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.

Project Communications - Manage Stakeholders

A stakeholder is anyone whose interests may be positively or negatively impacted by the project. Stakeholder management is the process of controlling communications to adjust as per the needs of the stakeholders.

 

Inputs to manage stakeholders

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

2.     Organizational process assets

 

Tools and techniques for manage stakeholders

1.    Communications methods

2.     Issue logs

 

Output of manage stakeholders

1.    Resolved issues

2.     Approved change request

3.     Approved corrective action

4.     Organizational process assets (updates)

5.     Project management plan (updates)

 

Exam spotlight

 

• Most important characteristic for a project manager is ability to work well with others.
• Major cause of conflict with functional managers is schedules.
• Most difficult conflict to deal with is personality conflicts.
• Face-to-face meetings are the most effective means for communicating and resolving issues.

 

 

 

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

 

Project Communications - Performance Reporting

The project may be doing great or maybe it is already screwed-up, the only way to find out is by looking at the baseline data of scope, efforts, cost, quality, etc and then matching it with the actual to find out the progress made.  Stakeholders look for such information, hence it is project managers duty to do performance reporting as per the information needs documented in the communication plan.

 

Inputs to performance reporting

1.    Work performance information

2.     Performance measurements

3.     Forecasted completion

4.     Quality control measurements

5.     Project management plan

6.     Approved change request

7.     Deliverables

 

Tools and techniques for performance reporting

1.    Information presentation tool

2.     Performance information gathering and compilation

3.     Status review meetings

4.     Time reporting system

5.     Cost reporting system

 

Output of performance reporting

1.    Performance reports

2.     Forecasts

3.     Requested changes

4.     Recommended corrective action

5.     Organizational process assets (updates)

 

Exam spotlight

 

Variance analysis

Comparing actual project results to planned or expected results in terms of cost, schedule, scope, quality, and risk.

Project war room

A single location for the team to get together for any purpose.  It provides a repository for project artifacts, records, and up-to-date schedules and status reports.  It gives an identity to the project team.

 

 

 

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

 

Project Communications - Information Distribution

Everything you do, you do for a reason, and communicating should be no different. We need to share the project information with the stakeholders in a timely manner to be able to utilize the information. Information distribution is the execution of communication management plan plus handling ad-hoc information needs.

Inputs to information distribution

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

 

Tools and techniques for information distribution

1.    Communications skills

2.     Information gathering and retrieval system

3.     Information distribution methods

4.     Lessons learned process

 

Output of information distribution

1.    Organizational process assets (updates)

2.     Requested changes

 

 

 

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

 

Barriers to Communications

Barriers to Communications

1.     Physical – noise, distance, time, environment, physical medium

2.     Cultural - ethnic, religious, and social differences

3.     Perceptional - viewing what is said from your own mindset

4.     Words - we assign a meaning to a word often because of culture, experience, etc reasons which results in improper encoding of message

5.     Experiential - lack of similar experience

6.     Emotional - personal feelings at the moment or doing other things besides listening

7.     Linguistic - different languages or vocabulary

8.     Non-verbal - non-word messages

9.     Gestures - misunderstood gestures are a major barrier

10.  Variations in language - accent, dialect

 

Note: The most likely outcome of communication blocker and miscommunication are conflicts.

 

Any of the above barriers to communications can create interferences or disturbances and impact the effectiveness of the communication. Project Manager should look for such barriers and try to minimize (or better still, eliminate) the source/cause.

 

 

 

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

 

Understanding communication model and channels

Communication Model

In communication, there is always a sender and a receiver (maybe more than one in some cases). Both parties have their own experiences, their perceptions, their ideas, etc, hence they may experience, perceive, and interpret things differently. The same event will always be perceived a little different by each party.

A simple communication model in Figure 1 shows how the information travels from sender to receiver.

Figure 1

1.     Sender – Is an information source, who wants to initiate communication.

2.     Encode – Information is encoded into a message. Sender should make sure that he truly provides understandable information to another project team member. This means that sender must attempt to take the perspective and knowledge of the receiver into consideration and create and present a message that he or she is likely to interpret in the way intended.

3.     Medium – Messages may be sent using traditional mail, email, phone call, face-to-face or using gestures alone. Medium is the communication method used to transmit the message.

4.     Decode – Message is decoded to understand the information sent by sender. Sender uses his knowledge and understanding of the subject matter to decode this message, hence extra caution is required to interpret the message in right context (sender’s context).

5.     Receiver – The person to who the information is sent to.

6.     Feedback – Receiver sends a feedback to sender to acknowledge that the information is received and understood. Sender may have to act further to ensure that the receiver understood the message by eliciting feedback that helps sender to assess whether receiver interpreted the message as intended.

