Communication Management | Project Management Fundamentals

All the world's a stage, and eachproject manager plays many parts.
But in order to play your part well,you need to make sure you know your audience.
You might not think of your projectas having an audience, but it does.
 

A typical project starts out with a flurry of communication.
The project manager talks with organizational managers.
The stakeholders talk with project managers.
 
 

There's an old joke about how we communicate.
A man was driving down a country road,when he rounded the corner, he saw a womandriving a red convertible.
She was talking on the phone,and zigzagging in and out of her lane.
 

A few years agoan Italian cargo ship called the Monte Christowas captured by pirates.
The crew was shuffled to the bottom of the shipand the pirates seized control.
The crew wrote the pirates location a small piece of paper stuffed it in a bottle.
 

At the end of the nineteenth century,the telephone was inventedand it changed the world.
Previously, people used a telegraphto transmit beeps that would create written letters.
The telegraph was limited to just one-way communication.
 

Have you ever been to the grocery storeat the end of a long day?As you push your cart through the aisle you can heara voice going through shopping specials.
It will sound something like,"Do you need tomato sauce?"If so, we have a special sale on all sauces"in aisle six, aisle six.
"After about five minutes the words start to disappear.
 
 

In your career you might findthat when you dress up in a suit and tie,people are more likely to listen to you.
Consultants know this,project managers know this,and politicians know this.
Formality matters.

Most of discussion around projectcommunication is about formal communication.
You can find plenty of books on improvingyour business writing or presentation skills,but the majority of communication onyour project will be informal communication.
Informal communication is by design less formal,so people are less inhibited.
 
 

When you're a project manageryou have a lot of peoplewho are interested in your project.
These people might be interestedin how the project affects them.
They'll be interested in someof the decisions you makeThen they'll be those whothink that the project affects them,but the project really doesn'thave anything to do with them.
 

As a project managerone phrase you won't often hear is,take your time.
Your stakeholders are not going to say,"I need an update on this schedule"and you can take your time.
"Instead you'll probably get a lot of "as soon as possible's"or ASAP's.
 

I once worked for a project where ourexecutive sponsor would come downand talk directly with the developers.
The executive came from a development background,so they figured they could speak the same language.
The developers knew that the executive was a manager, so they spoke back to them using project management terms.
 

As a project manager it's inevitable.
At some point a stakeholderis going to ask you a tough question.
It might be a botched timelineor a question about the quality of the deliverable.
 
 

When I was a project manager,I worked for a large telecommunications firm.
The new program manager invited all the projectmanagers into a room and told us a great story.
He told us the story of how General Washington crossed the Delaware, when he arrived with his armyon the other side, they burned all the boats.
 

The governor of New York changed the name ofhis meeting to summits.
You can't blame him.
The recent meeting he had with the dairy farmersin the state was called the yogurt summit.
 
 

I once worked for an organization that spent hours in meetings.
One day I was in a meeting where the presenter immediately started on their slides.
Everyone took out their notebooks and started checking their e-mail.
 

The famous author Steven King wrote2000 words or 4 and a half pages every day.
He could finish a novel in 3 months.
You won't need that level of skill, but the first step to writing clearly is getting words on the page.
 

Simple sketches are a powerful toolto communicate complex ideas.
If you've ever been in a countrywhere you don't speak the language,then you know the clarity of a good sketch.
If you've ever assembled a baby product, you also know thateven complex ideas are communicated with a simple sketch.
 
 

Every day, we're bombarded by brands.
"This body spray will make you irresistible!""This drink will give you more energy!"We attach these qualities because of careful marketing.
But marketing isn't just for body spray and cans of soda.
 

I once worked on a project where thestakeholder insisted on a deadline that was unrealistic.
The group was eager to draw new business,so there was a lot of pressureto just follow the stakeholder.
The stakeholder threatened to pull the entire teambut if we said yes, we'd be saddled to a doomed project.
 

Sometimes, you'll finish your supervisor's sentences.
You'll work in lockstep.
They'll ask for a report that you already sent.
 

There's an old Peter Sellers jokewhere he walks up to a man sitting in a coffee shop.
Next to him there's a dog,so Peter asks the man,"Does your dog bite?"The man glances up from his coffee and says, "No.
"When Sellers pets the dog,it growls and tears off his sleeve.
 
 

I once worked for an organization thathad a very traditional management structure.
They knew that the traditional structurewas getting in the way of attractingyounger software developers.
So they created a small group withinthe larger organization that wasdesigned to run like a technology start up.