Module 8: Project Communication

Project Communication

• Project communication involves receiving, processing, and disseminating information.
• Receiving information encompasses activities like reading, listening, observing, and sensing.
• Processing information includes collating, filtering, analyzing, and interpreting.
• Disseminating information involves both verbal and visual presentation, as well as written communication.
• Communication is an ongoing process; you are constantly receiving and sending messages.
• Project managers must actively manage information received, processed, and disseminated.

Importance of Project Management

• Project managers are responsible for working with people who do not directly report to them.
• Since projects are temporary endeavors, they have a temporary organizational structure—the project team—which must be created for work to be done.
• Project team members often have permanent roles outside the project, leading to challenges in managing their time and communication.
• Effective communication is paramount for managing project teams since they are often distributed, have different roles, and may not be fully dedicated to the project.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)

• NLP is a collection of techniques that enable effective communication.
• One key NLP presupposition is: “The map is not territory."
• This signifies our perceptions are shaped by our individual experiences and mental models.
• Misunderstandings arise when we attribute different meanings to words and phrases based on our unique interpretations.
• To effectively communicate, we must be aware of these differences in understanding and strive to build rapport, practice reflective listening, and ask precise questions.

NLP in Project Context

• Communication occurs in two phases: deep structure (full sensory experience) and surface structure (filtered and translated into words).
• When we communicate with others, we filter, distort, and generalize our experiences before expressing them verbally or non-verbally.
• This filtering process uses our mental maps—collection of our past experiences.
• This filtering leads to misunderstandings as our individual mental maps influence how we receive and interpret information.

Applied Communication Skills for Project Management

• Building Rapport: Establish trust and connection by subtly mirroring the other's posture, gestures, breathing, voice tone, and language patterns.
• Reflective Listening: Listen actively without formulating responses; repeat back to the speaker their words to ensure understanding.
• Three-Point Communication: Avoid eye contact and instead focus on a shared artifact (e.g., document) to reduce emotional intensity and ease communication.
• Asking Questions: Use precise questions to address distortions and generalizations in communication:
  • Replace generalizations like "always" and "never" with "Never?" and "Always?" followed by clarifying queries.
  • Challenge distortions like blame and interpretations with questions like "How can you tell?" and "Do you know that was her intention?"
  • Avoid "Why" questions as they can elicit defensive responses.

Importance of Project Meetings

• Meetings are essential for effective project communication.
• They facilitate project initiation, planning, progress monitoring, risk management, team building, and project closure.
• Well-run meetings foster communication between the project manager, team, and client.

Types of Project Meetings

• Project meetings can be categorized into:
  • Meetings about the project: Project initiation and planning workshops, status meetings, risk meetings, change control meetings, lessons learned, and close-out meetings.
  • Meetings about the deliverable: Workshops to define business requirements, design features, and capabilities of the deliverable.
  • Meetings about the team: Gatherings to ensure effective team performance and build a functional team.

Enhancing Meeting Effectiveness

• Define Meeting Objectives:
  • Objectives focus on the desired outcome, not activities.
  • Use the SMART acronym: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timeous.
• Avoid Meeting Pitfalls:
  • Key people not attending: Confirm attendance and consider rescheduling if necessary.
  • People arriving unprepared: Distribute the agenda in advance.
  • Lack of engagement: Encourage discussion and debate; ask individuals specific questions.
  • Non-threatening environment: Encourage open sharing of opinions without fear of ridicule.

Effective Meetings

• A well-prepared venue is vital for meetings.
• Early arrival to ensure a tidy and organized space is essential.
• Meetings should be developmental rather than punitive.
• Participants should be briefed on their roles in advance, including notes taking or subject-matter expertise.
• An agenda with a clear structure (beginning, body, and end) is crucial.
• The meeting facilitator should be focused on guiding discussions, not taking on additional roles.
• Encourage participation from everyone.
• Be attentive to silent participants, prompting involvement by directing questions their way.
• Ensure specific action items are assigned with clear deadlines.
• Time management is fundamental. If a discussion stalls, consider moving it to another meeting.

Post-Meeting Follow-Up

• Meeting minutes should be drafted and circulated promptly (e.g., within 24 hours).
• Task assignments and decisions made during the meeting should be summarized in the minutes.
• Reflect on the meeting's effectiveness and identify areas for improvement for future interactions.
• Actionable items should be tracked and addressed to ensure follow-up action.