Sender may use symbols, signs, behavior, speech, writing, or signals to transfer the information in the message. The purpose is to ensure that both parties understand the perspective.

 

Communication channels

Communication will always involve more than one person. In the figure below, we can see the number of communication channels required to communicate with 5 team members in a team of 6.

Figure 2

The formula to calculate the total number of communication channels is: (n2- n)/2 or n (n-1)/2

n = total number of team members

Lets calculate the total number of communication channels for the figure above,

n = 6

6 (6 – 1)/2

6 (5)/2

30/2

Hence, there shall be 15 communication channels on this project of 6 people.

 

Methods of communication

1. Formal written - Project Plan, Project charter, Specifications, Reports, Metrics
2. Formal verbal - Presentation, speeches
3. Informal written - Memos, Email, Notes
4. Informal verbal - Meetings, Conversations

 

Note: Project Management Plan is the best type of communication method to use when there are cultural differences and distance between team members.

 

Nonverbal Messages:

1.     Accounts for about 55% of what is perceived and understood by others.

2.     Are conveyed through our facial expressions as well as our postures and gestures.

Para-verbal Messages:

1.     Account for about 38% of what is perceived and understood by others.

2.     Include the tone, pitch, and pacing of our voice

 

It is not possible for Project Manager to control all the communication in the project by stakeholders (management, client, teams, etc), however he should try to control it to minimize miscommunication. Project Manager must choose the most effective method for communicating the information.

Effective communication is a two-way process which involves active listening and reflects the accountability of speaker and listener. It utilizes feedback to confirm understanding which makes it free of stress.

 

 

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

Characteristics of communication

• Communication is a process – it is continuous, ongoing, and dynamic
• Communication has information (message/content)
• Communication requires a sender and a receiver
• Communication requires a medium (symbols, signs, behavior, speech, writing, or signals)
• Communication requires shared understanding – all parties understanding the same things the same way
• Communication is transactional and irreversible

 

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

Project Communication Management

Projects are executed by humans. And humans must interact. There is no doubt that communicating frequently and often is necessary throughout the life of any project. Good communication skills of the team ensure success for projects.

Communication is the most important skill for a Project Manager.  Project Managers spend 90% of their time communicating.

 

Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll understand. - Author unknown Note: The best way to communicate in the teams is to involve team members in all activities. Project manager along with team members is responsible for managing communication on project.

 

Communication may be done using symbols, signs, behavior, speech, writing, or signals, as well as through project charters, project plan, project scope statement and status reports. The list of ways a Project Manager communicates is longer and you will get familiarize with it as you read this book, for now, this small list is an indication of the significance of communication to a Project Manager.

 

Note: Lack of communication is one of the primary reasons why projects fail.

 

Projects fail when expectations are not aligned with results. Timely and effective communication can bridge this gap to avoid surprises at the end. Expectations, goals, and priorities of the project stakeholders should be well documented and communicated to the stakeholders.

Proactive Project Managers know that communication is an ongoing process throughout the life of the project. They set proper expectations for all the stakeholders by determining the information and communications needs of each stakeholder.

Communication by definition is the process of conveying information from a sender to a receiver with the use of a medium in which the communicated information is understood the same way by both sender and receiver.

 

Communications management employs the processes required to ensure timely and appropriate generation, collection, distribution, storage, retrieval and ultimate disposition of project information.

—A Guide to the PMBOK®

 

 

It is a pleasure to announce that I am now PMI certified PMP

How I did it:

1. My planning started about 8 months back.

2. First of all, I started with PMBOK and two other books (Rita and Kim) a few months back and did a quick run-through of each book (cover-to-cover) .

3. I have been listening to the audio CD of Rita everyday for past 3 months while traveling to office and back. This is about 2hrs a day.

4. My determination, I waited for PMFasTrac class by Upendra Giri for 2 months before enrolling. You all would agree that he is good, however I am sure that he is the best trainer in Delhi NCR region.

5. I spent about 150 hours sincerely preparing for this exam after our workshop ended in July.

6. In my opinion, PMBOK is sufficient to pass the exam. However, understanding of each topic is a must.

7. I did not spend time on memorizing the inputs, tools techniques and outputs of each process, rather I tried to understand them. This approach I think helped me in handling the tricky and indirect questions.

My inspiration: I have been and still am actively implementing agile methodology in various project. PMP is a industry recognized certification for traditional managers, I am a technical manager (traditional as I started) who wants to understand and practice good things of both the worlds.

I am more than willing to help those who wish to take the exam. I am willing to spend time to teach the concepts, discuss questions/processes and

guide on how best to utilize the little time in hand we get after official and personal commitments. You may call me at 9891777781 or email me at mail2smehra@gmail.com.