Project Communication and Documentation" write up what you learned from this chapter.

Summary

Project communication takes various forms.

Face-to-face or via some medium

Verbal or written

Internal or external correspondence

Body language and tone are important elements in verbal communication.

Failure to listen can cause a breakdown in communication.

The three most common types of project meetings are status review, problem-solving, and design review meetings.

Before any meeting, the purpose of the meeting and the people who need to participate should be determined, an agenda drawn up and distributed, materials prepared, and room arrangements made.

In preparing for the presentation, it is important to determine the purpose of the presentation, find out about the target audience, make an outline, develop notes and visual aids, make copies of handout materials, and practice.

Summary (continued)

Written progress reports and final reports are often required during a project.

At the start of the project, a document tracking system needs to be established regarding how changes to documents will be documented, approved, and communicated.

A project communication plan defines the generation and distribution of project documents among stakeholders throughout the project.

Communicating with stakeholders requires the project team to employ effective verbal and written communication, and in particular effective listening to achieve understanding

Collaborative communication tools allow all or some of the members of the project team, including subcontractors and the customer to communicate with each other.

Critical Success Factors

Effective and frequent personal communication is crucial to successful project management.

A high degree of face-to-face communication is important early in the project to foster team building, develop good working relationships, and establish mutual expectations.

Body language and customs reflective of cultural diversity must be considered in communications.

Be careful not to use remarks, words, or phrases that can be construed to be sexist, racist, prejudicial, or offensive.

The heart of communication is understandingnot only to be understood, but to understand. Half of making communication effective is listening. Failure to listen can cause a breakdown in communication.

Communication should be frequent, timely, clear, concise, honest, unambiguous, free of jargon, and not offensive.

Critical Success Factors

Achieving customer satisfaction requires ongoing communication with the customer to keep him or her informed and to determine whether expectations have changed. Regularly ask customers about their level of satisfaction with the progress of the project.

Keep the customer and project team informed of the project status and potential problems in a timely manner.

Project status meetings should be held on a regular basis. Have the team develop meeting guidelines at the project kickoff meeting at the beginning of the project so that everyone understands and is committed to what behavior is expected during project meetings.

Do not confuse busyness and activity with accomplishment when communicating project progress.

Reports must be written to address what is of interest to the readers, not what is of interest to the person writing the report.

Critical Success Factors

Make reports concise, readable, and understandable. Pay as much attention to format, organization, appearance, and readability as you do to the content.

At the start of the project, a document control system needs to be established that defines how changes to documents will be documented, approved, and communicated.

When documents are updated, they should immediately be distributed to all team members whose work will be affected.

At the beginning of the project, prepare a project communication plan to ensure that all stakeholders will receive the information and documents they need.

Regular and open communication, trust, respect, open-mindedness, and a positive win-win attitude are keys to successful stakeholder engagement.