Of all the forms of meetings in the project plan, perhaps the biggest bang for your buck is the job huddle. The job huddle should be used as a tool to improve project management performance to bring a project back on track, or to prevent it from going off track when it's trending in that direction. If all facets of your project are on schedule and on budget, don't waste time holding them – they'll just be viewed as punishment for meeting the goals you set for the team ("the beatings will continue until morale improves...").
Job huddles are informal meetings held for the purpose of reviewing progress for the previous period's work and identifying any issues or problems that are blocking progress. They originated with football huddles – when the team on offense forms a circle and the next play is discussed with the team, with the quarterback leading the discussion. They are particularly effective in football because it's the only opportunity the players have to communicate with one another.
The next play is not the only thing players discuss in these huddles; observations about field conditions and weaknesses displayed by the defense on the opposing team (e.g. the cornerback is favoring his right leg) are also shared and the information is analyzed by the quarterback with a view to improving the chances for the success of the next play which in business means to improve performance of the next project. Unlike projects in the business world, football teams don't have the luxury of a set plan which they can execute unaltered to achieve success. They're behind the 8 ball from the get go; the other team's job is to put them there! That's why, with relatively few exceptions (the "no huddle" offense) teams will use huddles from the first play of the game to the last play.
Job huddles can be an effective way of addressing changing conditions and sharing information in the project environment, however there are other methods for achieving this information sharing. Project team members are often collocated so have every opportunity to communicate with one another, share tips, help each other out, and generally improve the team's performance, unlike their counterparts on the football field. It's when the other methods for sharing information, and implementing slight changes to the plan aren't working that job huddles can be helpful.
The project manager should evaluate project team performance to determine the necessity for job huddles. Some signs that job huddles may be necessary:
- The team isn't meeting its objectives – deadlines are being missed.
- There is conflict on the team
- You're getting conflicting information from the team, for example some members inform you that a tool is working, others tell you it isn't
- Some members of the team are meeting their objectives, others aren't
- There are an unusually high number of defects being produced by the team
If your project team is experiencing any one, or a combination, of these symptoms its time to implement job huddles.
