A while back we wrote about the importance of QBR’s (Quarterly business reviews) – these meetings generally act as a diarised
focal point for key stakeholders to gather to discuss progress on a particular topic. Common examples of QBR’s might be:
* Project Steering groups
* Supplier/Customer business reviews
* Functional department reviews
Whatever the purpose, one of the key issues is agreeing on a suitable agenda. Without an agenda, the meetings can become ad-hoc and with limited value.
I often get asked about what an Agenda should look like for a QBR and my answer is generally it depends on the reason for the QBR
and its objective. I also point out that the agenda should just be the framework for discussions but shouldn’t
necessarily be regimented (i.e. you must do this and this only). Agendas can also be flexed from one meeting to the next.
For me, there are several fundamentals that should be included in most agenda’s that being metrics and open/new actions. The
QBR offers that opportunity to ensure that things are “getting done” and monitoring status and should be used as such.
However, for those looking for some inspiration, I’ve put 5 example agendas below – bear in mind I don’t envisage that this is a catch-all (every business is different after all) but
hopefully will give you a few ideas and again remember that you can mix and match from below to pull together an agenda that suits.
Also if you have some ideas of your own feel free to feedback using the comments section below
Agenda 1
Objective/Goal review & Health
Outstanding action review
Metrics
Schedule / Roadmap review
Key objectives next 90 days
New issues
Agenda 2
Strategy review
Resource review
Key Issue review
Metrics
Support required
Open/New actions review
Agenda 3
Open Actions
Financial review
Resource review
Schedule/Program overview x Period
Metrics
Upcoming activity
Escalation points/Help needed
Agenda 4
Objectives review
Strategy review
Near-Term Goal setting
Resource review
Opportunity review
Metrics
Help needed
Risk Review
Actions review
Agenda 5
Open actions review
Goal review
Governance/Compliance status
trend review
Stakeholder strategy review
Metrics
Risk Review
New issues/Help needed