1.0 Overview

The purpose of a Technical Review is to examine a deliverable for faults in a planned, independent, controlled and documented manner. A Technical Review provides a record that the deliverable was independently reviewed and that any faults found were corrected and the corrective work was itself checked.

Technical Reviews are a way of improving quality, by finding faults early in the development life cycle, when the effort to correct faults is considerably less than for faults found during test execution. This reduction in effort spent on corrective rework, means that Technical Reviews can save time and reduce costs. The use of Technical Reviews also reduces the risk of test execution overrunning because of finding a large number of faults.

1.1 What is a technical review meeting?

A technical review meeting provides the opportunity for you and your  project professionals to discuss detailed planning and technical issues, such as engineering and landscape architecture matters, associated with your proposal with stakeholders prior to lodgement of your resource consent. The meeting provides the opportunity to identify particular issues and concerns, and to provide stakeholders with an understanding of the proposal prior to lodgement of the resource consent application.

Why have a technical review meeting?

A technical review meeting informs stakeholders of your proposal, and can  assist you with information that may identify and resolve technical issues  prior to lodgement of the application. The meeting can provide you with certainty about the consent process. The intension is to work with you and your professional team to ensure a better overall development outcome is achieved and to improve timeliness in the consenting process, part of which is removing potential delays resulting from the need to provide stakeholders with further information during the assessment of your application

1.2 Conducting Effective Team Technical Reviews

Mention team technical reviews to a group of tech writers and chances are good that you will either get a loud, collective groan, or the group will vie to tell the best review horror story. On the one hand, technical reviews are a vital part of our jobs because they help us to produce high quality product documents. On the other hand, technical reviews gone wrong are the bane of our existence. The good news is that we have the power to conduct consistently effective technical reviews. This article summarizes why we do reviews and what often goes wrong in reviews, and then summarizes steps to take before, during, and after technical reviews that can help you conduct effective team technical reviews.

Why We Do Reviews and Why Reviews Often Go Awry

As technical writers, we have important reasons for conducting technical reviews:

• Technical reviews can provide a system of checks-and-balances from a variety of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) on the team, which helps bring technical accuracy and completeness to the documents we produce.
• Technical reviews can help improve the product’s design and catch problems or bugs, which can help improve both the product and the accompanying documents. And, as a result….
• Technical reviews can help reduce product development costs, minimize problems for product users, and help reduce technical support calls or needs.

Most people on the project team would agree with these reasons, but despite these common goals, technical reviews still go awry. What’s more, reviews can often go awry for a number of reasons at a number of points in the overall process:

• Poor communication
• Lack of preparation
• Lack of management support
• Unclear expectations and objectives for the review
• Insufficient time planned for the review
• Lack of follow-up
• Wrong people involved, or right people involved at the wrong time

As communication specialists, we can–and should–take steps to facilitate communication throughout the review process, which is the core of a successful review. As you’ll see in the following sections, conducting an effective team technical review requires commitment from the project team, management, and from yourself; however, with proactive communication, consistency, and organization throughout the process, the review process can indeed be effective.

1.3 FOUR LEADERSHIP STYLES:

1. Autocratic. Autocratic leaders insist on doing it all themselves. They have all the power, make all the decisions, and don’t often tell anyone else about what they’re doing. If you work for an autocratic leader, your job is usually to do what you’re told.

An autocratic leader often maintains his authority by force, intimidation, threats, reward and punishment, or position. Although he may or may not have a clear vision, and may or may not be steering the organization in the right direction, he’s not concerned with whether anyone else agrees with what he’s doing or not.

Autocratic leadership allows quick decision-making, and eliminates arguments over how and why things get done. At the same time, however, it may reduce the likelihood of getting a range of different ideas from different people, and can treat people badly, or as if they don’t matter. If, as is often true, the leader is concerned with his own power and status, he’ll be looking over his shoulder, and moving to squelch any opposition to him or his ideas and decisions. Innovation or the use of others’ ideas is only permissible if it’s part of the leader’s plan.

2. Managerial. The leader who sees herself as a manager is concerned primarily with the running of the organization. Where it’s going is not at issue, as long as it gets there in good shape. She may pay attention to relationships with and among staff members, but only in the service of keeping things running smoothly. Depending upon the nature and stability of the organization, her main focus may be on funding, on strengthening the organization’s systems and infrastructure (policies, positions, equipment, etc.), or on making sure day-to-day operations go well (including making sure that everyone is doing what he’s supposed to).

