Leading Design Meetings

© 2011-16 by L Ballay | @uxstrategist

Thoughts on Meetings


Why meetings?

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Meetings are meant to:Disseminate and update informationAddress problemsSolicit inputGenerate ideasMake decisionsSolve problemsInspire


Why meetings?

3

So…what do you know about meetings?


Why meetings? | About Laura’s POV

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Hiring Manager at:• Utility company

• Gaming company

• Large multinational

corporation

• Software company

Sales:• Consultant

• My own company

Mentoring/Teaching

Interacting with Users

Team Lead

Senior Management (VPs,

CEOs)

Middle Management (PMs,

Directors, other Managers)

Software Developers

QA

Artists & Writers

Clients

Subject Matter Experts

Sales Teams

Students

Consumers

Administrators

Vendors


Why meetings? | Your POV

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So…why should I care?


Why meetings? | Vested interest

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• Gaming company


corporation



CEOs)



Software Developers

QA

Artists & Writers

Clients


Sales Teams

Students

Consumers

Administrators

Vendors


• My own company

Mentoring/Teaching


Team Lead

As a manager:

I have to be confident that

if you go to a meeting solo

the project won’t fall to

pieces and that no one will

come to me afterwards to

complain about you or my

team.

As a sales person:

My paycheck depends

on this!

As a team member:

Other people are relying

on me.

Others?

They may

think they

have better

things to do

than meet.


Why meetings? | Vested interest

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• Gaming company


corporation



CEOs)



Software Developers

QA

Artists & Writers

Clients


Sales Teams

Students

Consumers

Administrators

Vendors


• My own company

Mentoring/Teaching


Team Lead

= Your stake

to make it a

good

meeting

might be

pretty high.

= But their

incentive to

make it a

good

meeting

might be

pretty low.

© 2011-16 by L Ballay | @uxstrategist 8

Why meetings? | User Experience Iceberg


Why meetings? | Life in UX

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From Nielsen Norman Group

UX careers survey and report

http://www.nngroup.com/reports/user-experience-careers/


Why meetings? | Life in UX

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From Nielsen Norman Group

UX careers survey and report

http://www.nngroup.com/reports/user-experience-careers/


Why meetings? | Selfishly

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So…why should I care?Because possibly nobody else will…and it will impact the quality of your work.


Why meetings | Unselfishly

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And…meetings should have no bystanders.A good meeting is everyone’sresponsibility. It’s should be about

co-creation


Good vs. Bad

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“Death by meeting” – sound familiar?


Good vs. Bad

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Bad Meetings• No leader, i.e. “meeting facilitator”

• No “why”: Lacks focus, goals, agenda

• Structure: Too much or too little

• Not bringing the right information

• Wrong people: Inviting the wrong people or “disengaged” attendees

• Getting off track

• Lacking closure, takeaways, action, follow-up

• Too loooong

• Lacking documentation (“What did we talk about again?”)

• Boring!


Good vs. Bad

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Bad Meetings 83% – drift from the subject

77% – poor preparation

74% – questionable effectiveness

68% – lack of listening

62% – verbose participants

60% – length

51% – lack of participation

† From Achieving Effective Meetings – Not Easy But Possible, Bradford D. Smart in a survey of 635 executives.


Good vs. Bad

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Good Meetings• Facilitator NOT dominator

• Set expectations upfront

• Focused but still open/flexible

• Anticipating what the meeting requires (right data, materials, people, amount of time)

• Involving all attendees in discussion, even opposing views

• Saving time at the end to summarize and clarify

• Getting buy-inactions

• Productive & engaging

• For your own sanity and to CYA*: Documenting!


Good vs. Bad

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This meeting is

to

___________

so that we can

_________.

Good Meetings


Good vs. Bad

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Good Meetings = Preparation?Yes but…


Good vs. Bad

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Consider first…

• Do we even need to have this meeting?• Is this a topic better done offline?• Could this be better tackled over email or

phone or face-to-face?

If you don’t need a meeting, then don’t have one!


Meeting Guidelines

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Many types of Meetings• Impromptu/informal

• “Brainstorming”

• Introductory

• Project Kick-off

• Status update

• Presentations

• Planning

• Decision-making


• Impromptu/informal


• Introductory


• Status update

• Presentations

• Planning

• Decision-making

Meeting Guidelines

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Use Common Sense when preparing

One size fits all

approach

The “megameeting”


• Impromptu/informal


• Introductory


• Status update

• Presentations

• Planning

• Decision-making

Meeting Guidelines

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Long but flexible; proper tools; few people

Short and quick; involve few people

“Landscape” overview; involve key people

Goal-oriented; strategic; longer duration

Task-oriented; tactical; shorter duration

Persuasion; shorter duration (usually)

Task-oriented; often tactical

Persuasion; strategic, involve key people

Use Common Sense when preparing


Meeting Guidelines

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Effective meetings should consider the right…

Goals/objectivesAttendeesDurationAmount of debateContext


Meeting Guidelines

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Preparing means determining what’s the appropriate…

FormatPeople to involveLengthStructurePhysical SpaceToolsTime


Meeting Guidelines

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Good meeting etiquetteReview the purpose in advance.Know your role.Prepare.Arrive on time.No distractions: Phones, email, document

editing etc.No silent disagreementSpeak up.Take responsibility and follow through.


Meeting Management

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Managing doesn’t mean monopolizing or bossing.


Meeting Management | Common Practices

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Good meeting management• Prepare: Info, tools, space etc.• Invite right people.• Provide a purpose and identify topics.• Test out your technology in advance.• Begin and end on time.• Stick to the purpose.• Facilitate and involve everyone.• Wrap-up: Summarize & action items.• Record and distribute this.


