Transcript 300PM00.6 - Barron Research Group

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Project Management Preparation for Success
* Manage Communication *
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The Importance of Communication
The ability to communicate heads the list of criteria for
success….. Peter Drucker
“A high percentage of the frictions, frustrations and
inefficiencies in our working relationships is traceable to poor
communication. In almost every case, the miscommunication
of a design drawing, a misunderstood change order, a missed
delivery date or the failure to execute instructions is the result
of a breakdown in communication.”
Richard W. Sievert, Jr., Project Management Journal
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Group Exercise
Review • List the ways project managers communicate status at
your company?
• Is anyone doing anything unique?
• Discuss for all organizations in each group.
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Manage Communication
• Proper communication is a critical success factor
• Deliver the right information to the right audiences
– Project team to project manager
– Project manager to stakeholders
• Minimum, report status on all projects
– Status Reports
– Status meetings
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Basic Status Reporting
Purpose
• Report on project progress against the workplan
• Report project management concerns
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Schedule
Budget
Issues
Scope change
Risks
• Manage expectations
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Basic Status Reporting
Synthesize
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Status
Report
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Basic Status Reporting
• Communicate with the target audience in mind (not
the sender)
• Doesn’t have to be on paper
• If you ask for information, use it
• Make use of exception reporting
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Basic Status Reporting
• Use standardized reports
• Synthesize and summarize as you go higher in the
organization
• Green / yellow / red status indicators
• Be clear on when communication is due
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Basic Status Reporting
• Make sure your reporting periods are realistic
– Short project – more frequent
– Long project – less frequent
• Be creative in how you share information
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Voicemail
Email
Paper
Web …
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Basic Status Reporting
Warning: Don’t depend on status reports alone to
keep your customer / manager fully informed,
especially if you are communicating bad news.
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Managing Expectations
In many (most?) cases where conflicts arise, it is
not because of the actual problem, but because
the customer / manager was surprised
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Manage Communication
How do you manage expectations effectively??
COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE,
COMMUNICATE
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Managing Expectations
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Must have a common agreement to begin with
Communicate proactively to manage changes
Periodically assess performance and expectations
Deliver against the expectations
Reset expectations if necessary (once if possible)
Complete the agreement
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Status Meeting
Meeting Fundamentals
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Create agenda
Ask for participant preparation
Invite only those people who are needed
Start on time (but allow for prior meetings)
Explain the purpose and expected outcome
Follow the agenda, and watch the time
Document action items
Recap action items, who is responsible and due date
Recap any decisions
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Basic Status Reporting
Major Deliverables
• Individual status report
– Team members to project manager
• Weekly / monthly project status report
– Project manager to stakeholders
– May have multiple formats for different audiences
• Status meetings
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Manage Communication
Q: How do you make sure you get the right
information about your project to the right
audiences, in the most effective manner?
Answer: PLANNING
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The Communication Plan
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Communication Plan
1. Determine the project stakeholders and their
communication needs
2. For each stakeholder, brainstorm how to fulfill the
communication need
3. Prioritize the communication options
4. Implement any communications that are mandatory
5. Implement high value communication options
6. Add the resulting activities to the workplan
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Communication Plan
High Impact
Focus here
first
Low Impact
High Effort
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Low Effort
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Communication Plan
• Compliance
– Reporting, required data, status, “push”
• Information
– Education, “how to”, “pull”
• Marketing
– Sell, keep sold, “push”
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Communication Plan
Compliance examples
• Project Status Reports
• Regular voicemail updates (of status)
• Status meetings
• Meetings with Steering Committee
• Regular conference calls and videoconferences with remote
stakeholders
• Government required reports and other information
• Financial reporting such as budget status, headcount, run rate etc.
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Communication Plan
Information examples
• Awareness building sessions (not training, build
awareness.)
• Project deliverables placed in a common repository,
directory or library that people can access
• Project information on a website
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Communication Plan
Marketing examples
• Project newsletters, with positive marketing spin
• Contests with simple prizes to build excitement
• Project acronyms and slogans to portray positive images
• Project countdown till live date
• Celebrations to bring visibility to the completion of
major milestones
• Project memorabilia - pins, pencils, cups, T-shirts, etc.
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Branding a Project
• More sophisticated form of marketing
communication
• Establish an identity that conjures up a positive
image and goodwill.
• Associate an image and a feeling when a person
hears of your project
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Branding a Project
• Proactively build your image, rather than have
one branded on you
• Examples include:
– Establish a positive project name / acronym
– Establish an image / logo
– Trinkets, logo material - t-shirts, pencils, cups, etc.
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Advanced Communications
Major Deliverable
• Communication Plan
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Case Study #9 – Manage Communication
Building a Communication Plan
• Review the class case study
• Determine the communication needs of the major
stakeholders
– Sponsor (both)
– Director
– Project team
– Vendor team
– USA Finance Managers
– USA users
– International managers
– Other
• Determine method and frequency of delivering the
communication and who will be responsible
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Manage the Project
 Manage workplan
 Manage issues
 Manage scope
 Manage communication
• Manage risk
• Manage documentation
• Manage quality
• Manage metrics
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Learning Objectives
By the end of class, each participant should be able to:
Understand the value of project management processes
Review the various aspects of defining a project
Build and maintain an appropriate project workplan
Identify and manage issues, scope and communication
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Identify and manage project risks
Determine methods to manage project documentation
Identify and manage to the appropriate level of quality
Identify metrics to improve processes and declare success
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Questions??
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