Communicate, communicate, communicate

There is no such thing as too much communication on a project. Yes, it’s time consuming, might not appear to produce immediate results, but trust me this is the big one.

Why

Many problems in project management can be laid at the door of poor communication. For whatever reason, many project managers want to keep this to a minimum. As discussed earlier in the book, in the absence of communication about the status or progress of a project, team members make assumptions. These may not be accurate, and once this occurs, members start taking action based on what they think is the status, not what is really going on. For all of these reasons, keeping everyone informed is the first stage to staying in control, if you don’t communicate there is no hope of having control, let alone maintaining it.

Surefire practice

1. Set yourself a schedule. The first step in good communications practice is to set a schedule for you as the project manager. Ensure that you communicate on as regular a basis as is needed for the project, and then start the process up.
2. Determine the best means to communicate with the team and stick to it. Early in any project it is important to select the best tools for communication between team members. As today many teams are spread around the world, it is very important to ensure they all have access to the systems you set up.
3. Put communication rules in place for when things change on the project schedule. Because communication is a two way street, it is very important to put rules in place for the team. Ensure that regular updates and changes are sent to all the team on a regular basis.

Excerpted from Michael J. Cunningham’s Finish What You Start

Tags: communication rules, good communications, poor communication, project management, project managers, project team members, time consuming