PMO Project Meeting Guideline

Project meetings constitute the backbone of the project communication platform and should be one of the first things to consider when setting up any PMO governance. The PMO meeting control should cover who to invite, what to discuss, when to have the meetings, and how to perform the sessions. 

No Meeting Rule
Rule number one is the no meeting rule: Avoid meetings if there are no concrete reasons. Every project meeting has to be set up for a reason, like driving project execution, building consensus, or solving problems. The first reason for this rule is to give the project team more control over their time to stay focused and productive. Another reason is that meeting bears a high cost. Suppose you invite ten people to a 1 hr meeting that is 10hr person-hour cost. If your team's average pay is $70 per hour, one session costs $700! We saw meetings with more than 20 invitees. In a $1400 meeting, there must be a reasonable justification of the ROI. 

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 with the core team only. This suggestion asks every project manager to monitor meeting attendance. For example, if any attendees change roles, stop showing up to the meetings, and keep declining the invitations, the project manager then needs to ask them if they should be removed from the meeting invitation. One alternative is to add these stakeholders to a mailing list to stay informed of the meeting minute update. In short, keep the meeting invitee list 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. ​

Question to Ask When Planning Project Meetings

• Do I have to schedule this meeting? Can I achieve the same goal with email, with instant messaging discussion, or using a 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 over-crowded my meeting room? 
• What are the productivity practices to use? 
• What do I need to do so people will not hate my meetings? 

Editor's Note: Making all project meetings productive is a top priority. Productivity means achieving objectives with the minimum required time, timely communicating updates to stakeholders, and clearly outlining actions next. ​