3 Democratic. A democratic leader understands that there is no organization without its people. He looks at his and others’ positions in terms of responsibilities rather than status, and often consults in decision-making. While he solicits, values, and takes into account others’ opinions, however, he sees the ultimate responsibility for decision-making as his own. He accepts that authority also means the buck stops with him. Although he sees the organization as a cooperative venture, he knows that he ultimately has to face the consequences of his decisions alone.

Democratic leadership invites the participation of staff members and others, not only in decision-making, but in shaping the organization’s vision. It allows everyone to express opinions about how things should be done, and where the organization should go. By bringing in everyone’s ideas, it enriches the organization’s possibilities. But it still leaves the final decisions about what to do with those ideas in the hands of a single person.

4. Collaborative. A collaborative leader tries to involve everyone in the organization in leadership. She is truly first among equals, in that she may initiate discussion, pinpoint problems or issues that need to be addressed, and keep track of the organization as a whole, rather than of one particular job. But decisions are made through a collaborative process of discussion, and some form of either majority or consensus agreement. Toward that end, a collaborative leader tries to foster trust and teamwork among the staff as a whole.

A collaborative leader has to let go of the need for control or power or status if she is to be effective. Her goal is to foster the collaborative process, and to empower the group – whether the staff and others involved in an organization, or the individuals and organizations participating in a community initiative – to control the vision and the workings of the organization. She must trust that, if people have all the relevant information, they’ll make good decisions…and she must make sure that they have that information, and provide the facilitation that assures those good decisions.

2.1 General Pre meeting Preparation

• Define the meeting purposeand decide if a meeting is the best way to accomplish this goal – ask what would happen if the meeting were not held and ask what other ways the goal could be accomplished

• If so, decide on the meeting format
• Decide how long it should last
• Decide who should attend(e.g., any outsiders necessary?)
• Circulate the agenda

• Send out draft
  • Try to use action verbs with objectives rather than just headings when crafting agendas (e.g., approve minutes; approve or deny a request)
  • Try to assign preliminary time estimates to each item
• Ask for input
• Revise as necessary
• Circulate final agenda

• Send out any supplemental materials that need to be read before the meeting

• Get the necessary practicalities under control

• Reserve the room and confirm the reservation
• Obtain necessary audio-visual equipment (e.g., flip charts and pens, whiteboards and markers, projectors, etc.)
• Obtain refreshments if necessary
  • Consider rotating the role of running meetings– this helps develop skills and creates involvement but can be troublesome if the leader is unskilled – again advance preparation and practice can be useful.
  • Ensure that the following roles are filled by someone during the meeting:
• Timekeeper– pays attention to amount of time spent on each issue and overall time use by team
• Record keeper– records comments as necessary (e.g., on board or flip charts) and takes minutes or keeps written record of actions. This sample meeting minutes form (in Word) can modified to meet your needs.
• Facilitator– pays attention to how the meeting is going.
  • Do members understand what is going on?
  • Is participation structured properly? Have all members indicated their positions/given information, etc?
  • Is conflict constructive?
  • Is the decision making process sufficiently rigorous?

2.2 How to Set a Technical Meeting Agenda

Make every minute count when inviting colleagues and employees to a technical meeting by establishing a clear agenda ahead of time. Setting an agenda will let the participants know what the exact procedures for the event are so that they don’t get off-track during discussions and will allow every important topic to be covered. Having a meeting agenda gives a purpose to the gathering and increases its efficiency and productivity.

Instructions

Start by defining the meeting’s technical details such as start and end time, meeting location, list of participants and general purpose of the meeting. A technical meeting can be similar to a large conference, in which case only the speakers need to be included in the participants list because there are too many other attendees.

Set the objectives of the meeting in a sentence or two. Define the focus of the session by completing the following sentences: “By the end of the meeting, the group should…” or “The main purpose of this meeting is to ….”

Break down the meeting into sections by defining topics and subtopics. Start by including any action items that were defined in the last meeting’s minutes if the meeting is a follow-up to a previous event. Outline the most important topic first and its subtopics. Write a list of all topics that need to be covered by order of importance.

Note specific times for each topic to be covered. Allow more time for issues that are complex or that may require discussion from attendees. Plan for extra time in the schedule to allow each speaker to set up their presentations — technical meeting presentations often require the use of computers, speakers and projectors. If the total time of all topics exceeds the allotted time for the meeting, push some items to the next meeting or reduce the time of less-urgent sessions.

Insert the name and title of the speaker for each section, as well as the specific room if there is more than one presentation happening simultaneously. This will allow participants to know who will lead the discussion for each topic or subtopic.

