Chapter 30: Communications Management during Monitoring & Controlling the Project

Aim: To understand the Report Performance process

Communicating How Your Project Is Performing

Communicating with the project team and the outside world is one of the project manager’s primary jobs. As a communicator, the project manager must understand the mechanics involved in sending a message. There has to be an initiator, encoding of the message, sending of the message, and the receiver whom decodes the message, acknowledges the message, and, last but not least, confirms receipt of the message. It is important to maintain open communication with the stakeholders to provide timely and informative updates of the project’s progress. The report performance process addresses issues with communicating with the stakeholders.

The table below shows the inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs for the report performance process.

Report Performance
Inputs	Tools & Techniques	Outputs
Project management plan Work performance information Work performance measurements Budget forecasts Organizational process assets	Variance analysis Forecasting methods Communication methods Reporting systems	Performance reports Organizational processes assets updates Change requests

In the normal exchange of information with the stakeholders, the project manager will use methods and techniques that help with formal and informal communication. Formal methods include items such as contracts, status reports, public speeches, and performance appraisals. Informal methods are those such as “The Scuttlebutt,” email, and telephone conversations.
One way to determine how complex communication will be in a project is to determine its communication channels by using the formula (n*(n–1))/2, where n represents the number of participants in a project. For example, a project with 10 participants will require 45 communication channels.

With this in mind, it is important to adjust the message and its delivery method based on the audience and the level of impact the project might have on the individuals with whom the project manager is communicating. For example, consider a board member versus the person doing the work. For the worker, getting information about revenue projections and return on investment might be of little or no consequence in her daily duties. However, providing figures on how many additional widgets can be made in an hour would definitely have an impact on her duties and equipment maintenance cycles.

In addition, the project manager must be cognitive that when delivering a message, nonverbal communication and physical appearance have a direct effect on the message been delivered. For example, the project manager delivers a message to a construction team. First, ensure that language and colloquialism used are appropriate to the group. Bear in mind, though, that the same approach might not work when giving a project update to the company senior team. It is important to ensure that the message and intentions are clearly understood by the audience who is the target of the message.

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Next: Chapter 31

Chapter 17: Communications Management

Aim: To understand the “Plan Communications” process.

Projects require the coordinated efforts of multiple team members in order to be a success. The success of the project is directly dependent on the quality of communication between team members. The communication plan addresses the necessary elements of team communication and leaves little room for assumptions. This plan is important to set the expectations of how the project team should communicate in an effective and timely manner. It also sets the expectations of the stakeholders and makes their need for information a part of the overall project plan. Most communication issues start with a lack of clear directives as to how and when to communicate.

More importantly, most people are reluctant to initiate unsolicited communication. The communication plan is crucial to good project team interaction. The plan actually tells team members what is expected of them throughout the project.

The table below shows the inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs for the plan communications process.

Plan Communications
Inputs	Tools & Techniques	Outputs
Stakeholder register Stakeholder management strategy Enterprise environmental factors Organizational process assets	Communication requirements analysis Communication technology Communication models Communication methods	Communications management plan Project document updates

Exam Watch:
The plan communications process addresses the information and communications needs of the stakeholders by determining the stakeholder information needs and defining an approach to meeting these needs. It deals with identifying who needs what information and how to supply that information to them. Without a proper communications plan, the chances of the project being a success are pretty slim.

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Next: Chapter 18

Points to Remember: Introduction to Projects & Project Management

Introduction to Projects & Project Management

1. Knowledge, performance, and personal skills are the three areas that project managers focus on to get better at their jobs.
2. When you’re talking about things like the people in your organization, the market you compete in, your company’s risk tolerance, and standards that your company needs to meet (like government-imposed standards for any contractor bidding on a government project), you’re talking about Enterprise Environmental Factors.
3. A program is a collection of projects that should be managed together in order to achieve a specific goal or benefit to the company.
4. A portfolio is a collection of projects or programs.
5. A project gathers a team together to do work that’s temporary, creates a unique result, and is progressively elaborated.
6. An operation (or process) is work that’s done in a way that’s repeatable and ongoing, but is not a project.

Organizational Structure

1. Functional managers have all the power in a functional organization. Project managers have the power in a projectized organization.
2. If a question on the exam doesn’t state an organization type, assume it’s referring to a matrix organization. That means the PM is responsible for making budgets, assigning tasks to resources, and resolving conflicts.
3. Project coordinators and expediters don’t exist in a projectized organization.
4. A project expediter keeps track of project status only.
5. A project coordinator has some authority, and usually reports to someone higher up in the company. Neither role has as much power or authority as a real project manager, even though an expediter or coordinator may have “Project Manager” written on their business cards.

Project Management Knowledge Areas

There are a total of 9 Knowledge Areas as per the PMBOK Guide. They are:

Integration Management: Coordinating all of the work so that it happens correctly. Making sure changes are approved before they happen.
Scope Management: Figuring out what work needs to be done for your project. Making sure your end product has everything you said it would.
Time Management: Figuring out the time it will take to do your work and the order you need to do it in. Tracking your schedule and making sure everything gets done on time.
Quality Management: Making sure you work as efficiently as you can and don’t add defects into the product.
Cost Management: Knowing how much you’re able to invest in the project and making sure you spend it right.
Human Resource Management: Getting the people to work on the team and helping them stay motivated. Rewarding them for a job well done and resolving conflicts that come up
Communications Management: Making sure that everybody knows what they need to know to do their job right. Tracking how people talk to each other and dealing with misunderstandings or miscommunications if they happen.
Procurement Management: Finding contractors to help you do the work. Setting the ground rules for their relationships with your company.
Risk Management: Figuring out how to protect your project from anything that could happen to it. Dealing with the unexpected when it does happen.

Points to Remember - Other Topics:

Relationship Between Knowledge Areas & Process Groups
Project Integration Management
Project Scope Management
Project Time Management
Project Cost Management
Project Quality Management
Human Resource Management
Project Communication Management
Project Risk Management
Project Procurement Management
Ethics & Professional Responsibility