expanding capital management
Project managers know it’s useful to track and manage issues throughout a project. The real concern isn’t how to track issues but how to effectively and efficiently review the issues log during a project review meeting.
A key meeting I conduct on all of my projects is an issue, risk, and detailed project schedule review meeting. The purpose of the meeting is to have one formal touch point throughout the week where we can review the current issue status and discuss next steps to resolve any open issues. The meeting is helpful because it allows team members who are not always co-located to connect and provide input on any potential impacts or dependencies.
The meeting is scheduled for 60 minutes, with the first half dedicated to reviewing the issues log. The majority of the team members are co-located in a dedicated conference room with plenty of wall space, power strips, and a projector to display desktops and share the issue log.
The team has everything they need to be productive, so imagine my surprise when the 30 minute agenda item to quickly review 12 issues expanded into a 90 minute discussion. The input the team contributed to the issues log was valuable, although several tangents were created that generated more discussion. An outside observer would say the project manager isn’t effectively managing the meeting; however, I’m sure readers can relate to expanding discussions and tangent agenda items that can wreck a planned agenda.
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