Plan Your Project Communications, Then Plan on Greater Project Success

By Jim Strebler
Senior Consultant

In the old days, IT techies would get an idea, retreat into a corner, develop something, and then bring it to the users. They were continually flabbergasted when the user world didn’t throw roses at them in gratitude. In fact, projects that were developed this way had exactly the opposite reception: the services weren’t used or weren’t used happily. Interestingly, the services the projects produced were usually needed—the problem was a lack of effective project communication. The techies working on the project had one idea of how the project results should work, and the users had another. With better communications between developer and user, the outcome can be dramatically different.

How can communications problems be avoided? An old project adage goes, “Plan your work and work your plan.” In this case, we’ll modify the adage to “Plan your communications and execute the plan.” Everyone who has managed a project has learned the value of developing a project plan. A typical plan lists project activities, who will do them, and when they’re scheduled for execution. To improve the chances for project success, add tasks that address what will be communicated and when.

The Project Management Institute (PMI) is an international organization whose sole purpose is to further good practices in project planning and management. According to PMI, communications planning is one of nine essential areas on which successful projects depend.

How do you go about planning project communications? There are four easy steps to follow: 1) identify whom you need to communicate with, 2) decide how you will communicate with them, 3) decide what to communicate about, and 4) determine how often you will do it. One tip is to work with all the people on the communications list as you develop your communications plan.

Deciding who needs to be communicated with involves compiling some people lists. Include the people who are sponsoring or approving the project (typically senior management), the people directly affected by the project (the primary users), and the people who will be working on or supplying information to the project. These three groups are often collectively referred to as the “primary stakeholders.”

The timing of communications with each of the stakeholder groups will depend on the stakeholders’ preferences. Some prefer to know exactly what is happening at all times, while others will only want periodic updates. Both timing and the method of communication—written reports, verbal updates, or a combination of the two—are decided by the users of the communicated information. Start with project sponsors and ask them what they would prefer. Put their answer into the project plan, then go on to the next group and do the same.

The frequency of communications should satisfy two needs—the users’ need to stay informed and make decisions and the project managers need to get all the answers and decisions required to successfully execute the project. As a general rule, the shorter the project, the more frequent the communications should be.

And the more complex the project, the more formal the communications should be. As you speak with stakeholders about communications, many will ask, “What communications plan would you recommend?” Be ready to suggest a starting point. One example of a communications plan would be biweekly meetings with verbal updates for the project sponsors and a monthly written progress report that will document progress, problems, decisions made, decisions needed, and overall project health.

Project sponsors and stakeholders hate to be surprised. It is the rare instance where “surprise,” after all, means that the project will be finished early, will do more than planned, or will come in under budget. With good communications, negative reactions to undesirable events can be minimized, and the chances for success greatly increased.

To summarize, communications are critical to project success. It is as simple as planning the communications and executing the plan. And, while building that plan, don’t go off in a corner, build it by yourself, and then expect roses when you bestow the plan on the stakeholders.