COURSE: Project Planning, Execution and Control:PJM610

An effective communication strategy is essential to achieving effective project integration management. Any time the goal is to integrate numerous concurrently operating activities, the role of communication becomes central. This is because independently operating activities all come with their own unique obstacles and challenges. Some of the obstacles and challenges are interrelated, and they may depend on what is happening at another level of the project. Without an effective communication strategy, team members seeking to overcome these obstacles and challenges may engage in activities that are not cost- or time-effective.

Consider your own organization: How do project status, issues, and accomplishment information get shared? What types of information are shared through documents? Through meetings? Through informal communications? How has e-mail affected the efficiency and effectiveness of project communications? How has social networking affected the efficiency and effectiveness of project communications? The answer to these questions will help guide you through the assignment questions below.

Using what you have learned so far, address the following:

• What role do stakeholder management processes play in the following:
  • Determining stakeholder communication need
  • Developing an effective communication strategy
• What tools do you find most helpful when communicating with your stakeholders? Please list at least 3, and explai why.
• How different is communication in Agile versus Waterfall environments? Explan why.