Meetings

On most Projects it is specified the level of detail that must be recorded and submitted for record purpose and could entail Daily Records (DR), Weekly Reports (WR) and Monthly Progress Reports (MPR).

It wasn't unusual for the MPR to be the mainstay insofar as a large amount of detail being nicely formatted for presentation and then have a full review undertaken with all Parties present at the Monthly Progress Meeting (MPM).

Any deficiencies identified with performances on site could be highlighted, discussed and remedies proposed/established with the purpose of seeing how this played out in the coming month and reflected in the next MPR for discussion at the next MPM.

Oddly, and unfortunately, even with the huge increase and ease of electronic monitoring and reporting structures being put in place, one would think the need to meet together in person (or via video link) would diminish from monthly to even possibly quarterly.

But no, the exact opposite happens and almost all Projects now have mini-monthly meetings held each week.

It then tends to turn into a process by which time is taken updating the minutes from the one meeting to submit to all Parties within 48hrs from said meeting so that the other Parties can read and action said minutes.

This is done at the same time as collating all data to include in the next WR for submission and discussion at the weekly meeting and which tends to be directly influencing the Interim Payment Applications and more important Certification.

Ultimately, the whole process becomes a Project unto itself and begins to be more of a deflection exercise that one of reflection.

Added to this is the distinct possibility that as the meetings "grow", it is decided to have weekly sub-meetings to discuss MEP, or Programme or Commercial issues which then leads to certain individuals having to be present at each one.

Were these meetings strictly no more than one hour in length (ignoring the time spent preparing for such meeting), such could be achievable, but invariably, each meeting can easily extend to 2+hrs and lead to as much as 8-10 hrs a week being spent merely attending meetings.

It is not to say that there is no point, but one has to enforce the process by which the meeting is called, what is needed to be discussed and what actions can be agreed at that time otherwise it becomes a series of rinse-wash-repeat and results in very little agreement on anything contentious being reached.

You then have the absurd situations in which, years later, another series of meetings are held (let's call them the Final Account Meetings) in which the merits of issues of contention which may have been raised in WRs/MPRs and discussed at WMs are discussed and argued by the later attendees, none of whom may even have been on site at the time of the issue.

It may take time and face much resistance at the start of a Project but it should not be underestimated the importance of establishing early on between the Parties what can be submitted as true records and facts (and its format), how this will drive certain Indicators (KPIs or otherwise), how this can be summarized and reported without contention and how such issues can be discussed without developing into multiple hours long meetings each week and still not be resolved.