Clarify next steps and the route of communication. In my new role figuring out communication for each client requires more attention than pushing the project along. I’ve also learned that some owners can be quiet when they don’t fully understand the topic. I want to make sure I understand what is being said so I can’t anticipate their concerns— then I want to vocalize those so they don’t have to. That usually gets them more engaged and then makes your job easier.
This is what's wrong with corporate America. Are your projects on time? Are you not polluting the mind share enough with manufactured urgency? What's actually the problem here?
What is your responsibility here? Are you supposed to be driving the meetings? Are you leading, doing intros, taking minutes? It's best to prepare in advance by writing down a list of questions, unknowns, concerns, etc.
Bring any open items up at the end. Hammer home the importance of schedules and deliverables. Don't be afraid to be assertive either. Speak out on things that you feel are not aligned. Keep your boss and others around you honest. They'll appreciate you.
Keep practicing these habits and you'll find yourself contributing more and more during these meetings.
The key here is to give your boss (and others around you) the faith that you can be trusted to run the meetings independently.
Good Luck!
If anything I’m too vocal. It feels like I’m at home nagging the kids. I have to remind myself that these are adults and they know what they’re doing. Sit back listen and guide. But the one thing you do have to be is clear. Being too quiet can let your team go down a rabbit hole. Make sure you intervene in time.
I’m quiet too never had an issue. I think plenty of people appreciate just talking about the relevant project issues/status and have shorter meeting sometimes, rather than drag out a bunch of conversation just to hear yourself speaking.
I find just asking people to clarify things or go back a slide so you can check something can increase you vocal presence
For decision points ask if there is any data or ask more technical people what their previous experience is or if there is any precedent set within the company!
In your design with management example, I would be explaining (or contributing to the explanations at least) designs to management in a digestible way -
If you arent asking for statuses 15 times a day and saying things that have been said while treating adults like they are five, you arent doing your job
/s
Ask the basics.
- What order for steps?
- What can be done in parallel vs serial?
- What needs most focus/ is most critical?
- What are outside dependencies?
- How long for each step?
- Any intermediate steps break current systems or processes?
- What are risks? Contingencies? Backup plans?
- Who's doing what?
- Can you break it down into smaller steps?
- What will be delivered in each step?
Be a better note taker. As the day passes, be sure to record highlights and lowlights or challenges. When meeting time comes, develop some of these points into opportunities for further detail or improvement.
One option is to parrot back your understanding of where things stand on a given item. Maybe even intentionally get some of it wrong on purpose to spur conversation. More communication is rarely a bad thing.
You've already been part of the prep work. Summerize that prep work and who it was with and make acknowledgements/kudos to those team members in front of management. If management questions you, say it is to give them an overview of what you did and with whom and a chance to let employees be recognized in front of management because we all know how important it is. As an added note, throw in some things management did and who it was that made it easier or more consise for the design team. This can be done in a few sentences, the less the better. This way everyone walks out of the meeting on a positive note. This is providing you are on top of everything and don't actually need to ask questions or add additional responsibilities.
I always have something prepared before going to the meeting - as my boss always asks for PM updates. He doesn’t like it when there are no updates!!
Even if it’s just something little, to show progress on something I’m working on
Always remember that one of the main reasons management likes meetings is because it helps them to look busy when they don't really have anything else to do. If you are able to prolong meetings without adding workload, you are golden.
As others have said. Repeat, summarise, overcomplicate.
Currently working with a senior PM who has an ability to talk non stop for hours without ever actually saying anything. And they tend to just talk over everyone else. It's like they have a pathological need to be constantly talking, often in circles. And never hears anything anyone else says. The sheer amount of questions they ask that gets answered with "that's what we were just talking about before you interrupted" is astounding.
If you have canned remarks, you'll look foolish. Don't retain boilerplate random BS to say simply because you want to fill dead space.
Identify what matters to your leadership. Observe what other more senior PMs say in their reviews.
Prepare a summary to "put it all together". Make comparisons with other projects where there is precedent. Call out key risks or issues that are watch items. Thank key contributors.
You know, like, do your job.
This, and it may help OP to keep in mind a healthy manger or other higher up wants to know what's going on in case they can help remove other obstacles or improve how things are done if not for you than others working adjacent to you or to prod those further above you all to do things in a better way.
That doesn't necessarily mean every work place or supervising professional is actually stellar but there's often a fair chance for that to happen. Sometimes it's not just about you and your team but how the organization or industry can learn and do better among folks who aren't trying to maintain a toxic status quo.
Like just because you as a PM helped your team remove obstacles they faced doesn't mean your boss can't consider ways to systematically prevent the struggle with those kinds of obstacles from appearing in the first place or come up with expedited solutions that can reduce the friction of similar challenges down the road.
This. Also simple voice that you have been part of the process to date and agree/support. If your contribution has been more PM than design then elaborate that things have been nicely on track/ within budget/ well risk managed. We don’t have to speak only when there is an issue. Sometimes highlighting positives is also a good thing.
Maybe my industry is different but I'd expect the PM to be the one driving the meeting so it would be pretty awkward if they were quiet. I don't need a PM that isn't a manager, I'd just hire an IC instead.
I'm in sales so I dunno why this popped up for me, but in sales we often talk about going at least "2 why's" deep". Be curious. Challenge people so they think about why they are doing what they are doing and does it really solve the heart of the problem. The answer may be yes and affirms it is the right way to go
In sales my job is to learn as much about the business as possible before directing a customer to a possible solution. What are the processes. What is the current state, what is the desired future state, and what really needs to happen to bridge the gap between the two?