Project Documentation

• Effective project documentation is essential for communication and transparency.
• Documents serve as evidence of project progress and can provide insights into key decisions and outcomes.
• A variety of documents are used in project management, including:
  • Business Case: Explains the project's purpose, benefits, and alignment with organizational strategy.
  • Project Charter: Defines project deliverables and outlines the project team's mandate.
  • Project Management Plan: Describes how the project team will manage and execute the project, covering aspects such as work breakdown structure, scheduling, resourcing, risk management, and communications.
  • Status Reports: Regular reports on project progress, comparing achieved milestones against plans and highlighting areas that require attention.
  • Project Logs and Registers: Track key project dynamics, including decisions, issues, risks, and communication records.
  • Minutes and Discussion Records: Capture meeting details, attendees, decisions, and follow-ups.
  • Emails: Centralize project-related emails for comprehensive documentation.

Managing Project Documentation

• Comprehensive document information, including author, date, target audience, and version number, is crucial.
• Consider a title page for multi-page documents, including a table of contents for larger documents.
• Formal acceptance procedures may be required for specific documents.
• Version control is essential for documents that undergo development and revision.
• Centralized electronic filing systems are recommended for managing documentation.
• Consistent and comprehensive file naming conventions are important for easy retrieval.

Project Communication Planning

• A project communication plan outlines a strategy for two-way information flow between stakeholders.
• The plan identifies stakeholders, their communication needs, and methods for effective communication.
• It also emphasizes the importance of communication in managing project pressures and ensuring that information is accessible to all relevant parties.

Project Management Dashboards

• Project management dashboards provide high-level metrics about project performance.
• They allow project managers to quickly assess budget, schedule, and risk status.
• Color-coded indicators (green, amber, red) signal project status and potential areas for corrective action.
• Dashboards are valuable for communicating project status and highlighting potential problems.

Future of Project Communication

• Technological advancements will likely enable greater levels of virtual collaboration in project teams.
• Effective interpersonal communication skills will remain crucial in virtual environments.
• Adapting to cultural differences, time zones, language barriers, and legal and political contexts are significant challenges.
• The reliance on digital communication, including social media, necessitates new considerations for confidentiality and information security.
• Written communication, especially in abbreviated forms, can lead to potential misunderstandings and misinterpretations.
• Cultural differences in communication styles can further complicate understanding and collaboration.

Project Communication Challenges

• The ability of project managers to control information flow is diminishing due to technology's ease of distribution, leading to potential misinformation.
• The increasing volume of communication makes it challenging to process and understand everything.
• People are becoming more selective in what they choose to receive, and technology empowers them.

Managing Challenges

• Implementing policies for internet usage and email communication to prevent information leaks and ensure sensitive information is protected.
• Establishing guidelines for email communication, including appropriate language, retention of meaning, and cultural sensitivity.
• Avoiding placing sensitive information on the network to prevent hacking.
• Utilizing secure platforms like 'Sharepoint' for document and information sharing among team members.
• Limiting the flow of information between home and work to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data.
• Ensuring employees understand the consequences of divulging sensitive information through blogs, social media, and personal emails.
• Leveraging the power of the internet and electronic communication for project benefit, including crowdsourcing ideas and input from a wider group for improved solutions.

Project Communication

• Project communication is much broader than simply informing stakeholders about project status.
• Key elements of communication involve receiving, processing, and disseminating information.
• Effective communication is crucial for relationship building and happens continuously, both intentionally and unintentionally.
• Project managers must be aware of messages stakeholders are receiving and ensure effective communication with project team, other managers, and external stakeholders.

Importance of Project Management

• Project management can be challenging due to managing people who don't report to the project manager.
• Temporary nature of projects means temporary team structures are formed, often with team members having other priorities and responsibilities.
• Communication is vital for ensuring the team is aligned on project objectives, especially when team members have part-time roles.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)

• Key NLP principle: "The map is not territory."
• Meaning is subjective and influenced by individual experiences and mental models.
• Meaning is created by the user, not inherent in words themselves.

