2. Create a Project Communication Plan

A big part of your job is communication management. You'll need a project communication plan for reporting to stakeholders and getting status from team members.

efore you begin working on the project, you should know how you'll keep each of the stakeholders informed of progress. You should know what, when and how you will communicate.  You'll need to define how you will communicate to each member of your team.

Project management is the ultimate exercise in delegation. But project communication management is one task that you should not delegate. In fact, you should reserve most of the communication activity for yourself. Team members who may be unskilled in communication can often present information in ways that can be exaggerated or misinterpreted

Some Project managers delegate this responsibility to someone on the team, and in some cases distribute the responsibility to all team members. The result is often a situation in which the project team members are communicating directly with the stake holders and, in many cases, leaving the project manager out of the loop.

One way you can make sure the project is successful is to influence and manage the stakeholder expectations. If you avoid or neglect this part of the job, your stakeholders may form expectations that aren't realistic. You have to keep them on track and make sure their expectations are in line with what is actually happening.

Your project communication plan should include the names and contact information for each of the stakeholders, team members, and outside resources involved in the project. It should include a list of the types of information that will be communicated and a schedule of all planned meetings, reviews and communications. Additionally, you would want to describe the circumstances under which you would hold impromptu meetings or distribute ad hoc communications.

Project Communication Plan

You may want to include a communication matrix as part of your plan. This document lists the communication receivers down the left side, with the communication elements across the top along with the sender and the communication frequency. At the intersection of the two you identify the preferred method of sending -- hardcopy, email, phone or meeting. This document can then be sent to all the receivers to help set their expectations of how and when various communication events will take place.

Next in the series:  Define the Project Scope

- Jake Alexander