[Team Member's Name]-

I've decided to start meeting individually with you (and everyone else on the project) on a weekly basis. We'll call these meetings Project One on Ones. I think this is a great way for us to maintain good, open communication.  All the good projects I've been on had good communication, and the bad ones had bad communications. 

We'll be meeting for 30 minutes once a week, at a pre-scheduled (and usually unchanged) time for the duration of the project.  It will be a private conversation - just you and I. We'll meet at my desk - if you have concerns about privacy, we'll talk about those once we get going.  ( Note: PM's can probably justify more easily going to a team member's desk, and you can change this if you wish. - H)

The format of the 30 minutes will always be the same. The first 15 minutes are for YOUR agenda - anything you want to tell me, about anything. The project, your deliverables, the team, your family, whatever. The primary focus of this meeting is going to be open communication between us to benefit the project. The second fifteen minutes are for me, to share whatever I need to with you. We'll probably talk about the project activities you and I are working on, stuff I need from you, and things I've heard from up above. It will NOT be a team meeting with only one attendee; that is, I'm not just going to give you a ton of stuff to take notes on.

You might say, "gee, we talk all the time." And, you'd be right sometimes, but a lot of those conversations are very short. And, they're usually about something very specific, so we don't get to share more info or go into more detail. Our one-on-ones will allow us to do that. You may also be thinking, "what will we talk about?" From everything I've learned about them, we will EASILY fill up the time.

Below is a schedule of possible times. I have already blocked all these times on my calendar, so I should be able to keep them. I admit, if (insert manager's boss name here) wants me, I may have to reschedule. But, if someone requests my time on the outlook calendar, it will show as busy. IF THERE IS ANY WAY I CAN KEEP THIS MEETING, I WILL. PERIOD.

Maybe in the first few weeks, we will juggle things a bit, to figure out what works best for everyone. I believe it will ABSOLUTELY be worth it.

I look forward to your replies requesting a time slot! (If there are conflicts, we'll work them out.)

regards,

[Your Name]