NLP in Project Context

• Communication involves transferring meaning from the sender's deep structure (full experience) to the receiver's surface structure (interpreted words).
• Misunderstandings arise from individual filters, which distort, delete, and generalize during both perception and communication.

Applied Communication Skills

• Building rapport involves connecting with others through unconscious matching of posture, gestures, voice, and language.
• Reflective listening, also known as "deep listening," involves active listening without forming pre-conceived responses.
• Three-point communication, using artifacts like documents, reduces interpersonal tension and emotion compared to two-point communication.
• Precision questions challenge generalizations and distortions, leading to improved clarity.
• Avoid asking "Why" questions, as they can elicit defensiveness.

Project Meetings

• Meetings are essential for effective project communication and are often undervalued by team members.
• Well-run meetings facilitate communication between project managers, teams, and clients.

Types of Project Meetings

• Project meetings can be categorized into:
  • Meetings about the project: initiation, planning, status updates, risk assessment, change control, lessons learned, and close-out.
  • Meetings about the deliverable: workshops focusing on business requirements, design, and technical specifics.
  • Meetings about the team: building team cohesion and effectiveness.

Enhancing Meeting Effectiveness

• Define clear meeting objectives using the SMART acronym: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timeous.
• Prevent meeting failures by ensuring key personnel attend, preparing participants in advance, and encouraging active participation.
• Create a non-threatening environment for open and honest discussions.

Project Meeting Objectives

• Meeting objectives should focus on achieving desired outcomes, not just completing tasks.
• Objectives should answer: "Why are we holding this meeting?" and "How will we know if we have achieved the desired outcome?"

Preparing for a Meeting

• Defining roles and briefing participants in advance is important.
• The meeting facilitator should not have additional roles.
• A designated person should take notes.
• The meeting agenda should be structured with a beginning, body, and end.
• Ensure everyone understands their role and the importance of their attendance.
• Creating a non-threatening environment is crucial for open discussion.
• The meeting venue should be prepared and tidy for a positive environment.

Conducting a Meeting

• Keep the meeting focused on the agenda topic.
• Encourage participation from everyone.
• Ensure ideas and solutions are actionable.
• Be aware of the time and adjust the agenda if needed.

Following Up After a Meeting

• Write up meeting minutes or follow up with the designated note-taker.
• Set a deadline for distributing meeting minutes.
• Review the minutes before they are sent out.
• Reflect on the meeting's effectiveness and identify improvements for future meetings.
• Follow up on tasks and decisions made during the meeting.

Importance of Project Documentation

• Effective documentation is crucial for communication in projects.
• Documentation's purpose is to show, teach, provide proof, and evidence.
• Project managers document projects to demonstrate competency and accountability.
• Documentation is essential for transparency and understanding among project stakeholders.

Types of Project Documents

• Business case: Explains the project's purpose, benefits, and strategy alignment.
• Project charter: Defines the project's deliverables and scope.
• Project management plan: Outlines how the project will be managed, including work breakdown, schedule, resources, cost, quality, risk, change management, stakeholder management, and communication.
• Status reports: Regularly provide information about project progress, schedule comparison, and key concerns.
• Project logs and registers: Tracks key project dynamics, including decisions, issues, and risks.
• Minutes and discussion records: Documents meeting outcomes, decisions, and follow-up actions.
• Emails: Capturing project emails is essential for a complete documentation record.

Managing Project Documentation

• Provide comprehensive document information, including author, date, headings, target audience, and version control.
• Large documents should have title pages, page numbers, and table of contents.
• Use header/footer features for consistent document information.
• Implement a centralized electronic filing system for version control.
• Use consistent and descriptive file names for easy retrieval.

Project Communication Plan

• A communication plan outlines the strategies for effective information flow between project stakeholders.
• The plan should consider the communication needs of different stakeholders.
• Effective communication is essential for project success.

Project Management Dashboard

• Dashboards provide a visual overview of project performance and key metrics.
• They help project managers quickly identify potential problems and areas requiring corrective action.
• The dashboard is a visual communication tool that saves time and effectively highlights project risks.

Future of Project Communication

• Advances in technology will facilitate increased global collaboration.
• Challenges of cultural differences, time zones, and communication styles will need to be addressed.
• The increasing reliance on digital communication presents challenges regarding confidentiality and meaning.
• Social media can unintentionally disseminate confidential project information.
• The use of abbreviated and text-based digital communication can impact clear communication.
• Cultural differences in communication styles can lead to misunderstandings in digital environments.

