Project Communications Management

Formal and information communications

Informal verbal communications are equally effective ways to distribute information, but technical professionals tend to neglect more informal techniques.

Complexity of communications

There are more communications channels as more people are involved in projects

Use of technology

Using an internal project management information system, you can organize project documents, meeting minutes, customer requests, requests to change status, and make them available in an electronic format.

Status Reports

address where the project stands in terms of meeting scope, time, and cost goals

Administrative Closure

consists of verifying and documenting project results

Blake and Mouton

delineated five basic modes for handling conflicts

Progress Reports

describe what the project team has accomplished during a certain period of time

Status Reports

describe where the project stands at a specific point in time

Formal Acceptance

documentation that the project's sponsor or customer signs to show they have accepted the products of the project

Administrative Closure

formalizes sponsor or customer acceptance of the project's product

Status Review Meeting

good way to highlight information provided in important project documents, empower people to be accountable for their work, and have face‐to‐face discussions about important project issues

Project Archives

include a complete set of organized project records that provide an accurate history of the project

Performance reporting

involves collecting and disseminating performance information, including status reports, progress measurement, and forecasting

Communications planning

involves determining the information and communications needs of the stakeholders: who needs what information given, when will they need it, and how the information will be given to them

Administrative closure

involves generating, gathering, and disseminating information to formalize phase or project completion

Information distribution

involves making needed information available to project stakeholders in a timely manner

Project Forecasting

predicts future project status and progress based on past information and trends

Smoothing

project manager de‐emphasizes or avoids areas of differences and emphasizes areas of agreement

Confrontation

project managers directly face a conflict using a problem‐solving approach that allows affected parties to work through their disagreement

Forcing

project managers exert their viewpoint at the potential expense of another viewpoint

Withdrawal

project managers retreat or withdraw from an actual or potential disagreement

Compromise

project managers use a give‐and‐take approach to resolving conflicts

Lessons Learned

reflective statements written by project managers and their team members

Communications Infrastructure

set of tools, techniques, and principles that provides a foundation for the effective transfer of information among people

Status Review Meeting

sometimes become battlegrounds where conflicts between different parties come to a head

Status Review Meeting

used by many program and project managers to exchange important project information and motivate people to make progress on their parts of the project