Published my book "Project Communication Management Summarized"

Today I published my book "Project Communication Management Summarized". I had promised my wife in July that I’ll work late nights if required to publish this book on her birthday, and I did accomplish what I said.

Cover pages of my book:

Here is the preface of my book:

The genesis of this book dates back to 2003. While working for a small startup, I was asked to help the executives create and execute the organizational growth plans. The executives wanted me to research tools and methodologies that would help them manage project efficiently.

Seeing the problems faced by project managers, I felt that software project management must be the toughest job on the earth. And managing the communication with various stakeholders like client, end-users, team, etc was toughest of all the activities.

Over the past 6 years, I have realized that the situation is not quite that hopeless. By using sound project communication management processes, project managers can successfully execute projects.

I have used my experience and knowledge of software project management to cull out and describe in this book the key project communication management practices that can be used to successfully execute project after project.

The beauty of these practices is that despite being highly effective, they are not complex; rather, they are grounded in common sense and are supported by simple measurements and analyses.

The book is written primarily for existing project managers so that they can improve their communication skills. This book is equally helpful for wannabe project managers, by using the methods described in this book they can systematically improve the communication management of their projects. PMP aspirants can also use this book to understand the art of project communication management in simplest way.

Many people helped to make this book a reality. I would like to express my gratitude to my present and past employers, where I earned my knowledge and experience to make this book possible. My sincere thanks to all the people who shared their experiences with me and inspired me to write this book. My special thanks to Anand Rajan for his guidance, insight, and common sense to project management.

Use strategic agility to face the economic downturn/slowdown

The world is in a global economic downturn/slowdown. The retail industry can see signs of a sharp pullback in consumer spending habits. We read and hear about bad news from morning till evening. Every day the newspaper talks about pink slips and bailout issues. I don’t want to list the bad news in my blog, however you may go to any news website for that kind of information.

Most companies are looking for cost cutting measures to stay afloat during this time and wait for things to get better. Most companies have shelved their growth plans. The problem is nobody can predict a trend and hence corporate planning has gone for a toss. The current downtrend may go on like this for another 3,6 or 10 months, or maybe for another 1,5, or 10 years... who knows!

So the question is what do the corporate do when they don’t know what to do? Do they wait for the eventuality to happen? Would cost cutting help them survive…forever?

I think it’s time to use strategic agility to face the economic downturn/slowdown:

1. Plan and go for long term growth.
2. Be agile in your approach. Be proactive (not reactive) to the economic indicators and market trends.

Let me illustrate an example from our real life:

1. Let’s say we are to party with our friends at the beach and grab some beer (this is a business objective to make profits and grow).
2. We reach the beach and park the car. We don’t know where our friends are on this huge beach so we call them for directions (this is the economic indicators and market trends).
3. Our friends are on the move looking for a good spot to settle down (this is the changing market trends).
4. We have two options,

First, to wait till they settle down and then go meet them, but that might be too late (half the beer may finish by the time we reach there). Second, to find the current location of our friends and start moving in their direction (we have to walk anyways). Proactively calling them to find the new current location to alter our course and meet them sooner (than the first option).

What I suggest is to take the second option in this period of economic slowdown. Don’t let this recession ruin your business, think about the opportunities, follow the market trends and invest in the right growth plan. This will enable you to come out as a winner when the dust settles down and you’ll be much ahead of your competition.

Project Communications Planning

In order to successfully manage a project, the Project Manager must have in place all processes required to ensure timely and appropriate generation, collection, dissemination, storage and ultimate disposition of project information.

Communication management plan, which is created by the Project Manager, is an output of communication planning process. It determines the type and format of information and communication needs of all the stakeholders. It also defines the frequency/time, creator and recipients of the information.

As per A Guide to the PMBOK®, communications planning process determines the information and communications needs of the stakeholders; for example, who needs what information, when they will need it, how it will be given to them, and by whom. While all projects share the need to communicate project information, the informational needs and methods of distribution vary widely. Identifying the informational needs of the stakeholders and determining a suitable means of meeting those needs is an important factor for project success.

Note: Organizational structure has the greatest effect on the project's communication requirements.

Something that you planned for today might become obsolete in the future. It is good to review the communication plan periodically with the stakeholders.

Inputs to communications planning

1. Enterprise Environmental Factors
2. Organizational Process Assets
3. Project Scope Statement
4. Constraints and assumptions from the Project Management Plan

Tools and techniques for communications planning

1. Communications requirements analysis
2. Communications technology

Output of communications planning

1. Communications management plan (part of project management plan)

Content of communications management plan

1. What information will be collected?
2. How the information will be collected
3. How and to whom the information will be distributed
4. When the information will be communicated
5. How to obtain information between regular communications
6. How the Communications Plan will be updated through the project

How a project manager can help in effective project team communications

1. Be an effective communicator
2. Be a communications expeditor
3. Avoid communications blockers
4. Use a tight matrix
5. Have a project war room
6. Make meetings effective

Note: This is an extract from my book “Project Communication Management Summarized”, you may read the book for complete context and content.