Project Communication Challenges

• Project managers are losing control of information flow as communication technology becomes more accessible and ubiquitous.
• Unintentional or malicious distribution of incorrect or misleading information is a growing risk.
• The volume of information is increasing rapidly, making it difficult for managers to keep up with all communication.
• Employees are becoming more discerning about information they receive, and technology is empowering them to control what they see.

Managing Project Communication Challenges

• Implement policies to manage internet and email usage, including monitoring sensitive information.
• Establish guidelines for email communication, including language use and cultural sensitivities.
• Avoid placing sensitive information on the network to reduce the risk of hacking.
• Utilize tools like SharePoint to facilitate secure information sharing among project team members.
• Limit access to work networks and information from home to minimize unauthorized distribution.
• Educate employees about the risks of disclosing sensitive information through blogs, social media, and personal emails.
• Embrace the opportunities offered by online technologies, like crowdsourcing, to leverage diverse knowledge and perspectives.

Project Communication

• Effective project communication involves receiving, processing, and disseminating information.
• It goes beyond simply informing stakeholders about project status.
• Project managers need to be mindful of both intended and unintended messages received by stakeholders.
• Communication is essential for relationship building and occurs constantly, even when not actively listening or speaking.
• Project management is challenging because managers are often responsible for the work of individuals who do not report to them.
• Project teams are temporary, often consist of part-time members, and require careful communication to ensure everyone is working towards project objectives.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)

• NLP is a collection of techniques that enhance communication, emphasizing that "the map is not territory."
• Our mental maps, shaped by experiences, influence how we interpret and communicate.
• Misunderstandings often arise from differences in mental maps and how we interpret words.
• Meaning is not inherent in words but assigned by individuals based on their mental maps.

NLP and Project Communication

• Communication involves transferring meaning (deep structure) through words (surface structure).
• Mental maps distort, delete, and generalize information as we receive and transmit it.
• This leads to potential misunderstandings, as different individuals interpret information differently.

Applied Communication Skills for Projects

• Building Rapport: Creating a climate of trust through unconscious matching of behaviors like posture, gestures, and language patterns.
• Reflective Listening: Deep listening without judgment, repeating back what the speaker said to ensure complete understanding.
• Three-Point Communication: Using an artifact, like a document, to avoid direct confrontation and minimize emotional responses.
• Asking Questions: Using precision questions to address misunderstandings and distortions:
  • Generalizations: Challenge words like "always", "never", "everyone", and "nothing" to uncover exceptions.
  • Distortions: Challenge blame, presumptions, and interpretations with questions that focus on logic and avoid "why" questions, which can be perceived as aggressive.

The Importance of Project Meetings

• Meetings are crucial for effective project communication and team collaboration.
• They help kick-start projects, plan, monitor progress, manage risk, build team cohesion, and close out projects.

Types of Project Meetings

• Meetings about the project:
  • Project initiation and planning workshops: Set the project direction and ensure everyone is on track.
  • Project status meetings: Regularly monitor progress, address issues, and keep the team informed.
  • Project risk meetings: Identify potential risks and develop response plans.
  • Change control meetings: Review and approve changes to project specifications, budget, or schedule.
  • Lessons learned meetings: Capture insights from the project for future projects.
  • Close-out meetings: Formalize handover of deliverables, release resources, and celebrate success.
• Meetings about the deliverable: Focus on identifying business requirements, designing features, and ensure the project deliverables meet organizational needs.
• Meetings about the team: Facilitate effective teamwork by addressing team dynamics and fostering a cohesive working environment.

Enhancing Meeting Effectiveness

• Define meeting objectives:
  • Objectives describe the desired outcome, a result to be achieved.
  • Use the SMART acronym to ensure objectives are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timeous.
• Avoid common pitfalls:
  • Ensure key people attend by confirming attendance in advance.
  • Distribute agendas in advance to allow participants to prepare.
  • Encourage active engagement from all participants by creating a safe and comfortable environment.