Send the agenda ahead of time to all participants. If the meeting is with a small internal audience, ask invitees if there is anything else they think should be added or if some topics do not need to be covered at the meeting. For larger technical meetings, only the final agenda needs to be sent to participants.

Finalize the agenda according to the feedback you received and send it as an attachment to the meeting invitation you will send to all participants, or insert it in gift bags for large technical meetings.

For smaller groups, a copy of the agenda on a flip-board or regular sheets of paper will allow participants to follow along during the event. For large technical meetings and conferences, you can print the agenda on a large poster to place at the entrance of the room and other areas.

Before the Meeting

Recognize that producing quality documentation is collaborative process that takes time and commitment

• Get involved early in the project. As the user advocate, you have a unique perspective on the usability of the product. Use your expertise to eliminate usability problems early in the design phase. For example, if you are working on a software product and the UI (User Interface) contains text that is idiomatic or jargony, you can provide alternatives early in the design phase.
• Obtain a commitment from managers to support the technical review process. Get to know the project managers and establish a rapport with them. Educate them about your needs, work with them to establish goals and roles, and work with them to establish consequences for team members being unprepared or for not participating as expected.
• Establish a rapport with the rest of the project team, too. If the team whines about review meetings, plan to take steps throughout the process to make reviews more pleasant by accommodating–as much as possible–their schedules, bringing food or drinks, or even offering prizes for the most issues found.

Identify the review team

• Work with the managers to recruit a cross-functional review team, with members that offer expertise from all areas of product, document, and business development.
• Know the key players. Typically, you want to include the functional leads at the review meeting. These leads are responsible for collecting comments from the other members of their functional group.
• Identify the secondary reviewers. Know which team members are the experts in which topics. These reviewers can also help review sections to help ensure accuracy before the official review process.
• Plan, as much as is possible, to have a consistent review team. Bringing new people into the review cycle in the middle of a project causes the review process to grind to a halt because the new person inevitably wants to rehash decisions made by the project team. If you must add a new reviewer during the project, take the time to provide them with the list of issues and solutions that have already been identified and responded to. This will help bring the new person up to speed, and will reduce their need to rehash issues.

Be prepared

• Develop a project plan and content plan. Have the team review the plans so that they know how your work meshes with the rest of the project schedule. Work with the project manager to incorporate your deliverable schedule with the rest of the project schedule.
• Use all of the resources available. As you’re developing product documents, use the design specifications, functional specifications, meeting notes, or other project documents as a starting point for answering your own questions. Get access to prototypes as soon as they’re available, and use them throughout the document development cycle. When approaching SMEs, ask informed questions, tell them what you’ve done to answer your own questions, and take time to understand an issue while you have an SME’s attention.
• Ask people in your immediate group to preview product documents before sending them to the project team. By doing so, you can often eliminate more obvious problems or ones that would detract from technical review goals. Then, incorporate needed changes and resolve any issues before sending the document to the project team.

Provide clear objectives and instructions for each review

• Educate the project team on what to review–and not Different stages of a project require a different focus, and team members should be informed of the goals and needs throughout each review pass.
• Clearly identify the document’s purpose, audience, and scope.
• Identify specific issues that need to be addressed in each review. For example, if the lead engineer needs to provide you with information on a particular section, indicate that you want her to pay particular attention to that section and specify what issues to look for.
• Establish sign-off protocols. Before the project begins, establish procedures for the required sign-off, and establish criteria that the document must meet at each review phase.

Provide sufficient time for the review

• Plan review time into the project schedule. If it’s not in the project team’s schedule, it won’t happen.

• Work with reviewers (individually and collectively) to find out what review schedule(s) would best meet their needs.
• Schedule the review meeting. Be specific about the time, place, and agenda, and provide a copy of document and any review instructions.
• Establish realistic deadlines for returning comments. Don’t expect a thorough review if you give the team a 30-page document at 3pm on Friday and schedule the review for 9am on Monday.
• Give reviewers at least 48 hours to review even a short document and a week for anything over 20 pages. Even though the documentation is your primary responsibility, it’s likely a secondary responsibility for other team members.
• Break large projects into manageable chunks. Unless it’s the final check on a document, provide reviewers with only a few chapters or sections at a time. Or in the case of online help, provide them with a set of related topics.
• Establish and announce a finite time for the meeting. Typically, people’s attention tends to wander after about two hours. Even if you aren’t finished with the review, end the meeting on time and schedule a new time to finish the review. If you are almost done and time is up, you can take a vote to see who wants to continue on.

