project is the first step of the project management process. We define the following recommended steps:

• Create project summary/charter and the PMO onboarding document.
• Review with PMO Leader before the kick-off meeting, which includes the following:
  • Project requirement
  • Project scope clarification
  • Project benefits and values
  • Initial project plan and methodology
  • Project communication plan
• Start the stakeholder engagement to collect inputs 
• Run the kick-off meeting 
  • Record the session to set the communication-based line
• Finalized the project requirement and scope 
• Work on proof of concepts or technology validation as needed. You may consider using the Front-End Loading (FEL) approach.
• Review with PMO Leader again when your requirement is finalized. 

Standup meeting, also called daily standup or scrum meeting, is used in agile project management to keep the team closely collaborated. The discussion, in general, focuses on solving problems and making decisions within the project team. To run standup meetings successfully, we can look at the following best practices: 

Select Clear Objectives  The meeting allows teams to share updates briefly and get teams aligned and focused on goals. Note that this is not a status meeting, so updating the status should be relevant to the dev discussion. 

Keep it short. Standup Meeting should be brief (aim for not more than 15 mins). It's a quick check-in rather than a lengthy discussion.

Cadence: Choose how often to meet (daily/ every other day or once weekly) depending on the workload and deliverables but make it consistent.

• Recurring: Meet at the same time, whatever is the cadence. Ensure everyone involved is available.
• In-charge: The project manager should be in charge of keeping the meeting productive. 
• Clear Structure: Everyone involved should share the below three
  • What's Completed since the last meeting
  • What is Planned to be completed before the next meeting
  • Issues and help needed (Schedule for a separate meeting to discuss the issues should be decided during the standup meeting)
• Walk the board (optional): Instead of doing a round-robin, the project manager should display a visual project management report or project plan so that the standup meeting moves through each work item. 
• Meeting Minutes (optional): sending minutes after the meeting, incredibly the actionable ones. This will also help any team members who could not stay on the same page as the rest of the group. Minutes should be shared on the same day (preferably within 2 hours)​

Communication suggestion: Although we have standup meetings, we recommend offline communication with your team and business users. ​
Standup meetings should focus on problem-solving rather than status checking. Otherwise, the discussion can become a micromanagement burden to the project team. ​

When new project managers join PMO, it is essential to help them to understand their scope of work, get to know the team, learn PMO guidelines on project management process and standards, and understand the organization's structure and culture. Here is a detailed guide to building a 21-day (3 weeks) onboarding process. 

Day 1-7 (1st week): Taking the Training 
We need to ease new project managers into their role in the first week. We need to be efficient but also consider the challenge for people working in a brand new environment. Some critical tasks to consider: 

• Assign a PM in the group to be the buddy for the project transition. We can create a knowledge transfer (KT) document outlining the immediate responsibility and a 3-week transition plan. The plan should include 1 week for training, 1 week for the new PM to shadow the current PM, and 1 week for the new PM to take the lead and let the current PM follow the sessions. All the training documents, tool instructions, KT sessions, and organization overview documents should be recorded in the KT document. This helps review if there is any knowledge gap later. 

Day 8-14 (2nd week): Introducing to the Project Team

• Invite the new PM to the PMO team meeting. Introduce the team, and explain their role with the team. 
• Create 1on1 meeting to go over PMO Project Manager On-Boarding Guideline to explain the project management process, documentation standards, meeting guidelines, tools, and governance rules. It's essential to outline communication basics such as how to update status.
• Assign the PMO some simple tasks to familiarize him with the tools and project management process. 
• Get ready to report project status without managing it. 
• Arrange 1on1 meetings with critical stakeholders 

Day 15-21 (2nd week): Getting Feet in the Water 

• Go over key responsibilities and expectations for their role in 1on1 meeting 
• Review project management process and task plan. 

Note that the onboarding process is short (21 days) to enable contractor-based business. The onboarding process can be longer (30-60-90 days) for employee-based PMOs with more career development effort. We will chat about it in the future. 