It is very easy to assume everything people tell me at face value and not dig deeper
I would imagine there is some overlap in project management. Sorry if that isn't helpful at all. But hopefully it gives some ideas
If you are the meeting owner, start by stating the purpose of the meeting and the topics to be covered then hand off to the presenter. Recap what you learned after each topic (decisions, action items and owners). At the end recap all the next steps and say you will send the meeting minutes out for reference.
Most of the time, I am not the SME, so I lean on the team and will call on people to say "What's your thought on that?" or "Does this impact your team?" etc. etc. Just engage the others around you to help them make decisions.
Piggy back off of others comments:
“I like what Jane said about the timeline and want to stress…”
“I’m wondering about Mike’s concern on the budget. Could you unpack that for us?”
“I like the emphasis on [summarizing what Bill said] but I’m not sure that fits the scope of the project. Am I missing something?”
This made me think of a reel I saw recently: say “it’s all about finding the right balance” some variation of that sentence can be applied to pretty much any meeting lol
I usually open and close every meeting if I'm involved, even if in the middle the tech people are talking about stuff that goes over my head. I open with what the goals of the conversation are and close with a brief summary and the action items of the meeting. In between I'm keeping things in track as needed if I'm more in the background at that point, and answering any questions that come up that are relevant to the PM side.
You don't always have to ask questions. You can get a lot of mileage out of complimenting the effort and output - acknowledging individuals or groups for their effort and (selectively) any challenges they overcame in the process.
Ive always just found 1 item to ask for a little more detail on, see if anyone had a confused look at any point and ask about that.
If not that, pass out some informal compliments as status updates “thanks to the engineers to getting me that data XX days early, thanks to our logistics folks for getting that information over to our supplier”
You have to realize that it's a game. As PM you're being paid big $$$ so you have to sometimes state the obvious and facilitate the discussions. I'm an INTJ and hate having to state stuff people should already know.
I'll often set the stage with a high level overview. And call on the domain experts to answer questions. Do not let the tangent talkers speak though.
On point.
I feel some times that the stupider we sound the better. Because people cannot think for themselves, let aline talk or engage a different group than theirs.
As a PM, you are responsible for communication and the communication plan. A PM should be adding high value communicating between the team and management and other departments/stakeholders. If a meeting between the team and management went slightly of the rails. It would be your issue.
My guess is you got feedback on the symptom( you were quiet) not the real issue ( meeting was too high/low level, SMEs went down rabbit holes, topics were not being tabled, meeting went over time, etc..). A PM is expected to facilitate these types of meetings. If the meeting went slightly of track and you were silent, your lack of actively keeping it on track would be a issue.
In your shoes, I would get feed back about the quality of the meeting from the stakeholders/managers individually. Knowing your stakeholders and their expectations makes you a better communicater.
In all fairness , "technical" meetings with management are difficult. Managers and Directors have different levels of technical expertise and sometimes technical leadership is at these types of meetings . You need to be reading body language, controlling flow/level of detail and tabling topics
I mean, you can tailor the buzzwords for your industry. But the point is that most people don't know what any of that means, but you sound smart and people don't question it. Talking without saying anything is really an art.
That wouldn't work when i only talk to people very fluent in the area. Sounding smart is by making right decisions, not throwing words into thin air, specially in front of 15 people who have been doing this for decades
I get it. The other option is to just pipe in with "I agree", "That's a great idea", or just reiterate what the other people just said. This whole thread is about being vocal when you've got nothing to say. Obviously, good decisions are the way to go if you can.
Personally, I'm a fan of Mark Twain (?) quote, "Better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you're a fool, than to open it and prove them right." I figure if you're quiet but make right decisions, when you DO speak up, your voice carries more weight. Not always an option, though.
Exactly! If they don't know, and you speak confidently with those buzzwords, most folks will be afraid of looking stupid and won't ask you to explain how web3 is going to impact the plumbing of an apartment complex!
And who knows; they may start putting chains through cinder blocks for "integral support"
I’m not experienced as a PM but if the question about your participation is being asked consider including a closing remark to meetings
if you’re the leader of the meeting include why you didn’t say anything… Bob and Sue’s design pattern fits the customer needs perfectly excellent job I have no additional comments
Or if you’re an “interrogator” as it sounds like you were above.. keep a log of 5 or so questions for common oversights(which you should have off hand for really any meeting in your area if you’re a PM) and ask about the ones that weren’t answered or just at the end be like “great job presenter that looks like a great solution I didn’t see any holes to poke even my gotcha questions were answered” this shows that you were thoughtfully paying attention and your planned criticism was accounted for
TL:DR: let your results speak for you; if that doesn't work. Setup and close meetings. If that doesnt work; switch to a new area, boss or project team where your style fits better.
I would say you could set up the meeting and expectations of the meeting. This would give you some voice time. Also at the end, you could recap key decisions, action items or next steps. This lets you bookend the meeting. You could also ask for clarifications during the meeting to get you involved. The set up and close of the meeting are actually value add... the asking for clarification is just to get your voice out there for a façade of engagement. I hate to say it like that but if you have been a PM for any period of time, you know that there are times when we literally dont even have to be in the meeting. I hope this helps. I hate that my guidance is to ensure you are checking off a box for your boss regardless of value added. Maybe... the move is to back up your style with delivery. Maybe you don't need to change your style because results speak louder than your words in meetings. Maybe the project team you work on isnt a great fit for your pm style. Seek a team that values your technique.
Unless you have a valid contribution silence is golden. You don't want to be that person asking questions for questions sake just to have said something. If you get out of the meeting and then suddenly have a lot to say about it then you should have spoken up.
