Priority

Area

4

Small project team; no significant organizational boundries or cultural differences; previous working relationships.

3

Medium size project team; some organizational diversity; unfamiliar working contacts; geographical separations.

2

Large project team; diverse organizations and cultures; differing contractual relationships.

1

Very large project teams, numerous organizations and interfaces; diverse cultures; numerous geographic locations.

Communications Planning

Identify and exercise channels for internal and external communications; identify key players and plan contacts, messages, and information flow; make PM accessible and communicative.

Identify communications requirements, technologies, constraints and assumptions; draw communications flow diagram; use inclusive team structure to shorten communications paths.

Use stakeholder analysis to identify communications paths; plan for multiple communications media; plan to shorten vital information paths by new relationships, attitudes, or techniques.

Document plans for public relations, change management, working papers and deliverables, project advocacy, and internal project team communications.

Information Distribution

Identify key players and keep them informed; encourage and exercise information exchange within project team; identify information hand-off dependencies in advance.

Communicate availability of work results; prepare methods for communications storage and distribution; conduct regular meetings to identify critical issues.

Establish communications lists and interest areas; identify multiple media paths; solicit feedback on information adequacy; exploit technology to improve communications.

Identify information requirements of all parties; ensure communication channels in place; track required message delivery; establish distribution lists by subject area.

Program Reviews, Design Reviews, and Reporting

Conduct periodic reviews of progress with sponsor and stakeholders; conduct requirements reviews and walk-thrus early; communicate status and design thoughout project.

Conduct management and design reviews with key stakeholders; review plans, progress and changes; focus on early identification and management of risks.

Conduct periodic management and design reviews; emphasize early definition of requirements, validation of cost/schedule plans, verification of staffing and technology plans.

Schedule periodic cost, schedule, and issues reviews (frequently at first); plan for periodic reviews of design and at design milestones; facilitate reviews and working meetings in special interest areas.

Project Documentation and Records

Produce and package project working papers in project notebooks; plan early to produce complete beneficiary support documentation; document project lessons learned.

Use documentation to establish baseline and communications in the project team; design tasks with deliverables in mind; identify design data needed for support documentation; define document set needed at finish.

Define requirements for project library, deliverables, support documentation, and historical record; budget and staff a data management function.

Establish comprehensive definition of documentation requirements; distribute standard report formats; track data production and approvals; establish project data library structure.