 3.1 During the Meeting

Assign someone else to be the review leader This person should be one who understands the purpose and goals of the review, who can push people along through the review, and who can guide people back on topic when they stray:

• Go page by page through the document to be reviewed. Pause for 15 seconds or so as each page is announced. If no one has a comment, move on.
• Keep discussions focused. Sometimes tangential issues arise during the discussion. In this case, acknowledge the issue, assign an action item, and arrange for the item to be resolved–either with an individual or at another meeting. During the meeting, though, stay focused on the topic at hand.
• Keep comments constructive. The comments should be about the documentation and what will improve it, not about someone’s personality flaws or competence.

Assign yourself as the recorder As the person responsible for incorporating changes, you care more than anyone else on the team about how clear the comments and solutions are. By being the meeting recorder, you can focus on listening rather than talking, and you can ensure the notes about changes needed are clear for your needs:

• Use a review form. The form should contain space for the name of the document, the date, team signatures, and the issues list.
• Track both direct and indirect issues. Attach the form to the document; mark up the document with direct issues, and document indirect issues on the form.
• Assign action items to appropriate people. If an issue requires further action, assign someone to take care of it and give them a deadline. Then, follow up with a reminder after the meeting.
• Ensure that the appropriate people sign the review form after the meeting. The signatures give you a paper trail in case of problems. Save the forms, and make a backup in case problems arise after the project is completed.

Resolve direct issues in the meeting, if possible If the project team disagrees about how to present a piece of information, for example, discuss it and come to agreement about wording or presentation during the meeting. Determine whether or not another review is required If there are minimal changes, suggest that the leader check the changes and sign off, rather than convening another meeting. Make second reviews “changes only,” unless the document was significantly changed as a result of the first meeting This will keep the review process moving and prevent revisiting every issue every time.

3.2 Guidelines on chairing committees

1. How to Chair a Meeting Effectively

Effective chairing will ensure that a meeting achieves its aims and objectives.  Chairs should facilitate, encourage, focus and clarify

2. What Makes a Good Chair?

• An understanding of the issues and topics being discussed and keenly listening to the discussions;
• Being able to prevent discussions wandering, prevent those without anything new to add repeating the same point, being able to move on when a point is discussed as far as possible;
• Ensuring that all members have an equal opportunity to express their point of view;
• Showing respect for the views and actions of others
• Encouraging all members to take equal responsibility for the meeting proceeding smoothly;
• Being impartial;
• Being able to sum-up the points made in discussions.

Before the Meeting

1. Plan the agenda with the chief officer and officers. Include items brought to you by other members.  Decide the order and timing of the agenda, and who will introduce each one.
2. Identify which agenda items are for information, discussion or a decision.
3. Be well briefed about each item, and actions taken since the last meeting.
4. Ensure all necessary background papers (including the last meeting’s minutes) are sent out with the agenda beforehand.
5. Check with staff that all relevant practical arrangements have been made, e.g. room layout, visual aids, etc.
6. Arrive in good time before the meeting is due to start.

During the Meeting

Communicate

• Start the meeting. Welcome any new members. Make any necessary introductions.
• Receive apologies for absence.
• Ensure that additions or amendments to minutes are recorded.
• Set the scene. State the objectives of the meeting and each item.
• Try to be brief when making a point.

Control

• Maintain control. Set out any time limits.
• Allow flexibility and freedom of expression.
• Keep to the agenda.
• Ensure quorum is present.
• Ensure time is used effectively.
• Ensure that proper minutes are taken.

Coax

• Ensure full participation.
• Draw out quieter members and discourage those who are monopolising the meeting.
• Be prepared to highlight issues that no-one else will, and to be the one who always has to ask the awkward questions.

Compare

• Weigh up contributions impartially.
• All points in favour of a point should be summarised against all points not in favour.

Clarify

• Ensure everyone understands what is being discussed.
•  
• Ensure that if jargon and abbreviations are used, all present understand them.
• Ensure that decisions are recorded, together with who is going to implement them. It can be useful to record decisions on a flip-chart as they are made.

Decision Making

• Ensure that decisions are taken in the context of the organisations strategy and that they are recorded, together with who is going to implement them.

Guide

• Remember that above all you are there to guide the meeting.
• Steer members to work harmoniously and purposefully as a team.
• Keep an eye on time.