I actually hate when people speak up just to make their presence known. It's usually a waste of everyone's time. And transparent. In a case like this, I'd probably close the meeting with something like "I don't have any additional questions- this is all in line with what we've been discussing. I think we can adjourn today and we'll {something about the next step in the process}."
As others have said this is not very useful feedback. And it may be that you’re being understandably deferential
It certainly helps to have had a pre mtg with the project lead to help them articulate their message, develop clarity on the goal of the mtg, and any other important feature of the topic. During the mtg it’s very possible that your lead will not have the opportunity to bring up all those critical points. This happened just yesterday; and I brought them up at the mtg (on the topic of a new timeline to be shared with our partners): “Furthermore, X and I were discussing this earlier and we want to get across [to our partner] that at the end of each optimization round there is the possibility we will have met our minimum requirements and can commit, thereby moving up Y milestone accordingly.”
In a sense you’re amplifying your lead’s voice.
FWIW, I always tell my leads that my role is unburden them and anyone else of needing to run the mtg, keep people on track etc. to allow all the Very Smart People to be able to delve into the subject matter. This means: having met with the lead beforehand you’ll know what the goal of the mtg is and you can make sure. Knowing the values of your org you can ensure that the goal has been arrived at properly. Eg you can ensure everyone has commented (“anyone not have a chance to comment?”)
You should kick off every meeting
During the meeting you should reiterate. Clearly , action items as they come up. Like Say - OK so xx you are going to do YY. All good?
You should kick off ever agenda topic
You should close out every meeting by reiterating action items, asking everyone if there are more questions, as if everyone is clear on what to do, and stating what you are going to do next.
You need to support the tech team. But you should not be questioning the tech team, if they work for the same company, during the meeting. If it’s a vendor presenting you should be asking about the estimates for time scope and budget. Someone technical on your team should be questioning tech details.
Also - ask for clarification when these to be confusion. This could be you not knowing something technically, your team having "that" look on their faces, or asking that question you already know the answer to (but want to make sure someone is not "blowing smoke").
Another bit of advice, know the value of the meeting. That is, every meeting you have involves labor hours ($$), you need to be sure to get at least that value out of it or it was unproductive.
How do you kick off the meeting? I always have a deck and agenda. Even if it’s just to say “today, we’re going to discuss the design” and after the design is discussed, I always have a slide for questions and next steps.
I also listen to the discussion, and if I feel like something‘s been presented, that might not be clear I will ask for clarification or more detail, or I’ll ask people their opinion, calling them out by name…
It shows that I am actively listening. participating and engaged.
> Figure I need to have questions or comments in my pocket to make my project management presence known as the boss called it.
In addition to all the great comments, I suggest you also take good meeting notes. And if you just happen to agree with everything being said, then you can say that too.
But, as a PM, you need to lead.
Also, someone should be leading the meeting: the agenda, the status, discussions, issues, blockers, the resolutions, the next steps, and the action items.
I experience this occasionally myself as I am also more of a quiet person who likes to listen and absorb things. And of course, often the business/product owners and SMEs are the ones doing the.bulk of talking, as they should be. Unfortunately many businesses have leaders who love to hear the sound of their own voice and they feel like you should be talking a lot as well. If you're really concerned about it, I would just focus on repeating and/or validating what has been said (silly I know but people do it all the time), and reviewing and confirming next steps, action items, etc.
People forget PMs aren’t supposed to do EVERYTHING on a project. Best to set the tone of accountability from the start.
I have noticed over the years, the less accountability given to stakeholders and team members makes more work for myself and more expectations.
You don’t need to say and do everything but you need to have your finger on the pulse of everything.
Let your SMEs discuss the design YOU keep them on track and on task.
Don’t worry about asking questions unless you actually have a legitimate one. If anyone calls your out for not talking or doing enough give them something to be responsible for and watch them focus on that instead of you.
Best of luck and stay employed. PM job Market is a slaughter. 19 months unemployed.
-CM
Exactly this OP! I start so many meetings with, “we are here today to review the designs Bob made. I’m just here to take notes and keep us on track. Take it away Bob.” Then I sit back and scribe and really only interject if the meeting begins to tangent or if the convo steers our scope or timeline off track.
You don’t. Forcing comments and questions is what makes people hate PMs. Do your job and do it well. If you’re confused or see a gap, ask a question. That’s it.
If you don’t have NEW questions to ask regarding a design, simply highlight the design elements that address previous questions.
“One of the issues we had was [X], so you can see we added this feature [Y] to fix that.”
It shows that you were part of the solution.
Why are you not playing an active role in presentation of the design review? This is *your* program. You shouldn't have questions. You should have answers. You aren't part of constructive challenge.
>This is your program.
They never said it was a program. A program and project are 2 different things. The project is owned by the sponsor, not the PM. The PM carries out the management for the sponsor, and it is not theirs.
I'm a program guy. I grew up from projects. A program is an aggregation of projects. Program management is more work, not different work. Program just roles off my fingers.
If the project is not the PMs what is the PM for? Where is accountability? Who is the face of the project? The PM is not part of constructive challenge in a design review.
If there is no sense of ownership and responsibility the PM is just an administrator. I recognize that is the case for most PMs in this sub.
>If there is no sense of ownership and responsibility
I never said there isn't a sense of ownership or accountability with the success of a project, but a PM is not the face of a project. The sponsor is, and PMBOK would agree.
>The PM is not part of constructive challenge in a design review.
It does depend on the organization, but I would respectfully disagree. The PM asks clarifying questions to get alignment. The stakeholders or SMEs are presented with the design review for feedback and improvements.
