Identify the Method and the Effort Required

wiki: Identify the Method and the Effort Required

Project Communication management

Project communications planning

 The project team uses the WBS product list to identify the products that may be needed on the project.

The Project Development team (PDT) identifies:

• Who produces the product
• Who receives the product
• The method of product transmittal

This information is tied directly to WBS elements and sub-products required for the project. The communication matrix includes all the information needed to manage project communication.

Keep in mind the following guidelines:

Prepare a clear path

To keep messages flowing freely, you need to ensure that the channels you use for communication are ready at the beginning of the project. Here are a few preparations that can help smooth the way.

Set up your tools

• Set up e-mail and phone distribution lists for groups inside and outside the team.
• Create a central network location for storage of all project information.
• Create templates for presentations, status reports, meeting minutes, and other important documents. Make sure that these follow organization-wide standards.
• Schedule conference rooms, projectors and conference calls in advance.
• Provide the team with access to the right tools, such as the following:
  • A shared project calendar
  • Collaboration software
  • Access to intranet web sites
  • Access to project databases

Set up standard procedures

• Contact third parties early to set up procedures for communicating with your project team.
• Create an approval chain for announcements that go outside the project team.
• Advise team members to organize all project-related e-mail messages so that they are easy to locate and refer to throughout the project. Team members can either file messages in electronic folders or print hard copies and keep them in a binder.

4      Who produces the product

4      Who receives the product

4      The method of product transmittal

This information is tied directly to WBS elements and sub-products required for the project. The communication matrixanalysis — includes internal stakeholders (name and contact information) identified by RBS number and function, and external stakeholders (name and contact information) identified by agency or organization. The stakeholders analysis is designed to help the PDT analyze internal and external stakeholder needs by gathering the following information from each stakeholder:

§      Goals for the project. What is each stakeholder’s desired outcome for the project? If stakeholders have contradictory goals, the assigned team member brings this to the attention of the project manager. The project manager should ensure at the start that there is a consistent vision for the project. Early misunderstandings can escalate into major conflicts later in the project.

§      Preferred methods of communication. Project team members will use this information as a means to meet individual communication needs. If the team cannot reasonably communicate through each stakeholder’s preferred medium, the team needs to negotiate a method to ensure that each stakeholder receives and understands the project communication.

§      Preferred method for rewarding the team, within the constraints of what is achievable. The PDT uses this information to plan appropriate celebrations at the completion of each project component. For a list of possible rewards, see “Decide How to Reward the Team” on page 19.

For a stakeholders analysis template, see “Appendix A: Stakeholders Analysis” on page 34. For a sample stakeholders analysis, see “Appendix C: Sample Communication Plan” on page 36.

4      Communication matrix — this tool is used to track project performance by project component and WBS element. The WBS product list is the input. It includes the WBS codes, WBS titles, sub-products, and Uniform Filing System location numbers. The list also indicates which sub-products should be filed in the project history file (PHF). To complete the communication matrix, the PDT indicates if the sub-product is required, who produces it, who receives it, the method of transmittal, and the date submitted. For a communication matrix template, see “Appendix B: Communication Matrix” on page 35. For a sample communication matrix, see “Appendix C: Sample Communication Plan” on page 36.

4      Conflict management strategy — designed to make issues between project stakeholders more manageable.  For more information, see “Develop a Conflict Management Strategy” on page 19.

Templates for the stakeholders analysis and the communication matrix are available on the Internet at: http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/projmgmt/guidance.htm

The project manager assigns a team member to complete the draft project communication plan for each appropriate project component:

4      Project Initiation Document (PID)

4      Permits and Environmental Studies

4      Plans, Specifications, and Estimates (PS&E)

4      Right of Way

4      Construction

Determine the Effort Required

Determine how much effort is required for each of the communication ideas surfaced previously. Some of the activities might be relatively easy to perform. Others will require more effort. If the communication is ongoing, estimate the effort over a one-month period. For instance, a status reports might only take one hour to create, but might be needed twice a month. The total effort would be two hours.

Prepare for the unexpected

Consider setting up a project hotline that team members can call when instant communication is required, such as during local weather emergencies or critical project times.

Often during the life of your project you might deliver a message that requires immediate feedback. Yet the recipient might be unavailable. Ask stakeholders to name substitutes who you can contact during vacations, off-site meetings, project/programme purpose trips, or unplanned absences.

Be flexible

As the project moves forward, your communication requirements might change. For example, you may find that some stakeholders need more (or less) information or that some meetings can take place less frequently. Keep your plan flexible enough that you can make changes as required.

