Chapter 10

Project Communications Management

The process involves communications planning, Information distribution, Performance reporting, managing stakeholders.

First and foremost, communications planning determining the information and communications needs of the stakeholders. The output is stakeholder analysis. Communication management contents requires stakeholder communications , information to be communicated, including format, content, and level of detail, the people who will receive the information and who will produce it and suggested methods or technologies for conveying the information.


Secondly, information distribution determining the information and communications needs of the stakeholders. Research says that in a face-to-face interaction:
58 percent of communication is through body language
35 percent of communication is through how the words are said
7 percent of communication is through the content or words that are spoken

Communication consider rarely does the receiver interpret a message exactly as the sender intended or geographic location and cultural background affect the complexity of project communications like:
Different working hours
Language barriers
Different cultural norms

Next, performance reporting collecting and disseminating performance information, including status reports, progress measurement, and forecasting. Thus, Status reports describe where the project stands at a specific point in time. Progress reports describe what the project team has accomplished during a certain period of time. Forecasts predict future project status and progress based on past information and trends.

Last but not least, managing stakeholders managing communications to satisfy the needs and expectations of project stakeholders and to resolve issues. Two important tools include expectations management matrix and issue log.

There are some suggestions for improving project communications; manage conflicts effectively, develop better communication skills, run effective meetings, use e-mail and other technologies effectively and use templates for project communications.

Groupthink is conformance to the values or ethical standards of a group; groupthink can develop if there are no conflicting viewpoints. On running effective meetings we must: Define the purpose and intended outcome of the meeting, determine who should attend the meeting and provide an agenda to participants before the meeting, run the meeting professionally and build relationships. The project manager and project team members should each prepare a lessons-learned report. Lastly, a reflective statement which is lessons learned report that documents important things an individual learned from working on the project must be provided.