​Project Manager On-Boarding Guideline ​

​Summary - Learn about your role 

• The project manager's main focus includes
  • Execution of PMO standard and process 
  • Lead project coordination and communication 
• Sample Daily Activities
  • Host project meetings with sprint planning and status updates
  • Write document meeting minutes, decisions, and communication memos.
  • Create and review project plans.
  • Provide management reports

Week 1 Setting up and Attend Training 

• ​Setting up the computer, install software and tools (collaboration tools, email, presentation, project management, document repository, corporate directory) 
• Attend knowledge transfer sessions (KT) and training classes 
• Review PMO Guideline 

Week 2 Getting Started 

• Identify people you'll need to meet with on an ongoing basis and schedule introduction 1:1 calls. 
• Make sure you're invited to all critical meetings or schedule your own in Calendar.
• Update the tracking document for your 1:1 sync with your manager and review project management guidelines in the 1:1 meeting
• Create with weekly project report with the current project manager providing the information. 
• Shadow current PM for the projects

Week 3 Start with Help 

• Take over the projects with the current PM shadowing and providing assistance. Depending on the project's complexity, this can last 1-2 weeks. 
• Review the project management plan with your manager and get ready for the weekly review report

Frequently Asked Questions 

1. What should I do if developer keep asking me to follow-up with their technical requests?
2. Why do I need to include project summary page in project status meeting agenda?

​A risk register is a project document that lists potential risks to a project. This document is created from a risk breakdown structure (RBS). 
​
A Risk register can be used to identify risks, understand their likelihood and impact, and recommend risk mitigation actions. You can download the document to quickly set up risk mitigation practices.​

​Establishing a standard risk register helps the project teams follow the best practices for dealing with risks. The following is an example risk register with 46 typical IT project risks with a calculated risk assessment on RBS.

​It's a best practice to guide PMO on what tools to use for project management for project planning, scheduling, content collaboration, and others. The standardized tool in the team can reduce teamwork frictions.  The following is an example PMO recommendation: 

• Spreadsheet: Use Quip (New Document embed @ Spreadsheet). For advanced features, use Microsoft Excel.
• Documentation : Use Quip
• Project Management / Planning / Task Tracking: Use Wrike
• Presentation: Use Keynote
• Conference Calls:Use Webex
• Text messages: Use Slack
• Large Files (when you cannot use box eg: recordings, secure files: Use Box
• Bug Fixing / Agile Dev Project : Radar 
• Production Ticketing : Central Station 
• Changes to Production: Corporate change control system

In the guideline, the functionality coverage is described for each tool. This is an evolving list. As new demands or new tools come out, PMO will constantly evaluate the options and recommend best practices. ​​

Project manager in general need to create minute for all project meeting and send to meeting attendees and relevant stakeholders in email. The main purpose is  to keep record of decision made and planned action times.  

Create the Minutes Email by selecting Replying to All from the meeting event on the calendar and send out Meeting Minutes within same day of the meeting. If possible, it suggestion to send out the minutes within 2-3 hours. 

Follow the format to create the content. The minutes needs be brief and only include content from the meeting and include the following:

• Subject : <Project Name> <Meeting Name> +Meeting Minutes +(<Date>)
• Email Body : (Optional)
  • Title : <Project Name> <Meeting Name>
  • Date : <Date> <Time> <Time Zone>
  • Attendees (Optional): You would include attendees if this business user meeting. For project status/planning meeting, you can skip this unless you have limited attendance.
  • Minutes:
  • Project Status: On Track (green) | At Risk (Yellow/Red)
    Start with " 1. Project status On Track (green) | At Risk (Yellow/Red)"
    • What's Completed
    • What's In Progress / Pending along with ETA and owner
    • Major Discussion Items (always use bullets and to the point)
    • Action Items : <Who> to do <What> <by when>
      e.g. @Richard to complete the user list confirmation ETA 8/6.
  • Link : Add link to the past records of meeting minutes at the end of the email body for reference to old minutes, Its also recommended to include link to the Project Summary Page at the end. 

​Log Minutes : Always log Meeting Minutes in Quip or Wrike with the meeting minutes, recordings and presentation.

Editor's Notes: Product managers often ask, "Why do I need to include a link to the project summary page in the status meeting agenda and meeting minutes? ​" The short answer is this link help user locate the project information quickly. Join the community. If you'd like to learn more about this FAQ, join the community for the details. ​​

Email Template 
-- Copy the following section ---
Title : <Project Name> <Meeting Name>
Date : <Date> <Time> <Time Zone>

Project Summary: <Link to project summary page> 
Slack Channel: <slack channel>
Email Group: <email group>

Attendees (Optional)
You would include attendees if this business user meeting. For project status/planning meeting, you can skip this unless you have limited attendance. 

Minutes: 
1.Project Status: <Project Name> Status <On Track> | <At Risk (Yellow/Red>
2.Discussions

• What's Completed
• What's In Progress / Pending along with ETA and Owner
• Major Discussion Items (always use bullets and to the point)
• Action Items : <Who> to do <What> <by When>
  e.g. @Richard to complete the user list confirmation ETA 8/6. 

