How to Benefit from Design Meetings

In large design groups or in cross-sectional teams made up of members from multiple departments within a company, meetings can often feel unproductive and like a waste of time, but they are also necessary to let everyone know how the joint project is coming along, the steps needed to be taken to complete it, as well as any problems that are encountered should also be discussed. So, what exactly about team meetings makes them less productive than they should when, clearly, they are not only a requirement, but a necessity? This is what we set out to find out in this article. Most importantly, we would like to focus on identifying those aspects that make team meetings less productive and identify some key strategies to neutralize them. Ultimately, we want to help you get your team meetings back on track, keep your team members engaged throughout, and find the support you need to solve problems so that you and your team members complete your design projects efficiently and on time.

One of the biggest problems design teams face is meetings that stretch for far too long. When this happens, usually it is because the discussion got derailed from the main topic and from what truly needs to be discussed. To help with this, your team need a good meeting facilitation who can take charge of keeping the conversation on what matters and avoid getting into topics that may be best suited for future meetings, as well as keeping the time to restrain the meeting to its time limit. In addition to this, having good time management skills and setting up a time limit for the meeting are crucial strategies to implement. So, for example, let us say that your design meetings are limited to just one-hour long. The facilitator should enforce this rule, but to help your team fit everything that needs to be discussed within that hour, the meeting should be divided into sections and each section allotted a slice of that hour. For instance, a design team might consider that there are four main sections to include: getting the team up to speed to what each member has been working on, discussing problems they have encountered in developing the project, determining the next steps that the team needs to take, and discussing new ideas that may be worth implementing on the project. These four sections can be allotted a portion of the hour destined for the meeting and the facilitator should make sure to keep the meeting moving from one section to the next on time.

Another common difficulty design teams often encounter on their meetings is that it is difficult to remember what was said. This is why it is vital to take notes and document every important decision, especially about new ideas. If your design team is always on the lookout for innovative ideas to bring into your meetings, consider visiting Web Design Northern KY, the leaders in implementation of Search Engine Optimization Northern KY.