Measure the Value from Meetings

You, your team, and even your management might be worried about the number of meetings the team has. Part of the problem is that agile is a collaborative approach to product development. It’s possible no one has seen this kind of collaboration before. However, it might be worth seeing how much value your team gets from its meetings. In that case, consider measuring the return on time invested (ROTI). (See Behind Closed Doors [RD05].)

Using a five-point scale similar to one shown in the following figure, ask people to report how much value they received for the time they invested in the meeting.

Post the ratings on a flip chart, and poll the group. Create a histogram that shows the results, as in the next figure.

Then ask for information about what made the meeting worthwhile or not worthwhile.

• Ask the people who rated the meeting 2 or above what specifically they received for investing their time in the meeting.

• Ask people who voted 1 or 0 what they wanted but didn’t receive for their investment.

• Ask what to keep, drop, and add for the next similar meeting.

If a majority of the participants rate the meeting an even return for their time invested, a 2, the meeting is valuable.

If a majority of the participants rate the meeting below 2, ask more questions. Was there a match between the people and the purpose of the meeting? Was the meeting run well enough? Was there something else that prevented people from gaining enough value from the meeting?

Agile approaches do require more meetings than people might expect initially. Make those meetings valuable.