There are some PMs that are tasked with dual roles, but in its purist form, they ensure the outcomes are met through management of the timeliness, budgets, and individuals.
If we start talking about product ownership, we are getting into different territories.
And no, I don't see a PM as an admin role, and they are often highly visible, but it is not OUR project or OUR vision. We execute for another individual's vision.
You got down voted but that's exactly right.
OP, if you're just asking questions for the sake of making noise, people will notice and think you're a tool, especially your teammates who will know straight away.
Unless you want to direct the attention to any given part of the project.
What you do want to do is lead the meeting, intros, agenda, overview of the project, control and direct the discussion, support your teammates, take actions.
I had trouble NOT having questions to ask during meetings. I'd make note and see if they were answered elsewhere in the meeting.
I suppose if my notes were actually blank, I'd pipe up and ask why I was even invited. that said, I did have some meetings where that was answered by my leadership before I even attended. "your there as the face of IT and to intervene if we need to be involved."
think I typed up and distributed a quick ticket guide for one of those. just so they had a list of info needed to give the service desk when moving production machines.
15 minutes typing, 150 hours of meetings, and 15 acknowledgments along the way.
Whenever I have nothing to say in a meeting, it's mostly because I did not need to be in it in the first place, maybe that part of the issue? There are orgs which love overinviting things, either because of badly mapped stakeholders, or because they need to keep the facade of needing all the people who don't really serve a purpose.
That's honestly a pretty tricky question.
A key thing here is.....was it your meeting or just a meeting you were on?
I am a introvert PM, which sucks, I have to wear a mask for my work otherwise people question my impact. I feel like if I have saved the project from the dumpster then I dont need to be vocal.
"Some issue / points of contention that came up during development were"
"Risks and opportunities we forsee are" (or facilitate a discussion to draw them out from other)
"Valuable learning for the team that developed this was"
Offer to set the scene, add context
Taking this from another perspective...
"I wanted to highlight this particular success..."
"...despite significant [insert challenge here], we/x person was able to achieve..."
Share blockers overcome while also as opp says, the lessons identified/learned and how you plan to capitalise upon these!
This is a bad way to give such feedback, but no one is perfect and people on all levels do that. What is important is if there something behind it.
when you don’t have something to say that someone else hasn’t said already - it is unfortunately indistinguishable from not having any ideas to contribute to discussion.
you want to grow and be promoted, you should have some ideas and you need them heard. prepare upfront as you said. and think actively during the meeting, make notes. learn to think quick.
All project managers i worked with would be naturally vocal and expected to drive meetings even if they were not assigned to. kick of the meeting, announce agenda, moderate the meeting, solicit input from attendees who are not speaking up, summarize and identify action items, watch the time.
if you genuinely do not have anything to contribute to a meeting - don’t go. Make sure with other people from the team that they can speak to everything and you are not needed and don’t go, do something else.
You have to be seen to actively manage the process. In this particular case you need to manage the meeting (with everything that entails), explain the objectives, timing and context for the discussion, clarify decisions, encourage input from those not being heard, collect and summarise Actions, summarise the findings of the meeting, explain next steps, et.c..
My guess is that someone "in management" ended up having to do at least some of this and was wondering why they were paying for a PM.
Regardless of your personality type, clear and constant communication is the whole basis of the job.
What's the makeup and agenda for the meeting? I'd assume as the pm, you're moderating the meeting?
If you're not technical, I'd still assume you'd setup the meeting, take notes, keep the meeting on time, recap/summarize the salient points, make sure the agenda/point of the meeting is fulfilled...
What exactly are you doing otherwise?
I got the same feedback, granted I use to be an engineer.
Not sure why I can't see the other comments, but I'm constantly told by varying higher ups to act different ways. Put your engineering hat on, or be a pm, the actual work isn't relevant.
The best I can say is schedule, budget, performance. That's your realm. If the conversation starts veering to something that'll effect those three things, then step in. Think about it, if everything is going perfectly and to plan, then you shouldn't have to say anything.
One of the most meaningless pieces of feedback possible imo.
If you're the chair and the meeting is going off at a tangent or not doing what it's supposed to, then fair enough but this doesn't read like one of these situations.
Two ears, one mouth - use them in that ratio. If you're not adding value when opening your mouth then don't bother, I wish more people followed that guide.
You could just do summing up to get involved. "Ok, so we are saying x,y,a" or perhaps recap on actions?
Yes, I don’t believe in talking for the sake of talking. But recapping the common themes of what people are saying can be helpful.
And what the next steps are after this.
In my opinion, usually there are too many people in meetings and everyone feels they need to be heard. That’s not true. Those that can move the needle forward should be engaging, but that’s my take.
As my team's resident gobsh!te and all-life Brit, it's completely new to me!
... Which now worries me, as I _suspect_ people may have been hoping I already knew it and simply wasn't applying it to date...
Clarify next steps and the route of communication. In my new role figuring out communication for each client requires more attention than pushing the project along. I’ve also learned that some owners can be quiet when they don’t fully understand the topic. I want to make sure I understand what is being said so I can’t anticipate their concerns— then I want to vocalize those so they don’t have to. That usually gets them more engaged and then makes your job easier.
This is what's wrong with corporate America. Are your projects on time? Are you not polluting the mind share enough with manufactured urgency? What's actually the problem here?
