When running a project meeting what are the issues?

When is an issue worth raising formally, documenting and discussing at the meeting?

• If you or have a hunch, that there may be implications for this issue that are outside your control, or experience, talk to your colleagues or manager and decide whether a full project issue meeting is needed.

When should you just address it there and then and report results to the next progress meeting?

• If all issues, however small, are documented and brought to an issues meeting, the process will become bureaucratic and demotivating. Some issues can and should be resolved quickly, by one person, with a brief consultation.

People may not be motivated to document project issues, especially if the project is behind schedule.

• Educate the team to the value of documenting issues, use live examples of benefits of doing this well, and problems when it was not.

Is this an issue that has been raised before but not addressed? Some people find difficulty being heard at meetings. The chair must ensure that all proposals are heard, whatever the level of

skill of the proposer. The chairperson should also educate the team to listen more carefully to issues raised in this way.

• Some issues get raised but are not addressed. e.g. mistakes in design work being made because training needed. The same mistakes are still being made because the training has not been given. It is a chairperson’s task to ensure that all issues raised are properly documented, with action points, and any actions not taken are dealt with firmly. The team also need educating to this.

Do all issues raised have action points against them, with dates? Have you agreed how urgent/important they are?

• If not, it is likely that they won’t get done, especially if people are under pressure and don’t consider the action point to be essential.

If an issue is beyond the scope of the project manager and team, do you have a way of delegating issues upwards to senior management?

• At the start of the project, this mechanism should have been agreed with the managers and explained to the team. If it is not yet in or is not working, address immediately.

Are you aware of the knock-on effects of this issue? What changes will be made to the project, and what effects will this have?

• Consider the effect project risks, plan, schedule, people, business case, budget, quality, communication, skills…

Have you given one person the responsibility for making sure the issue is addressed?

• Make one person publicly accountable for resolving the issue and it is more likely to get done. Make sure this person has the authority, availability and the experience to resolve the issue.

Are project issues regularly being ignored or inadequately addressed?

• This in itself is an important issue and could threaten the successful completion of the project. Address the issue directly with the team and involve senior management.

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