When it comes to Project Management, meetings and follow ups are constantly necessary to assure a smooth communication, guarantee collaboration, and reach goals. But there are different types of meetings depending on multiple factors such as time, urgency, objectives, and so on.

As we know, time is a valuable resource within the corporate world; therefore, knowing beforehand the purpose of a meeting and setting an agenda, will help you determine which meeting type is more functional to your aims.

Stand-Up Meeting

These types of meetings are held daily and include all the team members working on a project. They are also known as “daily scrums”, “daily huddles”, “morning meetings”, or simply “daily check-ins”, and they are specifically designed for team members to report on their progress in a quick and concise manner while they are standing around the room or near the project board.

They are most common in software companies and businesses that use agile development methodologies, but they are also useful among other teams seeking to improve their communication, overcome bottlenecks and stay aligned as a team.

Their main goal is to go over the tasks that have been finished, are in progress, or are about to be started. This is a practical way of tracking workflow and project status, and also helps building engagement, camaraderie and cooperation between team members.

Moreover, they foster coordination, efficiency, and help building a vision among the project team. That is because when team members see everyone working towards the same goal and progressing on their duties, they start feeling motivated and inspired not only by the project itself but by each other.

Another important characteristic is that they are short meetings. When you only have 10 minutes to catch up, everyone is more focused on their work and what they have to do instead of arguing or talking about issues that are not critical for the project.

Status Update Meeting

They consist in regular team and project meetings, where team members align their progress towards a common goal by communicating current updates, task progress, challenges, and next steps. They can be held at various times during the project with different stakeholders.

Their main purpose is to communicate the state of a project or the overall direction of the group. Commonly, each participant shares a piece of information, and then begins a group discussion that intends to solve a problem, make decisions, prioritize activities, assign tasks, etc. Every action is oriented to move forward with the project.

However, contributing to the meeting is not only about sharing information. It is also about taking an active role in aligning individual, team, and company goals, and giving your input when listening to updates. To do so, participants should be active listeners and pay close attention to every member, asking questions if necessary. This will certainly increase mutual understanding and support throughout the group.

Among their most important characteristics we can find that status update meetings help Project Managers track the progress of the project through status updates from team members, they help building trust, accountability and transparency within the project, they foster brainstorming and team solutions, and they help Project Managers in reinforcing key points and providing early coaching to avoid setbacks.

Status Update meetings are longer and more thorough than Stand-Up meetings. They tend to last 30 minutes or more, depending on the amount of information and updates that need to be shared.

To conclude, we can say both meeting types are essential for the proper development of a project. The first one may be shorter and concise, but it establishes a team routine and helps team members be more oriented and focused on their work; on the other hand, the second one allows a profitable interaction between all participants and helps enhance commitment and cooperation within the team. In that sense, we can say that actions involving communication and an active participation of team members are crucial for the success of a project.