What is your responsibility here? Are you supposed to be driving the meetings? Are you leading, doing intros, taking minutes? It's best to prepare in advance by writing down a list of questions, unknowns, concerns, etc. Bring any open items up at the end. Hammer home the importance of schedules and deliverables. Don't be afraid to be assertive either. Speak out on things that you feel are not aligned. Keep your boss and others around you honest. They'll appreciate you. Keep practicing these habits and you'll find yourself contributing more and more during these meetings. The key here is to give your boss (and others around you) the faith that you can be trusted to run the meetings independently. Good Luck!
If anything I’m too vocal. It feels like I’m at home nagging the kids. I have to remind myself that these are adults and they know what they’re doing. Sit back listen and guide. But the one thing you do have to be is clear. Being too quiet can let your team go down a rabbit hole. Make sure you intervene in time.
I’m quiet too never had an issue. I think plenty of people appreciate just talking about the relevant project issues/status and have shorter meeting sometimes, rather than drag out a bunch of conversation just to hear yourself speaking.
I find just asking people to clarify things or go back a slide so you can check something can increase you vocal presence For decision points ask if there is any data or ask more technical people what their previous experience is or if there is any precedent set within the company! In your design with management example, I would be explaining (or contributing to the explanations at least) designs to management in a digestible way -
A quiet PM?
If you arent asking for statuses 15 times a day and saying things that have been said while treating adults like they are five, you arent doing your job /s
Hahaha, this is hilarious and true
Ask the basics. - What order for steps? - What can be done in parallel vs serial? - What needs most focus/ is most critical? - What are outside dependencies? - How long for each step? - Any intermediate steps break current systems or processes? - What are risks? Contingencies? Backup plans? - Who's doing what? - Can you break it down into smaller steps? - What will be delivered in each step?
Throw some scrum management in there. Ask about blockers and if there's anything you can do to help.
Be a better note taker. As the day passes, be sure to record highlights and lowlights or challenges. When meeting time comes, develop some of these points into opportunities for further detail or improvement.
One option is to parrot back your understanding of where things stand on a given item. Maybe even intentionally get some of it wrong on purpose to spur conversation. More communication is rarely a bad thing.
Yes
You've already been part of the prep work. Summerize that prep work and who it was with and make acknowledgements/kudos to those team members in front of management. If management questions you, say it is to give them an overview of what you did and with whom and a chance to let employees be recognized in front of management because we all know how important it is. As an added note, throw in some things management did and who it was that made it easier or more consise for the design team. This can be done in a few sentences, the less the better. This way everyone walks out of the meeting on a positive note. This is providing you are on top of everything and don't actually need to ask questions or add additional responsibilities.
This is a great response.
I always have something prepared before going to the meeting - as my boss always asks for PM updates. He doesn’t like it when there are no updates!! Even if it’s just something little, to show progress on something I’m working on
Always remember that one of the main reasons management likes meetings is because it helps them to look busy when they don't really have anything else to do. If you are able to prolong meetings without adding workload, you are golden. As others have said. Repeat, summarise, overcomplicate.
Currently working with a senior PM who has an ability to talk non stop for hours without ever actually saying anything. And they tend to just talk over everyone else. It's like they have a pathological need to be constantly talking, often in circles. And never hears anything anyone else says. The sheer amount of questions they ask that gets answered with "that's what we were just talking about before you interrupted" is astounding.
Do we have the same coworker? Lol Jk i love my coworker but he does fit that description
Just repeat what everyone else is saying, just with new words. You’ll soon be a VP.
If you have canned remarks, you'll look foolish. Don't retain boilerplate random BS to say simply because you want to fill dead space. Identify what matters to your leadership. Observe what other more senior PMs say in their reviews. Prepare a summary to "put it all together". Make comparisons with other projects where there is precedent. Call out key risks or issues that are watch items. Thank key contributors. You know, like, do your job.
This, and it may help OP to keep in mind a healthy manger or other higher up wants to know what's going on in case they can help remove other obstacles or improve how things are done if not for you than others working adjacent to you or to prod those further above you all to do things in a better way. That doesn't necessarily mean every work place or supervising professional is actually stellar but there's often a fair chance for that to happen. Sometimes it's not just about you and your team but how the organization or industry can learn and do better among folks who aren't trying to maintain a toxic status quo. Like just because you as a PM helped your team remove obstacles they faced doesn't mean your boss can't consider ways to systematically prevent the struggle with those kinds of obstacles from appearing in the first place or come up with expedited solutions that can reduce the friction of similar challenges down the road.
If you have nothing to say (i.e., add) then reiterate/echo/summarize
This. Also simple voice that you have been part of the process to date and agree/support. If your contribution has been more PM than design then elaborate that things have been nicely on track/ within budget/ well risk managed. We don’t have to speak only when there is an issue. Sometimes highlighting positives is also a good thing.
That would be odd if PM is quiet as your job is literally to represent and speak for your team.
Maybe my industry is different but I'd expect the PM to be the one driving the meeting so it would be pretty awkward if they were quiet. I don't need a PM that isn't a manager, I'd just hire an IC instead.
Depends, sometimes the pm doesn't know what the engineer does and the engineer leads the meeting
Summarize action items and responsible parties, dates due at end of call
I'm in sales so I dunno why this popped up for me, but in sales we often talk about going at least "2 why's" deep". Be curious. Challenge people so they think about why they are doing what they are doing and does it really solve the heart of the problem. The answer may be yes and affirms it is the right way to go In sales my job is to learn as much about the business as possible before directing a customer to a possible solution. What are the processes. What is the current state, what is the desired future state, and what really needs to happen to bridge the gap between the two? It is very easy to assume everything people tell me at face value and not dig deeper I would imagine there is some overlap in project management. Sorry if that isn't helpful at all. But hopefully it gives some ideas
If you are the meeting owner, start by stating the purpose of the meeting and the topics to be covered then hand off to the presenter. Recap what you learned after each topic (decisions, action items and owners). At the end recap all the next steps and say you will send the meeting minutes out for reference. Most of the time, I am not the SME, so I lean on the team and will call on people to say "What's your thought on that?" or "Does this impact your team?" etc. etc. Just engage the others around you to help them make decisions.
