Effective participation in meetings

Meetings are an important part of our job activities here in Pernix Solutions. That’s why it’s important to think about how we can be the most effective when it comes to our participation in meetings. As software crafters in this company we follow some methodologies for the developing process of a project; one of the most popular ones is Scrum. This agile methodology involves lots of meetings, both with the clients and with our partners.

For starters, to really take advantage of the meetings we need to pay close attention to whatever is being discussed in each particular meeting. If we have to explain a topic to other people it’s crucial to prepare for that explanation beforehand. Being aware of the soft skills we have is also very important, for example, we need to be able to really listen to what we’re being told in case we need to intervene. If we have to talk we have to wait until it’s our turn or ask for it respectfully. One key aspect is that when we talk we have to be assertive but not aggressive.

Other skills such as being able to convey clearly what we’re thinking are also necessary. We need to be able to communicate everything that’s going on regarding the work we’re doing to let our coworkers and the clients know how everything’s going. I think an important advice is to let everyone know what problems we faced while doing a certain task, if we had to ask for help or if we’re thinking of doing so because we couldn’t solve it when we were working on it. Of course, also let them know what went well and what increments you achieved.

At some point, mostly when someone is starting as an apprentice, it’s possible to come across a task that feels as if one’s not ready to complete it individually or that someone who has more experience should do it instead. If you think that the task that you were assigned turned out to be a little too advanced for you, you should also discuss that issue; maybe not with the client directly but with your partners or team leader. In the end, meetings should be seen as an important task not only to socialize but also to improve the overall work that’s being done in the company and synergy with your team.