You'll also need to prepare for unplanned communications that may arise during a project emergency. Plan the best approach to such messages. For example, sometimes an urgent e-mail message to a busy executive might go unread for several days, so a phone call or meeting might be more effective.

Keep the quality bar high

Maintain a consistent level of quality when communicating with sponsors, steering committee members, and other stakeholders. Every project team has people with different levels of written and oral communication skills. As project manager, you need to review and approve all status reports, presentations, and other formal communications before they are delivered.

Share the load

Project communications can provide the chance for staff at all levels to improve their skills. Challenge team members by having them draft some of your presentations, memos, or status reports.

This lightens your load, helps them to improve their skills, and gives them visibility to senior staff. It's also a great way to build people's confidence and enhance team morale.

Monitor public communications

Occasionally you might enlist third parties, such as public relations organizations or other media organizations, to help with external messages.

Including these third parties during project review meetings can help avoid sending inaccurate messages to the public. Have someone internal to the project review and approve all public communications. This minimizes the number of errors — or worse, the need for a correction.

Bring it all together

Clear and accurate communications are a vital part of any successful project. As a project manager, you spend a lot of effort creating and delivering messages to people at all levels of your organization.

• Planning ahead can keep you organized so that tools for communication are ready when you need them.
• Choosing the right method to get each message across gives all of your words more impact.
• Reviewing all important communications can prevent misunderstandings and mishaps.
• Delegating a share of the project communications improves the skills and confidence of team members.

These practices lay the groundwork for an effective, informed project team and for satisfied beneficiaries.

Timing  There is a limited amount of space on page one of any newspaper, and only so many minutes available for any radio or TV newscast. Reporters and editors have to rank every story against every other story going on that day. As a result, there are days that one story will be on page one. That same story on another date would be lucky to get into the paper at all because other, more important news was happening. It’s all a matter of timing. Getting the timing right requires you to understand what else is happening in your organization, your field, the stock market, the government, the news, and the economy in general, and how your release and other events could react together.

Keep Repeating Your Message   If you are sending a message, you usually have to keep repeating yourself in order to be heard above all the other competing messages, and to make sure the message registers with its target audience and that they can remember it. We live in a media-intense world in which messages are constantly being sent. We are bombarded with them. Messages, especially the important ones, have to be repeated. You have to keep the message fresh and interesting, however, if you expect people to keep listening.

Effective Writing   Effective writing requires some of the same skills as public speaking, which we will look at later in the course. The main difference is in the final form in which you present the words—written or spoken. Remember this. You cannot write something and make it clear and easy for your readers, or listeners, to follow unless you understand it yourself and have worked out what you want to say—and how you want to say it. As Albert Einstein put it: “You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.”

Effective Public Speaking  A speech is an essay, just like those you wrote in school, but it is an essay designed to be spoken, not read. If you’re the one giving the speech, then you are really an actor performing it—the star of the show. This section will not only show you how to plan, organize, and deliver a speech, but will also include some tips to help you deal with any stage fright or nervousness you might have.

General vs. Specific Information Some information, or knowledge, has a price tag; it is a product. This is the basis for all movies, television, music, books, magazines, and newspapers. This is why we have “media empires.” It follows logically, then, that some information is proprietary; someone owns it. Some is private; nobody else’s project/programme purpose. Some is available to certain people at certain times under certain conditions. Finally, some is available to anyone and all who might be interested, at any time, and for any reason.

What Do You Want to Say?   Whatever message you send out should be clear, and easy to understand. Your message has to be both clear to you and to the person receiving it. That means it has to be well written.

What Does It Really Mean?  One of the goals of any communication strategy is to make sure that all the messages that are released are structured in such a way as to reduce, the possibility of misinterpretation. The key to avoiding misinterpretation is to make sure that the meaning is obvious.

How Will You Say It? In this section we will focus on how to get the message out once you have created it. There are many ways to reach the general news media and, through them, the public. They range from news releases and news conferences to full-scale media campaigns that can include advertising, marketing, direct mail, public relations, speaking tours, videos, DVDs, and CD-ROMs.

Who Will Do the Talking? Who speaks for your organization? Some use their CEOs. Some hire actors or other celebrities to be their spokespeople. Some, like Michelin, even use an animated character. Another way to give a organization a consistent voice is to make sure that everyone who speaks for the organization keeps actions and comments in line with the approved communication strategy.

Annual Reports and other Financial Documents

Information Overload