The importance of communication in project management

“Since I didn't hear otherwise, I ASSUMED all was going well”

Second on Rick Klemm's list of things most commonly overheard on a failing software project, this remark is characteristic of project managers who are not in frequent and efficient communication with their staff. Communication is key to successful project management and is one of the topics covered in a PRINCE2 course.

If project staff do not know what their tasks are, or how to accomplish them, then the entire project will grind to a halt. If you do not know what the project staff are (not) doing then you will be unable to monitor project progress. And if you are uncertain of what the customer expects of you, then the project will not even get off the ground.

Maintaining open, regular and accurate channels of communication with all levels of project staff and stakeholders is vital to ensuring the smooth flow of instructions from customer to factory floor and sufficient warning of risks and changes to enable early assessment and preparation.

• The information that you need to provide

As project manager, it is your job to keep a number of people well-informed. It is essential that your project staff know what is expected of them: what they have to do it, when they have to do it, and what budgetary/time constraints and quality specification they are working towards.

It is also your job to keep the project board informed of project progress. The project board usually includes the Executive (the person ultimately responsible for the project), and representatives from the customer and the supplier.

It is important that the project manager updates the project board regularly on the status of the project, so that any changes or risks can be assessed, project progress can be measured against the original plan, and a project that is not fulfilling its purpose or matching the value of its investment can be called to a halt.

• The information that you need to receive

In order to keep the relevant people informed, you must have regular and complete access to all information about the project: customer needs, objectives, plan, constraints, changes/risks and progress.

One way of dealing with this is to rely on your staff to provide you with the important information. The disadvantage of this method is that you and your project team might have differing interpretations of the word ‘important’. What you think is a vital indication of approaching disaster might appear to your project planner as a minor glitch in the system. What you consider to be a major alteration to the customer’s original specification might seem to the designer to be a simple modification.

To ensure that you receive the necessary information, it is a good idea to inform all project staff in advance of what information your require, how often, and in what format. For example, you might request a bullet point summary of all project risks on a weekly basis, with detailed descriptions of any changes to the status quo.

• How to manage this information

The PRINCE2^® project management methodology offers a variety of different templates intended to ease this information-gathering process. These templates are known as ‘management products’ (documents used to make management more efficient), and describe in detail the information that should be included in communication plans.

For example, a Project Quality Plan relies on information about quality expectations provided by the customer. The Quality Log is a record of quality checks performed by project staff. Both documents are necessary for effective management of product quality.

PRINCE2 recommends that project managers establish regular dates for Checkpoint Reports (detailing the progress of individual teams and team members) and Highlight Reports (documents prepared by the project manager, for the Project Board, describing overall project progress).

Using these templates has all the advantages of a ready-made system (tested ‘Best Practices’, teachable method*, shared expectations) but none of the disadvantages of a prescribed formula (you can choose how often you receive reports, who will write the reports and how much detail will be included). What PRINCE2 offers is not a detailed break-down of what you should do, but a framework within which you can design your own communication system.

Whatever system you choose for managing project communication, it is vital that you are clear, considered and consistent in your approach. Once others involved in the project know what to expect from you, and what you expect from them, the project cannot help but run more smoothly.

*If you need to study the PRINCE2 methodology, then please visit our PRINCE2 training course page.