George Pitagorsky published an article recently in ProjectTimes.com entitled Project Management | Putting the Power of Process Thinking into Action. In it, George encourages and promotes the concept of process in all the parts of our project management lives.
In this post, I want to highlight process in our communications.
It is often said that good communication within a project environment is one of the keys to success – some might say THE key to success. But so often, the communications piece falls to the side. It cannot and should not.
Here are my four steps to adding process in your communications
- Build Your Stakeholder Analysis
It is so critical at the very front end of our projects to identify all stakeholders. “Find your people” is a simpler way of saying, identify the key people in your project. The good and the bad. Find the people who can help you along the way. Connect with all these people at the front end of your project to introduce yourself and build a foundation for the healthy flow of information between you.
- Develop the Team Charter
I’ve written about the team charter many times. This is a tool that, though seldom used, can be extremely powerful at the front end of every project. This is a document that you create with the team to outline how we are going to work as a team, how we will communicate, who is who in the zoo, our personal strengths and weaknesses and how we will deal with issues and more.
- Document your Communications Plan
Part of the team charter can be spent developing your communication plan – defining who gets what, where, when and why.
- Review, Review, Review
All of this is wonderful at the front end, but useless if it is never reviewed. Part of your project schedule should include the review of each of these documents to be sure they are up to date and you are following the plan.
Put process in your communications.