Link <Minute Link> 
Add link to the Meeting Minutes page at the end of the email body for reference to old minutes

Recording: <Recording attachment or link>

Presentation: <Presentation attachment or link>

--- End of File ---

Project meetings form the core of the project communication strategy and should be one of the first elements to consider when establishing PMO governance. The PMO meeting framework should outline who to invite, what topics to discuss when to hold the meetings, and how to conduct the sessions. Below, we provide basic guidelines for these meetings.

No Meeting Rule
Rule number one is the no-meeting rule: Avoid meetings without concrete reasons. Every project meeting should be scheduled for a specific purpose, such as driving project execution, building consensus, or solving problems. One key reason for this rule is to give the project team greater control over their time, allowing them to remain focused and productive. Another important consideration is the high cost associated with meetings. 

For example, if you invite ten people to a one-hour meeting, the cost amounts to ten person-hours. If the average hourly wage of your team is $70, that single session costs $700. We've seen meetings with over 20 invitees, leading to a cost of $1,400. There must be a reasonable justification for the return on investment (ROI) in such cases.

Fitting Meetings into the PMO Meeting Structure
Create a PMO meeting structure and use it to plan meetings. The PMO meeting structure defines what meeting should be scheduled, and a project meeting naming convention ensures consistency across all PMO project execution.

Inviting the Right People. 
Minimize the invitation list to only the core team. This suggestion advises project managers to monitor meeting attendance closely. For instance, if attendees change roles, stop attending meetings, or consistently decline invitations, the project manager should inquire whether they should be removed from the meeting invitation list. An alternative is to add these stakeholders to a mailing list to keep them informed about meeting minutes. In summary, we aim to keep the list of meeting invitees short.

Implementing Effect Meeting Practices. 
There are many meeting productivity tips. Project managers need to follow the PMO procedure and enforce best practices when booking, canceling, facilitating
meetings, and creating meeting minutes. Now, project managers also need to learn how to host virtual meetings. 

Questions to Ask When Planning Project Meetings

• Do I have to schedule this meeting? Can I achieve the same goal via email, instant messaging discussion, or collaboration document? 
• How does this meeting fit into the PMO project meeting structure? 
• Do I have the right people in my meeting? Do I miss anyone, or is my meeting room overcrowded? 
• What are the productivity practices to use? 
• What do I need to do so people will not hate my meetings? 
  
  

In summary, ensuring that all project meetings are productive is a top priority. Productivity involves achieving objectives in the least amount of time, providing timely updates to stakeholders, and clearly defining next steps.

A steering committee consists of key stakeholders who oversee, support and guide a project in the right direction. Its members are typically managers from the departments involved in the project. Regular meetings should be scheduled for the steering committee to provide project updates, discuss any issues, and make important decisions regarding the project. The Project Management Office (PMO) requires:

• Schedule the steering committee meeting immediately following the kick-off meeting. The sessions can be held monthly or bi-monthly, depending on the main project phases. We can also arrange steering committee meetings when urgent issues arise. Make a clear roster of committee members outlining their roles and responsibilities.
• Create a presentation at each meeting with the agenda, project status, the current plan, issues to address, and next steps. 
• Send meeting minutes after each meeting, capturing decisions on issues and plan updates. 

PMO requires the setup of steering committee meetings when crossing-team support and decisions are needed.

​

​When a new team gets together, knowing the engagement rules is essential. We define the PMO engagement rule as follows: 

• Start with clarifying the role of engagement with the project team.
• When we receive a request, we will send an acknowledgment. If the task requires more time, we will notify the requestor with an estimated time of availability (ETA) and inform them later of any potential timeline extensions.
• We need to update each task in Wrike before the due date. If there are any timeline changes or extensions, notify the project manager with a reason.
• It is mandatory to respond to the meeting invitation. If you cannot attend, please provide a reason.

We will help the team adhere to the rules of engagement by constantly reviewing and adjusting the team's behavior until it is part of the team culture. 

Facilitating project meetings, especially the project status meeting, is one of the project managers' primary responsibilities. Experienced project managers can make an idea come to life in a meeting. They can build solid team relationships while making decisions to move things forward. Following some basic principles can help you achieve the meeting objectives and steer the discussion effectively.