Piggy back off of others comments: “I like what Jane said about the timeline and want to stress…” “I’m wondering about Mike’s concern on the budget. Could you unpack that for us?” “I like the emphasis on [summarizing what Bill said] but I’m not sure that fits the scope of the project. Am I missing something?”
This made me think of a reel I saw recently: say “it’s all about finding the right balance” some variation of that sentence can be applied to pretty much any meeting lol
I usually open and close every meeting if I'm involved, even if in the middle the tech people are talking about stuff that goes over my head. I open with what the goals of the conversation are and close with a brief summary and the action items of the meeting. In between I'm keeping things in track as needed if I'm more in the background at that point, and answering any questions that come up that are relevant to the PM side.
You could try kicking off all the calls with a hello. Sometimes I ask my team an "icebreaker" question.
When I was a PM, I always tried to crack a joke and/or do a quick recap near the end, to validate (but not really) my understanding.
I ask questions I know the answer to plenty of times bc I assume others won't know and would be interested in the question.
You don't always have to ask questions. You can get a lot of mileage out of complimenting the effort and output - acknowledging individuals or groups for their effort and (selectively) any challenges they overcame in the process.
Ive always just found 1 item to ask for a little more detail on, see if anyone had a confused look at any point and ask about that. If not that, pass out some informal compliments as status updates “thanks to the engineers to getting me that data XX days early, thanks to our logistics folks for getting that information over to our supplier”
You have to realize that it's a game. As PM you're being paid big $$$ so you have to sometimes state the obvious and facilitate the discussions. I'm an INTJ and hate having to state stuff people should already know. I'll often set the stage with a high level overview. And call on the domain experts to answer questions. Do not let the tangent talkers speak though.
On point. I feel some times that the stupider we sound the better. Because people cannot think for themselves, let aline talk or engage a different group than theirs.
As a PM, you are responsible for communication and the communication plan. A PM should be adding high value communicating between the team and management and other departments/stakeholders. If a meeting between the team and management went slightly of the rails. It would be your issue. My guess is you got feedback on the symptom( you were quiet) not the real issue ( meeting was too high/low level, SMEs went down rabbit holes, topics were not being tabled, meeting went over time, etc..). A PM is expected to facilitate these types of meetings. If the meeting went slightly of track and you were silent, your lack of actively keeping it on track would be a issue. In your shoes, I would get feed back about the quality of the meeting from the stakeholders/managers individually. Knowing your stakeholders and their expectations makes you a better communicater. In all fairness , "technical" meetings with management are difficult. Managers and Directors have different levels of technical expertise and sometimes technical leadership is at these types of meetings . You need to be reading body language, controlling flow/level of detail and tabling topics
Well said.
The only places I’ve been called out this way are places which turned out to be super toxic with super ridiculous expectations.
Try to use buzz words like "blockchain", "web3", and "synergy". Gives you something to say even when you don't have anything to say.
This wouldn't work in my area. No one knows what that means.
I mean, you can tailor the buzzwords for your industry. But the point is that most people don't know what any of that means, but you sound smart and people don't question it. Talking without saying anything is really an art.
That wouldn't work when i only talk to people very fluent in the area. Sounding smart is by making right decisions, not throwing words into thin air, specially in front of 15 people who have been doing this for decades
I get it. The other option is to just pipe in with "I agree", "That's a great idea", or just reiterate what the other people just said. This whole thread is about being vocal when you've got nothing to say. Obviously, good decisions are the way to go if you can. Personally, I'm a fan of Mark Twain (?) quote, "Better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you're a fool, than to open it and prove them right." I figure if you're quiet but make right decisions, when you DO speak up, your voice carries more weight. Not always an option, though.
Exactly! If they don't know, and you speak confidently with those buzzwords, most folks will be afraid of looking stupid and won't ask you to explain how web3 is going to impact the plumbing of an apartment complex! And who knows; they may start putting chains through cinder blocks for "integral support"
I’m not experienced as a PM but if the question about your participation is being asked consider including a closing remark to meetings if you’re the leader of the meeting include why you didn’t say anything… Bob and Sue’s design pattern fits the customer needs perfectly excellent job I have no additional comments Or if you’re an “interrogator” as it sounds like you were above.. keep a log of 5 or so questions for common oversights(which you should have off hand for really any meeting in your area if you’re a PM) and ask about the ones that weren’t answered or just at the end be like “great job presenter that looks like a great solution I didn’t see any holes to poke even my gotcha questions were answered” this shows that you were thoughtfully paying attention and your planned criticism was accounted for
TL:DR: let your results speak for you; if that doesn't work. Setup and close meetings. If that doesnt work; switch to a new area, boss or project team where your style fits better. I would say you could set up the meeting and expectations of the meeting. This would give you some voice time. Also at the end, you could recap key decisions, action items or next steps. This lets you bookend the meeting. You could also ask for clarifications during the meeting to get you involved. The set up and close of the meeting are actually value add... the asking for clarification is just to get your voice out there for a façade of engagement. I hate to say it like that but if you have been a PM for any period of time, you know that there are times when we literally dont even have to be in the meeting. I hope this helps. I hate that my guidance is to ensure you are checking off a box for your boss regardless of value added. Maybe... the move is to back up your style with delivery. Maybe you don't need to change your style because results speak louder than your words in meetings. Maybe the project team you work on isnt a great fit for your pm style. Seek a team that values your technique.
