How to Make Meetings Work

by Michael Doyle and David Straus
(Jove, 1976, ISBN 0-515-09048-4)
reviewed by Brian Marick on October 18, 1996
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From the preface:
"This book will give you practical tools and techniques that will improve the quality of your meetings and make you more effective, whether you are a leader of a group or a participant. Regardless of the objectives of your meeting, the number of people involved, or the kind of organization in which you work, our system can be adapted to meet your needs."

This is a pragmatic book for those whose meetings suffer from problems like these:

1. People leap into solving the problem before there's agreement about what the problem is.
2. Some people dominate the meeting, and other people don't contribute.
3. Everyone goes off in their own direction.

The key elements in their solution are the group memory, a written record maintained where everyone can always see it; the recorder, who adds the main points of what was said to the group memory, using the words of the group members; and the facilitator, a neutral servant who makes sure the participants are using the most effective methods for accomplishing their task in the shortest time.

The book not only presents a theory of how meetings should work, it gives the details required to put it into practice in a wide variety of settings. It's a fine example of an effective "how to" book.

This book will help you with the following tasks

Click on the task name to see other works that address the same task.

Having meetings

The sole topic of the book.

This book's table of contents

1. Why Meetings are Important
2. What Goes Wrong at Meetings
3. The Case for a Group Memory
4. How to Find Win/Win Solutions
5. A Summary of the Interaction Method
6. How to Be a Good Facilitator
7. How to be a Good Recorder
8. How to Be a Good Group Member
9. How the Boss Stays Boss
10. How to Plan Your Meeting
11. What Type of Meeting Are You Going to Hold?
12. Who Should Attend Your Meeting?
13. How Many People Should Attend?
14. How to Make Meeting Rooms Work?
15. How to Put It All Together: The Agenda
16. Solving Problems in Groups: The Tools
17. How to Make a Presentation
18. How to Introduce the Interaction Method into Your Organization
19. How to Train Yourself