Effective Meeting Facilitation

• Emotional engagement over logic: When team members feel personally affected by a delay, emotions can overshadow logical discussion.
• Prepare the venue: A tidy, well-organized meeting space encourages participation and collaboration.
• Define roles and brief participants: Clarifying roles and expectations in advance contributes to a smoother meeting.
• Facilitator should avoid additional roles: Delegate note-taking and other tasks to ensure focus on facilitation.
• Structured Agenda: Utilize a three-part agenda: beginning, body, and end.
• Agenda Body Content: The body of the agenda is flexible, adapting to the nature and objectives of the meeting.
• Meeting Start: Set clear instructions, check outcomes and concerns, agree on the agenda, time allocation, processes, ground rules, and define roles.
• Meeting End: Review decisions and action plans, schedule the next meeting, and reflect on the meeting.
• Guide the discussion: Steer conversations towards achieving the meeting's objective.
• Encourage participation: Engage all participants, including those who are silent.
• Ensure actionable ideas: Define clear responsibilities, deadlines, and actions.
• Time management: Adjust the agenda as needed and consider moving challenging topics to another meeting.

Post-Meeting Follow-Up

• Minutes: Document the meeting's key decisions and actions, including who is responsible for what and by when.
• Review and reflection: Analyze the meeting's effectiveness and identify lessons learned.
• Follow-up actions: Track tasks and commitments arising from the meeting to ensure completion.

Project Documentation

• Importance of project communication: Documentation is crucial for effective communication and transparency across all project stakeholders.
• Purpose of documentation: To inform, teach, and provide evidence of the project's progress, decisions, and outcomes.
• Document types: Project documents include the business case, project charter, project management plan, status reports, project logs and registers, minutes and discussion records, and emails.
• Centralized documentation: Use a shared electronic system (e.g., SharePoint) to manage and store project documents for easy access and version control.

Project Communication Plan

• Two-way communication: The communication plan outlines how to share information effectively with stakeholders, both internally and externally.
• Stakeholder needs: Different stakeholders have different communication preferences and requirements.
• Planning communication: Proactive planning is essential to ensure that project communication remains a priority despite day-to-day pressures.

Project Management Dashboard

• Performance overview: Dashboards provide quick access to key project metrics, such as budget and schedule status.
• Early warning system: The dashboard alerts project managers to potential problems by using visual cues (e.g., red, amber, green).
• Signal for further investigation: The dashboard serves as a starting point for investigations; detailed reports provide further insight into the root cause of issues.

Future Challenges in Project Communication

• Confidentiality: The increasing amount of digital communication raises concerns about the confidentiality of project information.
• Social Media: Unintentional leaks through social media platforms can compromise project confidentiality.
• Loss of Meaning: Text-based communication, especially in abbreviated forms, can lead to misunderstandings and loss of meaning.
• Cultural Differences: Variations in communication styles across cultures can further complicate digital interactions.
• Virtual collaboration: Developing effective interpersonal communication skills in a virtual setting is critical for successful collaboration among dispersed teams.
• Global challenges: Virtual collaboration requires navigating challenges associated with language barriers, time zones, cultural differences, and legal and political considerations.

Challenges with Project Communication

• Project managers lose control over information flow with anyone able to easily distribute information widely.
• Malicious or misleading information about projects can be distributed easily and quickly.
• Project managers need to be aware of the volume of information and ensure the message is understood correctly.
• The growth of communication technology presents a challenge as project managers need to adapt to new ways of working, communicating, and getting things done.

Managing Communication Challenges

• Security: Monitor emails and limit social media access during work hours to prevent sensitive information leaks.
• Information Overload: Implement policies for email communication to ensure clarity and avoid spreading misinformation.
• Sensitive Information: Store sensitive information on secure, non-networked devices to avoid hacking.
• Sharing information: Use software like SharePoint to control document sharing within the team, potentially as the sole method for sharing.
• Home and Work: Restrict employees' access to work networks from home and limit what they can take home to prevent sensitive information leaks.
• Employee Awareness: Educate employees about the consequences of disclosing sensitive information, even unintentionally, through blogs, social media, and personal emails.
• Harnessing Technology: Project managers should take advantage of internet and electronic communication tools for positive outcomes, using crowdsourcing to solicit ideas and improve solutions.