Meeting Management | Preparation

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• Prepare: Info, tools, space etc.• Invite right people.• Provide a purpose and identify topics.• Test out your technology in advance.• Begin and end on time.• Stick to the purpose.• Facilitate and involve everyone.• Wrap-up: Summarize & action items.• Record and distribute this.

Good meeting management



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• Schedule a time • Find an appropriate place• Reserve resources• Communicate meeting time, place,

goal, agenda, and relevant docs• If you can, create anticipation.

In advance



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• What will make this meeting successful?

• What would help everyone else feel that it’s successful (and useful) too?

Consider:


Meeting Management | People

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People who can help achieve meeting goals Ex. people working on projectEx. specialistsEx. decision makers who need to sign-off

Who needs to participate?



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• Meeting Facilitator• Notetaker/Action Items Keeper• Whiteboard Wrangler/Sketcher• Time Keeper• “Parking Lot” Attendant

Who will take on what role?


Meeting Management | Agenda

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Communicate goals (agenda items) to participants beforehand

• Type of meeting• Decisions needing resolution• Topics requiring further discussion• Time allotted to each

Let participants know how to prepare and/or contribute to agenda items

Go over agenda before, during, and after

Provide a purpose



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Frame and provide context to issue(s) Discuss/generate options (optional)Determine how decisions will be made

• Consensus• Voting• Top-down• Getting more data

Provide a purpose



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There’s no rule that meetings have to be boring. Mix it up:

• Play a video• Bring tangible items• Participatory design• Tell an anecdote• Voting dots

Provoke ideas and debate



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Meeting Management | Facilitation

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• Establish roles and responsibilities

• Revisit/remind everyone of the goals and agenda items if necessary

• Keep the meeting on track. Enlist the help of:

- “Parking Lot” attendant- Time Keeper

Prevent offroading



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Different roles…Recognize what role you’re playing

The Initiator Suggests new / different ideas / approaches

Opinion Giver States pertinent beliefs about the discussion or others' suggestions

Elaborator Builds on suggestions made by others

Information Seeker

Asks questions about group’s gaps in knowledge

Orienteer Is group going in right directions, in terms of what to do and how?



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Helpful roles/stylesTension Reliever

Uses humor or calls for a break at appropriate moments

Compromiser Willing to yield when necessary for progress

Clarifier Offers rationales, probes for meaning, restates problems

Tester Raises questions to test if group ready to decide

Summarizer Tries to pull discussion together, reviews progress so far

Harmonizer Mediates differences of opinion, reconciles points of view

Encourager Praises and supports others in their contributions

Gate Keeper Keeps communications open, creates opportunities for participation



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Not-so-helpful roles/stylesAggressor Deflates status of others, disagrees and criticizes

Blocker Stubbornly disagrees, cites unrelated material, returns to old topics

Withdrawer Doesn’t participate, private/side conversations

Recognition Seeker

Boasts and talks excessively

Dominator Tries to take over, asserts authority, manipulates group

Special Pleader Draws attention to own concerns vs. group

Comedian Shows off, tells funny stories, nonchalant, cynical

Narcissist Talks irrelevantly of own feelings and insights

Devil's Advocate More devil than advocate!



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You may have to stretch from your “default” style

Aim for diversity in styles



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What’s your “read” on the room?How are attendees reacting?What’s their body language saying?

Look for nonverbal cues



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Underscore that everyone should contribute

Draw out everyone:Prompt:“Alice, haven’t you done this in your work? What was your experience?" “Bob, you’ve been rather quiet to this point, do you have an opinion or an idea?”

Consider breaking larger group into smaller groups to develop input—some do better in small groups.

Talk to quieter people in advance of meeting and solicit their input.

Dealing with quiet people



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Rules of thumb:Praise people twice as much as you criticizeNever let any good deed or action go unnoticedSay thank you publicly at every meetingRecognize the value of everyone’s contributions

Dealing with everyone



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If the topic isn’t going anywhere or is stuck in a rut, consider revisiting it later…

And thinking about what you can do differently next time.

Getting conversations going



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Meeting Management | Afterwards

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Wrap-up/SummaryIn Meeting: Quickly recap

• Everyone knows who is responsible for what• Any agreed on deadlines/dates

After Meeting: Summarize & distribute• Any decisions made & rationale• Any relevant images (whiteboard/sketches)• Who weighed in• Decisions that need more input• Deliverables and deadlines: Who, what &

why• Next steps/future meetings



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A sidenote about AgileOfficial Documentation:May be minimal—sketches, backlog

Unofficially:• Note down decision-making process (who,

what and why)• Again…CYA


That’s all folks? No…• How did the meeting go? What could

I/we do better?• How to keep momentum going?• How to ensure action items get done?• How to keep everyone in the know?• How to best follow up?



Resources

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Some tools to look at• Scheduling:Doodle• Task management: Asana, Basecamp• Notes: Evernote or Minutes.io• All-in-one: Meetin.gs• Agile: Outformations deck and

Versionone checklists

http://doodle.com/?home

https://asana.com/

https://basecamp.com/

https://evernote.com/

https://minutes.io/

http://www.meetin.gs/

http://www.outformations.com/resources/OutformationsAgileMeetingsSlides.pdf

http://www.versionone.com/pdf/AgileCheckList.pdf


Resources

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Additional Reading:INC.comhttp://www.inc.com/guides/2010/08/how-to-run-effective-meeting.html

Parker, Glenn. Meeting Excellence: 33 Tools to Lead Meetings That Get Results.

Lencioni, Patrick. Death by Meeting.

BUSINESS WEEKhttp://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/sep2006/sb20060927_259688.htm

HC Wedgewood's Fewer Camels, More Horses: Where Committees Go Wrong. Personnel, Vol 44, No 4, July-Aug 1967, pp62-87.


questions?