At the End of the Meeting

1. Summarise decisions taken and action points to be followed up e.g. who’s responsible, by when.
2. Agree a date for the next meeting – it is usually best to set dates for the year’s meetings well in advance.
3. Agree what special items will be put on the agenda of the next meeting and what work needs to be done, by whom etc.
4. Ensure that the minutes are written up, checked by the Chair and sent out in good time.

Finally, a few dos and don’ts

Do

• introduce yourself, maybe new members or others observing don’t know who you are
• make everyone feel comfortable
• enjoy yourself

Don’t

• talk too much

• assume everyone has the same knowledge or knows what you are talking about
• take sides
• become a participant of the discussion
• manipulate the meeting towards your own agenda
• criticise the values and ideas of others
• force your own ideas on the meeting. If necessary have someone else chair the meeting so you can take part
• make decisions for the members without asking them for agreement

3.4 Other points to successful and effective chairing:

1. Start the meeting on time.   This respects those who turned up on time and reminds late-comers that the scheduling is serious. Start late to accommodate late-comers and they will assume it is ok to come late.

1. Introduce yourself and welcome all, especially new members and thank them for their time. If it is the first meeting of the committee (or the first of the academic year), it is good practice for all members to introduce themselves.
2. At the start of the meeting, review the overall agenda briefly and involve members in committing to the agenda.  This will give participants a chance to understand all proposed major items and to indicate any adjustments you may need to make to the agenda for new problems or priorities.

1. Review what has previously been done, congratulating members when things have been accomplished
2. At the start of each major agenda item, there should be a short introduction to develop a common understanding and to encourage participation. Clarify at the outset the type of action needed, the outcome expected (decision, information point, action assigned to someone).
   1. Remind members what preparation was expected of them and if colleagues were expected to read papers before the meeting don’t read them out. The next time you ask them to read beforehand they will assume it is not worth the effort.
   2. Keep the meeting focussed, on time and encourage equal participation and contribution from members.  Summarise key points afterwards if lengthy. If discussions are side-tracked, take appropriate action to get back on track.
   3. Ensure that all members understand any jargon, initials or acronyms – you should not assume that everyone has equal knowledge or understanding.

1. Ensure that all the key points are agreed and minuted and actions assigned to individuals where appropriate with the proposed time-frame and feedback required.

1. Ensure unresolved items or non agenda items raised during the meeting are parked for later attention and it is agreed how they will be followed-up, eg agenda item for next meeting, sub-group to address outside of meeting etc.

4.1 Following Up After the Meeting

What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.—T. S. Eliot

You planned and facilitated a productive meeting. Now what? As the saying goes, “No job is finished until the paperwork is done.” And that’s where you are now. Following a successful meeting you should have assignments, open items, a parking lot of potential agenda items, and notes. All of these items are the product of your work and must be captured in such a way that the product is useful. The final step in Making Meetings Manageable is to organize all this information in such a way that it not only ends the most recent meeting but also becomes the foundation for beginning the next meeting.

Four Steps to Take After a Meeting

Step 1. Minutes

Prepare and distribute the minutes of the meeting within 24 hours. Doing so serves several purposes:

1. The meeting product is captured while it is still fresh in the writer’s mind.
2. Participants have an opportunity to review the work immediately.
3. Assignments are reiterated and the notation in the minutes serves as an accountability check for future reference.
4. The minutes get done!

Step 2. Follow Up

After preparing the minutes, make note of items that require action, or raise questions. Contact the appropriate people. Make certain people know their tasks, have necessary information, and get their questions answered.

As people read the minutes, receive support information, and begin work on their assignments, additional follow up may be required.

Step 3. Evaluation

As the meeting facilitator, take some time to reflect on the meeting itself. What went well? What could be improved? What would I do differently?

Periodically, ask participants to evaluate the meeting. Use their input for continuous improvement.

Step 4. Agenda Development

“To make an end is to make a beginning.” Use the information gathered and developed through the process of writing the minutes, conducting follow up, and evaluating the meeting as the basis for the agenda of the next meeting. This provides continuity and keeps work focused on the goal.

Following these four simple steps can go a long way in concluding meetings, capturing information, completing tasks, and preparing for future meetings.

Summary

After the Meeting

Follow up on action items and issues

• Send reminders about action items.
• Resolve issues promptly.
• Go over complex comments with the reviewer, if necessary, as quickly as possible after the meeting.
• If you don’t incorporate a particular comment, document the reason.
• Follow your document control procedures.
• Thank your reviewers for their time. This small courtesy will go a long way toward ensuring help on future projects. In addition, if someone was particularly helpful, you may want to further acknowledge their contributions with a special public thanks or a message to her boss.