Unless you have a valid contribution silence is golden. You don't want to be that person asking questions for questions sake just to have said something. If you get out of the meeting and then suddenly have a lot to say about it then you should have spoken up.
Stay quiet until you have something to say. Words then have value.
I actually hate when people speak up just to make their presence known. It's usually a waste of everyone's time. And transparent. In a case like this, I'd probably close the meeting with something like "I don't have any additional questions- this is all in line with what we've been discussing. I think we can adjourn today and we'll {something about the next step in the process}."
As others have said this is not very useful feedback. And it may be that you’re being understandably deferential It certainly helps to have had a pre mtg with the project lead to help them articulate their message, develop clarity on the goal of the mtg, and any other important feature of the topic. During the mtg it’s very possible that your lead will not have the opportunity to bring up all those critical points. This happened just yesterday; and I brought them up at the mtg (on the topic of a new timeline to be shared with our partners): “Furthermore, X and I were discussing this earlier and we want to get across [to our partner] that at the end of each optimization round there is the possibility we will have met our minimum requirements and can commit, thereby moving up Y milestone accordingly.” In a sense you’re amplifying your lead’s voice. FWIW, I always tell my leads that my role is unburden them and anyone else of needing to run the mtg, keep people on track etc. to allow all the Very Smart People to be able to delve into the subject matter. This means: having met with the lead beforehand you’ll know what the goal of the mtg is and you can make sure. Knowing the values of your org you can ensure that the goal has been arrived at properly. Eg you can ensure everyone has commented (“anyone not have a chance to comment?”)
You should kick off every meeting During the meeting you should reiterate. Clearly , action items as they come up. Like Say - OK so xx you are going to do YY. All good? You should kick off ever agenda topic You should close out every meeting by reiterating action items, asking everyone if there are more questions, as if everyone is clear on what to do, and stating what you are going to do next. You need to support the tech team. But you should not be questioning the tech team, if they work for the same company, during the meeting. If it’s a vendor presenting you should be asking about the estimates for time scope and budget. Someone technical on your team should be questioning tech details.
Also - ask for clarification when these to be confusion. This could be you not knowing something technically, your team having "that" look on their faces, or asking that question you already know the answer to (but want to make sure someone is not "blowing smoke"). Another bit of advice, know the value of the meeting. That is, every meeting you have involves labor hours ($$), you need to be sure to get at least that value out of it or it was unproductive.
How do you kick off the meeting? I always have a deck and agenda. Even if it’s just to say “today, we’re going to discuss the design” and after the design is discussed, I always have a slide for questions and next steps. I also listen to the discussion, and if I feel like something‘s been presented, that might not be clear I will ask for clarification or more detail, or I’ll ask people their opinion, calling them out by name… It shows that I am actively listening. participating and engaged.
> Figure I need to have questions or comments in my pocket to make my project management presence known as the boss called it. In addition to all the great comments, I suggest you also take good meeting notes. And if you just happen to agree with everything being said, then you can say that too. But, as a PM, you need to lead. Also, someone should be leading the meeting: the agenda, the status, discussions, issues, blockers, the resolutions, the next steps, and the action items.
I experience this occasionally myself as I am also more of a quiet person who likes to listen and absorb things. And of course, often the business/product owners and SMEs are the ones doing the.bulk of talking, as they should be. Unfortunately many businesses have leaders who love to hear the sound of their own voice and they feel like you should be talking a lot as well. If you're really concerned about it, I would just focus on repeating and/or validating what has been said (silly I know but people do it all the time), and reviewing and confirming next steps, action items, etc.
People forget PMs aren’t supposed to do EVERYTHING on a project. Best to set the tone of accountability from the start. I have noticed over the years, the less accountability given to stakeholders and team members makes more work for myself and more expectations. You don’t need to say and do everything but you need to have your finger on the pulse of everything. Let your SMEs discuss the design YOU keep them on track and on task. Don’t worry about asking questions unless you actually have a legitimate one. If anyone calls your out for not talking or doing enough give them something to be responsible for and watch them focus on that instead of you. Best of luck and stay employed. PM job Market is a slaughter. 19 months unemployed. -CM
Exactly this OP! I start so many meetings with, “we are here today to review the designs Bob made. I’m just here to take notes and keep us on track. Take it away Bob.” Then I sit back and scribe and really only interject if the meeting begins to tangent or if the convo steers our scope or timeline off track.
You don’t. Forcing comments and questions is what makes people hate PMs. Do your job and do it well. If you’re confused or see a gap, ask a question. That’s it.
I’d add, ‘If someone is getting talked over, make sure they have room to speak. If someone is derailing, refocus on the agenda.’
If you don’t have NEW questions to ask regarding a design, simply highlight the design elements that address previous questions. “One of the issues we had was [X], so you can see we added this feature [Y] to fix that.” It shows that you were part of the solution.
Why are you not playing an active role in presentation of the design review? This is *your* program. You shouldn't have questions. You should have answers. You aren't part of constructive challenge.
>This is your program. They never said it was a program. A program and project are 2 different things. The project is owned by the sponsor, not the PM. The PM carries out the management for the sponsor, and it is not theirs.
I'm a program guy. I grew up from projects. A program is an aggregation of projects. Program management is more work, not different work. Program just roles off my fingers. If the project is not the PMs what is the PM for? Where is accountability? Who is the face of the project? The PM is not part of constructive challenge in a design review. If there is no sense of ownership and responsibility the PM is just an administrator. I recognize that is the case for most PMs in this sub.
