Christopher Thurman

Communication in projects is very important. Not only communicating with the project team, but the people responsible for funding the project and the people that the project is created for. It is always known, that no matter how big the project team is there must be communication with them, either verbal or written. It could be required in most cases to have both no matter if the people you are working with the project on are on site or off site. However, there is one group of people that a project manager must communicate with during all steps of the project; these groups are the project sponsor, project stakeholders and the key customers of the project.

Stakeholders are the people who are important on the project. They are the party who can be affected or affects the project. It would be the people who without it the project would cease to exist. Also you must look at who will be greatly impacted by the project, if the project when well whose job would be the easiest. Likewise, if the project did not go well, who or whom would have a very hard time in their jobs.  Once the stakeholders are identified, then the person who is behind the project can be revealed, the project sponsor.

The project sponsor is the person who gives the team the project. They are the people who sees that there needs to be a change and have the authority to make the change happen.  Most often, the sponsors are from the business – leaders who want to change the way the business operates. The project sponsors already know what the project is that they want. They just have some trouble getting the complete concept together. There is also a feeling with the sponsor that how this problem would be addressed and to what extend it would be completed.

The last group of people that needs to be identified with the stakeholders and the sponsor is the key customers. This group of people is those who needs and requirements drive the project. They are the group that receives the final output that the project produces. The customers need to be included with communication. Since, they are the group of that the project is made for.

Since, this is a larger project the communication structure can be complex. Everyone that is involved in the project needs to communicate to one another so that they can be on the same page. For this reason a communication plan must be created. This plan will outline the items in which need to be talked about with each group of the project as well as the people who have stake in the project, to make sure that their needs are being meet.

There are three different types of information that can be given to each person/group for the project. The different types of communication are mandatory, informational and marketing. Mandatory information is the information that is required. It is meetings of status updates and it is just a where the project stands and what is left along with how the rest of the project is being covered. The project financial reports should also be discussed. The project manager will be the person who already has all this information and will make it readily available during the meeting to those who are participating. The informational meeting will have the different department telling the project team what they want in the project. It should start by the project manager describing the project to both departments. From there it will be a lot of taking notes about what should be included. Following the first couple of weeks, it should be known and the meetings will need up ended once all the functionality that was mentioned is being added to the software. The marketing meeting will be done by the project manager. Everyone will be involved with the software. During the meeting the project manager will first go over the release date of the project. Then the new software will be discussed on the differences of the new compared with the old.

The plan was created to make sure that everyone stays up to date on what the project is. The status report meeting is monthly because the project changes from month to month, it can change every day or every week. The reason for it being monthly is because every time there is a change to the project or something happens within the project people do not need to be notified all the time. Having the meetings monthly insures that everyone stays communicated and if anything happens that is an emergency there can be an emergency meeting called. The informational meetings need to happen more often because they are working directly with the project team. There need to be an always open line of communication when it comes to adding features and taking away features. Lastly, the marketing meeting happens, when the project is almost done. This is just to create anticipation for the project as well as telling people what is going to be different with this project from the other projects.

Not only is communication important on all projects, but proactive communication is important. The project manager needs to make sure that all the team members, key customers, customers, and stakeholders have all the necessary information to do their jobs. It is the vital way to manage the expectations of the project sponsor and who in the project is doing what and what needs to be done. The communication can be as simple as a talk, email or instant message. It can also be as complex as a report. Communication can go a long way toward ensuring project success.

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Project. Retrieved March 5, 2010. http://www.projectperfect.com.au/info_comms_plan.php