Operational Governance Knowledge Flashcards No. 02/19

How to have “awesome” meetings

From the Operational Governance flashcard deck; today this discipline goes by BizOps. The original card is republished here as a field note.

01 What is it

A meeting is productive when its members fulfill their roles. The card assigns five:

The Organizer

Duty: ensures the meeting fulfills its intended purpose. To-do: defines the meeting purpose and expected outcome, the agenda, and participants’ roles; drives the discussion. Tools: Google Calendar, Zoom, an agenda template.

The Process Facilitator

Duty: ensures the meeting is carried out comprehensively. To-do: drives the meeting to include all participants’ inputs and ensures output quality; sets up the presentation and the call links. Tools: consensus mechanisms, input templates, prioritization techniques.

The Timekeeper

Duty: ensures the meeting starts and finishes on time. To-do: allocates time slots to each agenda item, keeps track of time, and announces when each change is due. Tools: a timer.

The Recorder

Duty: ensures the meeting output is properly documented. To-do: listens to the conversation and distills the agreements and commitments into written minutes that everyone must agree on. Tools: a notepad, email.

Relevant Participants

Duty: contribute according to their expected role (decision-maker, consulted, informed, idea generator). To-do: adhere to the facilitator’s and timekeeper’s methods; be constructive when contributing ideas; be concise. Tools: a notepad, value-adding inputs.

02 When is it useful

Have a meeting to make decisions that need alignment, to properly communicate impactful decisions, or to ask for help through a comprehensive discussion.

A meeting is not necessary when an email or a Slack message (or two…) is enough; when there is no clear output to be documented; or when members don’t know the inputs they contribute.

03 How to use it

Meeting Rulz!

  1. Never have a meeting without the call link and the place (a room if necessary) set in Google Calendar.
  2. Always clarify the intended outcome, the agenda, and each member’s role at the start of the meeting.
  3. Everyone must prepare the content they will take to the meeting beforehand.
  4. Do not allow meetings to overlap in your calendar.
  5. If there are too few members, one of them can hold more than one role. But the roles have to be explicitly assigned.