Project Communication

• Communication on projects involves receiving, processing, and disseminating information.
• It is a continuous process, even when not actively listening or speaking.
• Project managers must be constantly aware of messages received by stakeholders.

Importance of Project Management

• Project managers are responsible for overseeing the work of people who do not report to them.
• Projects have temporary organizational structures.
• Team members may have concurrent responsibilities outside the project.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)

• NLP is a collection of proven technologies that enable effective communication.
• The "map is not territory": our mental maps influence how we interpret information and communication.
• This is particularly relevant in diverse environments where misunderstandings can arise.

NLP in a Project Context

• Communication involves a deep structure (full experience) and surface structure (what is actually communicated).
• We filter information through our mental maps, distorting, deleting, and generalizing.
• Misunderstandings occur because we interpret the surface structure based on our unique mental maps.

Applied Communication Skills

• Building Rapport: unconsciously connecting with others to create trust and influence.
• Reflective Listening: actively listening without formulating a response, encouraging deeper engagement.
• Three-point Communication: using an artifact to avoid direct eye contact, reducing emotional intensity.
• Asking Questions: using precision to clarify meaning, particularly when dealing with generalizations and distortions.

Project Meetings

• Meetings are essential for effective project communication.
• They are crucial for kickstarting, planning, monitoring, managing risk, team building, and closing projects.
• Well-run meetings are vital for project success, facilitating communication amongst team members and clients.

Types of Project Meetings

• Meetings About the Project: setting up and reviewing project progress
  • Examples: initiation and planning workshops, status meetings, risk meetings, change control meetings, lessons learned, close-out meetings.
• Meetings About the Deliverable: workshops to determine requirements and design features
  • Attendance usually includes those with knowledge of the business and technology needed for the deliverable.
• Meetings About the Team: ensuring team performance
  • Project team members typically come from different parts of the organization and may not have a history of working together.
  • It is crucial for the project manager to build a functional team.

Enhancing Meeting Effectiveness

• Define Meeting Objectives:
  • Clearly state desired outcomes, using the SMART acronym (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timeous).
  • Ensure the objectives are focused on results rather than activities.
• Avoid Common Pitfalls:
  • Ensure key people attend by confirming beforehand and potentially rescheduling if necessary.
  • Encourage preparation by distributing agendas in advance.
  • Promote engagement by encouraging discussion and asking specific questions to those who are not participating.

Summary

• Effective communication is fundamental to successful project management.
• Communication is a continuous process that requires awareness of the messages received by stakeholders.
• Understanding NLP principles and applying communication skills can foster effective relationships and reduce misunderstandings.
• Meetings are vital for project success, but need to be well-planned and run to maximize effectiveness.
• Different types of meetings address specific project needs related to the project itself, the deliverable, and the team.
• Utilizing the SMART acronym and addressing potential pitfalls can enhance meeting effectiveness.

Effective Meetings

• Emotions can interfere with logical discussion and problem solving when delays occur on projects.
• To avoid emotional responses, create a non-threatening meeting environment and emphasize that the meeting is for development, not punishment.
• Ensure the venue is prepared before the meeting, and the room is tidy and well-set up.
• Define roles for each participant before the meeting and provide them with a clear agenda that includes a beginning, body, and end.
• The meeting facilitator should not take on additional roles, and someone else should be designated to take notes.
• Clarify the roles of each person in advance so they understand why their attendance is important.
• Involve all participants in the discussion, even those who are silent, by directing questions to them, inviting them to comment on others' statements, or asking everyone to summarize their position.
• Ensure all ideas are actionable, and clarify who needs to do what by when.
• Keep the meeting focused on the agenda topic. If someone deviates, ask them how their comment relates to the topic and seek group consensus.
• Be aware of the time and adjust the agenda accordingly.

Following Up After Meetings

• Write up the minutes or follow up with the assigned person.
• Set a deadline for producing and distributing the minutes, ideally within 24 hours.
• Project meeting minutes should focus on task assignments (who must do what by when) and decisions taken, rather than reflecting the entire conversation.
• Reflect on the meeting and ask yourself:
  • What went right?
  • What did not go well?
  • What lessons can I learn?
  • What will I do differently next time?
• Make a list of items that need follow-up and ensure actions are taken, and impediments are resolved.

