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Project Communications
Management
Information Technology Project Management,
Fourth Edition

2Information Technology Project Management, Fourth
Learning Objectives
? Understand the importance of good communications
in projects.
? Explain the elements of project communications
planning, including how to create a communications
management plan and perform a stakeholder
communications analysis.
? Describe various methods for distributing project
information and the advantages and disadvantages
of each, discuss the importance of addressing
individual communication needs, and calculate the
number of communications channels in a project.

Importance of Good
Communications
? The greatest threat to many projects is a failure to
communicate.
? Our culture does not portray IT professionals as being
good communicators.
? Research shows that IT professionals must be able to
communicate effectively to succeed in their positions.
? Strong verbal skills are a key factor in career
advancement for IT professionals.

Project Communications
Management Processes
? Communications planning: Determining the information
and communications needs of the stakeholders.
? Information distribution: Making needed information
available to project stakeholders in a timely manner.
? Performance reporting: Collecting and disseminating
performance information, including status reports, progress
measurement, and forecasting.
? Managing stakeholders: Managing communications to
satisfy the needs and expectations of project stakeholders
and to resolve issues.

Communications Planning
? Every project should include some type of
communications management plan, a document that
guides project communications.
? Creating a stakeholder analysis for project
communications also aids in communications planning.

Communications Management
Plan Contents
? Stakeholder communications requirements.
? Information to be communicated, including format,
content, and level of detail.
? The people who will receive the information and who
will produce it.
? Suggested methods or technologies for conveying the
information.

Communications Management
Plan Contents (cont��d)
? Frequency of communication.
? Escalation procedures for resolving issues.
? Revision procedures for updating the communications
management plan.
? A glossary of common terminology.

Table 10-1. Sample Stakeholder Analysis
for Project Communications

Information Distribution
? Getting the right information to the right people at
the right time and in a useful format is just as
important as developing the information in the first
place.
? Important considerations include:
? Using technology to enhance information distribution.
? Formal and informal methods for distributing
information.

Distributing Information in an
Effective and Timely Manner
? Don��t bury crucial information.
? Don��t be afraid to report bad information.
? Oral communication via meetings and informal talks
helps bring important information��good and bad��out
into the open.

Importance of Face-to-Face
Communication
? Research says that in a face-to-face interaction:
? 58 percent of communication is through body language.
? 35 percent of communication is through how the words
are said.
? 7 percent of communication is through the content or
words that are spoken.
? Pay attention to more than just the actual words
someone is saying.
? A person��s tone of voice and body language say a lot
about how he or she really feels.

Encouraging More Face-to-Face
Interactions
? Short, frequent meetings are often very effective in IT
projects.
? Stand-up meetings force people to focus on what they
really need to communicate.
? Some companies have policies preventing the use of e-
mail between certain hours or even entire days of the
week.

Table 10-2. Media Choice Table

Understanding Group and Individual
Communication Needs
? People are not interchangeable parts.
? As illustrated in Brooks�� book The Mythical Man-
Month, you cannot assume that a task originally
scheduled to take two months of one person��s time can
be done in one month by two people.
? Nine women cannot produce a baby in one month!

Personal Preferences Affect
Communication Needs
? Introverts like more private communications, while
extroverts like to discuss things in public.
? Intuitive people like to understand the big picture,
while sensing people need step-by-step details.
? Thinkers want to know the logic behind decisions,
while feeling people want to know how something
affects them personally.
? Judging people are driven to meet deadlines while
perceiving people need more help in developing and
following plans.

Other Communication
Considerations
? Rarely does the receiver interpret a message exactly as
the sender intended.
? Geographic location and cultural background affect the
complexity of project communications.
? Different working hours
? Language barriers
? Different cultural norms

Setting the Stage for Communicating
Bad News
Dear Mom and Dad, or should I say Grandma & Grandpa,
Yes, I am pregnant. No, I��m not married yet since Larry, my boyfriend, is out of a
job. Larry��s employers just don��t seem to appreciate the skills he has learned
since he quit high school. Larry looks much younger than you, Dad, even though
he is three years older. I��m quitting college and getting a job so we can get an
apartment before the baby is born. I found a beautiful apartment above a 24-hour
auto repair garage with good insulation so the exhaust fumes and noise won��t
bother us.
I��m very happy. I thought you would be too.
Love, Ashley
P.S. There is no Larry. I��m not pregnant. I��m not getting married. I��m not quitting
school, but I am getting a ��D�� in Chemistry. I just wanted you to have some
perspective.

Determining the Number of
Communications Channels
? As the number of people involved increases, the
complexity of communications increases because there
are more communications channels or pathways
through which people can communicate.
? Number of communications channels = n(n-1)
2
where n is the number of people involved.

Figure 10-1. The Impact of the Number
of People on Communications Channels

Performance Reporting
? Performance reporting keeps stakeholders informed
about how resources are being used to achieve project
objectives.
? Status reports describe where the project stands at a
specific point in time.
? Progress reports describe what the project team has
accomplished during a certain period of time.
? Forecasts predict future project status and progress
based on past information and trends.

Managing Stakeholders
? Project managers must understand and work with
various stakeholders.
? Need to devise a way to identify and resolve issues.
? Two important tools include:
? Expectations management matrix
? Issue log

Table 10-3. Expectations
Management Matrix

Table 10-4. Issue Log

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