3 Ways to Make Your PMO Meetings More Efficient

PMO meetings are necessary for a well-oiled and running business. Whether you lead a corporation, government agency or large enterprise, you’ve likely had experience with PMO meetings and know how they can often lead to unnecessary pain when they go off on tangents. So how do you address this pain point? By making these meetings more efficient, and thereby facilitating better communication and enabling your team to get more work done in less time. Here are three tips to ensure your meetings are as efficient as possible.

1. Set Expectations
To stay on track, you first have to set expectations. Be clear on the purpose of the meeting and what projects, programs or portfolios are being covered. Scope the meeting appropriately.  Let your team know that you won’t be covering everything, just a specific set of projects. And ensure that what you plan to cover can actually be covered in the timeframe you have.  The last thing you want is for project managers to spend time preparing—and attending—than not have enough time to cover their activities.  They are busy enough and can’t afford wasted time and effort. Then have an actual agenda for the meeting as this will help keep people focused with all the data in front of them.

2. Define a Common Set of Metrics and KPIs
Things go much more smoothly when everyone is presenting the same sets of data and information.  Everyone gets in the groove and it is much easier to move from one project to another and to compare “apples to apples.”  You can facilitate this by ensuring that all your project plans identify and track these common metrics and KPIs. Adding this “repeatability” to all your projects will help ensure a more efficient, effective meeting.   

3. Develop a Standard Report Format
Having a common set of metrics and KPIs is a good start, but if it’s presented in different formats (e.g., PowerPoints, spreadsheets, Word documents) it’s still difficult to make the connections and comparisons.  Develop a standard report format to ensure the same information is being presented in the same way.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a deck or spreadsheet, as long as it’s the same.  An easy way to ensure this consistency is to have the ability to automatically create your reports through your PMO tools.  This way, all you do is click a button and the defined metrics and KPIs are produced in a pre-defined report format.  Not only are you ensuring consistency, but you’re also making it much faster and easier for your PMs to create their reports.

Keeping these three things in mind will help ensure your meetings are fruitful and efficient. To learn more about how CorasManage can help you do that, visit our website today. Or, sign up for a demonstration of CORAS.