Project Documentation

• Well-documented projects enable effective communication.
• Project documentation serves two main purposes: to inform and teach, and to provide proof or evidence.
• Organizations use documentation to demonstrate competency and to showcase project achievements.
• Documentation allows for project insights, learning from mistakes, and ensuring clarity and understanding among stakeholders.
• It is vital to document all project elements throughout the different phases of their lifecycle.

Types of Project Documents

• Business Case: Explains why the project is being undertaken, the benefits it will bring, and how it supports the organization's strategy.
• Project Charter: Explains what the project must deliver, describing the deliverables that the project team will implement.
• Project Management Plan: Outlines how the project team will meet the project charter's mandate, including:
  • Work breakdown structure and project schedule
  • Resourcing plan
  • Cost management plan
  • Quality management plan
  • Risk management plan
  • Change management plan
  • Change control plan
  • Stakeholder management and communications plan
  • Project governance plan
• Status Reports: Provide regular (weekly or monthly) updates on the project's status, focusing on the schedule and highlighting areas that require attention.
• Project Logs and Registers: Track key project dynamics, including decision, issues, and risks registers.
• Minutes and Discussion Records: Record meetings, attendance, and decisions made.
• Emails: Many project issues are resolved through email communication. It's essential to have a central repository of project-specific emails for complete documentation.

Managing Project Documentation

• Document Information:
  • Provide comprehensive information about the document, including the author, date, headings, target audience, contact details, distribution list, date, and version number.
  • Use title pages, page numbers, and a table of contents for larger documents.
  • Consider formal acceptance procedures depending on organization requirements or contractual obligations.
  • Use the header/footer feature for consistent information.
• Version Control:
  • Use version numbers to track changes, including a description of the changes, the author, the release date, and comments.
  • Clarify the version control process within the project plan or document introduction.
• Filing Project Documents:
  • Use a centralized electronic filing system, such as Microsoft SharePoint or a shared folder, for easier version control.
  • Establish a consistent file naming convention to ensure easy retrieval and organization.

Project Communication Plan

• A communication plan outlines the strategy for information flow between project stakeholders.
• It ensures the right information reaches the right stakeholders at the right time through various channels.
• Different stakeholders have different communication requirements based on their project involvement.
• Planning communication helps to manage daily project pressures.

Project Management Dashboards

• Project management dashboards are communication tools that provide quick access to high-level project performance metrics.
• They indicate whether the project is on budget or schedule and highlight areas needing corrective action.
• They use color-coding to indicate project status, with green for on-track, amber for warning, and red for serious trouble.
• Dashboards provide a first line of defense, signaling areas needing further investigation with detailed reports.

Future of Project Communication

• Future communication advancements will likely eliminate the need for physical presence in project teams.
• The effectiveness of virtual collaboration will depend on our interpersonal communication skills and ability to navigate cultural, time zone, language, legal, and political differences.
• The medium, structure, and nature of communication are evolving from memos to tweets, handwritten notes to social media, and faxes to teleconferencing.
• While digital communication makes it easier to keep people updated, it also presents challenges like:
  • Confidentiality: The sensitivity of project information increases as time to market becomes a competitive advantage.
  • Written communication: Text-based communication loses meaning without nonverbal cues.
  • Cultural differences: Breaks down when email communication styles differ across cultures.

Challenges Associated with Project Communication

• Project managers' control over information flow is diminishing due to widespread use of technology.
• The risk of misinformation spreading is high, even without malicious intent.
• Information overload makes it challenging for project managers to filter and process all incoming information.
• Individuals are becoming more selective in their information consumption, empowered by technology.

Managing Communication Challenges

• Security: Implement policies for internet and email usage, including monitoring to prevent sensitive information leaks.
• Information overload: Utilize software like SharePoint for document sharing and collaboration within project teams.
• Guidelines for email communication: Establish clear guidelines regarding language use, cultural sensitivities, and information retention.
• Information access: Restrict access to sensitive information on networks by storing it securely offline or on locked devices.
• Control information flow: Limit access to work networks from home and restrict employees from taking sensitive information home.
• Employee awareness: Emphasize the consequences of divulging sensitive information through blogs, social media, or personal emails, even unintentionally.
• Harnessing technology: Leverage the internet and electronic communication for project benefit, such as using crowdsourcing for idea generation and problem-solving.