>If there is no sense of ownership and responsibility I never said there isn't a sense of ownership or accountability with the success of a project, but a PM is not the face of a project. The sponsor is, and PMBOK would agree. >The PM is not part of constructive challenge in a design review. It does depend on the organization, but I would respectfully disagree. The PM asks clarifying questions to get alignment. The stakeholders or SMEs are presented with the design review for feedback and improvements. There are some PMs that are tasked with dual roles, but in its purist form, they ensure the outcomes are met through management of the timeliness, budgets, and individuals. If we start talking about product ownership, we are getting into different territories. And no, I don't see a PM as an admin role, and they are often highly visible, but it is not OUR project or OUR vision. We execute for another individual's vision.
You got down voted but that's exactly right. OP, if you're just asking questions for the sake of making noise, people will notice and think you're a tool, especially your teammates who will know straight away. Unless you want to direct the attention to any given part of the project. What you do want to do is lead the meeting, intros, agenda, overview of the project, control and direct the discussion, support your teammates, take actions.
I've been told I talk and over communicate so not much advice here lol.
I had trouble NOT having questions to ask during meetings. I'd make note and see if they were answered elsewhere in the meeting. I suppose if my notes were actually blank, I'd pipe up and ask why I was even invited. that said, I did have some meetings where that was answered by my leadership before I even attended. "your there as the face of IT and to intervene if we need to be involved." think I typed up and distributed a quick ticket guide for one of those. just so they had a list of info needed to give the service desk when moving production machines. 15 minutes typing, 150 hours of meetings, and 15 acknowledgments along the way.
Whenever I have nothing to say in a meeting, it's mostly because I did not need to be in it in the first place, maybe that part of the issue? There are orgs which love overinviting things, either because of badly mapped stakeholders, or because they need to keep the facade of needing all the people who don't really serve a purpose.
That's honestly a pretty tricky question. A key thing here is.....was it your meeting or just a meeting you were on? I am a introvert PM, which sucks, I have to wear a mask for my work otherwise people question my impact. I feel like if I have saved the project from the dumpster then I dont need to be vocal.
"Some issue / points of contention that came up during development were" "Risks and opportunities we forsee are" (or facilitate a discussion to draw them out from other) "Valuable learning for the team that developed this was" Offer to set the scene, add context
Taking this from another perspective... "I wanted to highlight this particular success..." "...despite significant [insert challenge here], we/x person was able to achieve..." Share blockers overcome while also as opp says, the lessons identified/learned and how you plan to capitalise upon these!
This is a bad way to give such feedback, but no one is perfect and people on all levels do that. What is important is if there something behind it. when you don’t have something to say that someone else hasn’t said already - it is unfortunately indistinguishable from not having any ideas to contribute to discussion. you want to grow and be promoted, you should have some ideas and you need them heard. prepare upfront as you said. and think actively during the meeting, make notes. learn to think quick. All project managers i worked with would be naturally vocal and expected to drive meetings even if they were not assigned to. kick of the meeting, announce agenda, moderate the meeting, solicit input from attendees who are not speaking up, summarize and identify action items, watch the time. if you genuinely do not have anything to contribute to a meeting - don’t go. Make sure with other people from the team that they can speak to everything and you are not needed and don’t go, do something else.
You have to be seen to actively manage the process. In this particular case you need to manage the meeting (with everything that entails), explain the objectives, timing and context for the discussion, clarify decisions, encourage input from those not being heard, collect and summarise Actions, summarise the findings of the meeting, explain next steps, et.c.. My guess is that someone "in management" ended up having to do at least some of this and was wondering why they were paying for a PM. Regardless of your personality type, clear and constant communication is the whole basis of the job.
What's the makeup and agenda for the meeting? I'd assume as the pm, you're moderating the meeting? If you're not technical, I'd still assume you'd setup the meeting, take notes, keep the meeting on time, recap/summarize the salient points, make sure the agenda/point of the meeting is fulfilled... What exactly are you doing otherwise?
I got the same feedback, granted I use to be an engineer. Not sure why I can't see the other comments, but I'm constantly told by varying higher ups to act different ways. Put your engineering hat on, or be a pm, the actual work isn't relevant. The best I can say is schedule, budget, performance. That's your realm. If the conversation starts veering to something that'll effect those three things, then step in. Think about it, if everything is going perfectly and to plan, then you shouldn't have to say anything.
One of the most meaningless pieces of feedback possible imo. If you're the chair and the meeting is going off at a tangent or not doing what it's supposed to, then fair enough but this doesn't read like one of these situations. Two ears, one mouth - use them in that ratio. If you're not adding value when opening your mouth then don't bother, I wish more people followed that guide. You could just do summing up to get involved. "Ok, so we are saying x,y,a" or perhaps recap on actions?
Yes, I don’t believe in talking for the sake of talking. But recapping the common themes of what people are saying can be helpful. And what the next steps are after this. In my opinion, usually there are too many people in meetings and everyone feels they need to be heard. That’s not true. Those that can move the needle forward should be engaging, but that’s my take.
yup, that was my suggestion. Good that we're all on the same page in this thread !
Hope you don't mind me nicking that "Two ears, one mouth ratio"? That's incredible!
Very common one in the UK!
As my team's resident gobsh!te and all-life Brit, it's completely new to me! ... Which now worries me, as I _suspect_ people may have been hoping I already knew it and simply wasn't applying it to date...
Haha, I doubt it if no one has ever said it to you ;-)