First, make sure you engage everyone during the discussion to show respect for everyone in the team. ​​​Then, there are some best practices to follow : 

• Encourage participants to join on time. Start the meeting no later than 2-3 minutes. Doing so will let the participants know that the discussion always starts on time.
• Do a time check a few mins before the ending time so that the person talking wraps up his thoughts.
• Use simple language to call for information. Make your message clear; speak slowly, take a pause, and ask questions. 
• Ask for everyone's full participation. This means everyone participates in a meaningful way. Pay attention to introverts, and give them the opportunity and time to share their thoughts. You may consider approaches like receiving comments in writing or calling everyone for their direct participation.
• The person hosting the meeting should take notes and summarize the discussion before the session ends overing the discussion topics, decision made and next steps.  You can consider recording a meeting to catch up with the conversation later. 

Before traveling or taking a leave of absence, please complete these suggested steps to prepare for your time off:

1. Give notice in advance to coworkers and managers.
2. Set up a calendar event to block the leave days. Ensure the event on the personal calendar is set up as an "All day" task and has time to be "Busy." Create an all-day event without blocking the time on the team calendar. 
3. Delegate the current tasks and the hosted meetings to another person when the leave is longer than 2 days. If necessary, create a knowledge transfer document to outline the delegation details, including the jobs, meetings, and delegated contact details. Select a project team member to host your meetings who can send meeting minutes per PMO guidelines. 
4. Delegate approval authority and arrange to cover contact for different function areas. 
5. Create an out-of-office auto-email reply. Be careful to avoid setting server-side rules. Instead, use the company-recommended application to prevent duplicate auto-replies that could flood other people's inboxes. 
6. Set your online application status, e.g., update the status in Slack with the /Status command (/Status Clear) 

With these settings, you can ensure all have been taken care of before your leave. ​

​Representing project timeline clearly helps the team to plan the the work. The timeline typically includes milestones which are point of events and tasks that last for some time.

1. Identify project scope and come up with a work breakdown structure
2. Divide your work package into a list of achievable tasks
3. Identify the dependencies of your project
4. Make a priority order of all tasks by using the dependencies
5. Identify the resources required for each task and check their availability
6. Determine the time needed to finish each task
7. Select the start/end date of each task and draw your project timeline

Project managers record the meeting to track conversation details, allow people who miss the session to catch up later or keep a historical record of the project decisions. Some PMs also use the recording to aid the creation of meeting minutes when you can't engage in discussion while keeping notes. 

It seems like recording the meeting can only help, but it is not. Putting the recording can make people feel formal and hesitate to raise questions or comments without preparation. Therefore, brainstorm sessions usually are not suitable for recording. You might also skip recording for team sync up because recording makes people feel judged. 

The recording meeting should not be too long because people generally are not good at watching lengthy videos. Therefore, the agenda and content of a recorded meeting need to be more prepared. The essence of the decision is empathy for meeting your participants and knowing what you need to achieve in the meeting. 

For meeting ethnic, you would need to announce your recording before it starts. If you need to record the session for meeting minute creation, you don't have to disclose it. You may record the session privately and delete the recording after you finish the minute creation. 

Starting a new project is the first step in the project management process. Here are the recommended steps to consider:

1. Create a project summary or charter and the PMO onboarding document.
2. Review these documents with the PMO Leader before the kick-off meeting. Ensure that the following topics are addressed:

• Project requirements
• Clarification of project scope
• Project benefits and values
• Initial project plan and methodology
• Project communication plan

3. Begin stakeholder engagement to gather inputs.
4. Conduct the kick-off meeting.
5. Record the session to establish a communication baseline.
6. Finalize the project requirements and scope.
7. Work on proofs of concept or technology validation as needed, considering the Front-End Loading (FEL) approach.
8. Review the finalized requirements with the PMO Leader again.

This structured approach will help ensure a smooth project start.

It's best to update the project team on the rule of engagement when starting a new project. It's like the "We Card" sign in grocery store, workers only have to point to the sign for you to prove that you are legally to make the purchase. With the rule of engagement, It's the rules that is  understood everyone to avoid additional hassle .The following is an example guideline. 

For PM requests, please acknowledge when receiving the request within the same day. If you don't know the next step, a simple reply with "Acknowledge or ACK" is sufficient. Then reply with updates after your initial follow-up to confirm the action plan and ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival). If the ETA doesn't meet the initial timeline, please request an extension to your project manager.

During task execution, the task owner must timely update the status in Wrike or any tasking tracking system selected. Any timeline extension or blocking issue needs to be sent before the due date or notify PM as soon as possible. 

For meeting invites, it's mandatory to respond to the meeting invite. In case of tentative or not attending, please provide a reason. ​

​Laying down the ground rules reduces frictions during the project team interactions. The clear agreement  leads a high-performance team. ​