The approval process for design meetings are usually what causes a lot of delay within a project. There are so many things that managers need to track that causes them to put it off causing unnecessary delays and projects going off schedule. It requires a combination of effort, preparation and organization, and clear communication from the PM to the approval team. 

For PMs, communicating with the right people and ensuring all documents are well-prepared and organized is essential to facilitate smooth approval processes. This means setting up regular meetings with the team and communicating the process of when stuff is getting done. Moreover, they should foster an environment of open communication, collaboration, and constructive feedback during the review meeting. They need to be able to voice their opinions and address concerns during this process. 

Design review meetings are meetings that happen at the end of each stage of the project process. This is when the team approves documents and allows for the project to move on further to next steps. In this meeting the team takes into account a wide variety of information and feedback in order to make the product better. As design review meetings are extremely important for the project, it only makes sense that those involved must come prepared in order to make the most of the time together. Identifying the goals of the meeting sets a structure for the team to follow. Another important thing is to allow those who have tested the products and have feedback or genuine concerns to be given an ample amount of speaking time. Another aspect of design meetings that is not spoken enough about is the ability for all team members to be able to handle criticism whether constructive or not, however, we must also realize professional etiquette and how to speak with others in a team. 

Design reviews are formal, structured meetings that occur at the end of important design controls milestones (at the end of design input, output, verification, validation, and transfer). To effectively run these meetings, an agenda must be sent out ahead of time to all attendees and a note taker must be identified. Design review meetings must also include an independent reviewer who is not part of the project, so they must be identified ahead of time as well and given all material and information to get up to speed on the project and the documents that will be reviewed during the meeting. Project managers who lead design reviews should follow-up with team members regarding the documents that will be reviewed during the design reviews and ensure that any documents that need to be routed or released have done so prior to the meeting. During the meeting, a note taker will take down any comments and action items. The project manager should ensure that all action items are completed before officially closing out the design review and signing off on the meeting minutes.

One strategy that can be undertaken to ensure smooth document approval is establishing early on team expectations of the documentation. The author should be informed of what standards they must be fulfilling when generating the documentation. This will lead to less confusion and more clarity on the contents of the document. Unofficial, pre-meetings are a good way to communicate these expectations. So, the authors are aware and conscious of what is needed. Another strategy is: referencing any past approved documentation that is similar whatever product is being developed/produced. Looking at previous documentation further establishes team standards.

To ensure appropriate approvals during the design review meetings, project managers need to incorporate careful planning with appropriate preparation and effective communication. Project managers should clearly and precisely define goals and objectives for the team to follow. These expectations should be documented appropriately and comprehensibly so that the team members can rely on this documentation for the effective success of the project. Additionally, the meetings should follow an agenda that has been established and shared with the team members beforehand. Key shareholders, who have expertise and authority on the project at hand, should be privy to these meetings so that effective inputs and decisions can be made during the project's process. Lastly, there should be open and effective communication between the project team as well as there should be proactive solutions being implemented to ensure the success of the review meetings, thus ensuring the project's success. 

Design reviews need to be some of the most organized parts of the project. All documents that need to be signed and approved prior to the meeting should be approved. Everyone that is required to attend the Design change review meeting needs to be present otherwise the meeting can not happen. There also needs to be someone in charge or taking meeting minutes to ensure all the information during the meeting is documented, and these meeting minutes also need to be signed and approved by attendees as an official deliverable of the project. I have worked on various design change projects during my time in the industry and there is always an elevated sense of pressure to be organized prior to the design change meeting.design review. The Design change notice needs to be fully filled out and reviewed multiple times prior to the meeting (especially with the design quality engineer on the project). Hence, when I hear design change review, I immediately think of organization and documentation that follows the specific company procedures. If you can follow the procedure and complete documentation in a timely manner, you can conduct a successful design change review meeting that is smoother in comparison to those that may not have done the things mentioned previously in preparation for the meeting. 

I think that these review meetings need to be adequately prepared beforehand, both in terms of document organization and the relevant document trail that might be associated with it, in order to be considered effective and useful. If the meeting was disorganized, it would not be sufficient use of time to since that there are time spent finding documents or explaining stuff. Proper documentation is crucial for being able to transfer knowledge and explanations of what each document is. The various department heads that need to be present for the meeting might also have limited availability or time to meet as often, so they may not have the time to go through the organizational stuff at the meeting. 

If a design change is required, then the heads of the different departments need to be present and review if any changes are required to progress with quality or other organizational/hierarchal matters.