Special News
What is Project Communication Management?
In todays highly competitive market, many companies often have multiple projects running simultaneously. Different types of projects require project leaders to stay updated in real-time, and successful projects depend heavily on daily communication between team members. Only through effective communication can project managers gather sufficient information, quickly identify potential issues, and better control all aspects of the project.Project Communication Management
Project communication management ensures that project-related information is generated, collected, distributed, and stored in a timely manner. It serves as a vital link between the necessary factors, people, ideas, and information.
Everyone involved in the project must be prepared to send and receive information in the "language" of the project and fully understand it. To scientifically organize, direct, coordinate, and control the implementation process of a project, effective communication is essential. Good communication is a key factor in project success.
Managing Project Communication with System Software
Poor communication can kill a project, while improving communication maximizes project success and minimizes risks. When project managers use modern project management systems to communicate effectively with stakeholders, their teams gain better communication skills.
The 8Manage PM project management system provides enterprises with communication workflows, ensuring that the right people send, receive, and understand the correct messages during the projects lifecycle. 8Manage PM covers the processes of communication planning, management, and monitoring, along with project reporting workflows.
Communication Planning
8Manage PM helps businesses outline how to manage communication across multiple projects by creating a communication management plan. When creating this plan, the system guides the following steps:
- Define Your Objectives: What is the purpose of your communication? Some communications aim to raise awareness, such as status reports. Others may require action, like asking sponsors for budget approval or requesting client approval for project testing.
- Identify Your Audience: Who are the stakeholders in this project? Make a detailed list of all relevant individuals, including team members, sponsors, clients, and other key parties who may influence or be impacted by the project’s success.
- Craft Your Message: What information needs to be communicated? This includes the scope, schedule, budget, objectives, risks, and deliverables.
- Choose Your Channels: How will the message be delivered? Will it be a formal report sent via email to all stakeholders or an informal verbal update during a team meeting?
- Set a Timeline: When will the information be communicated? Do stakeholders need weekly or monthly updates? Are there deadlines to meet? Be mindful of different time zones and team schedules when planning.
Your project communication management plan should be detailed, listing why messages are sent, to whom, what specific information will be shared, how it will be delivered, and when.
Managing Communication
In terms of managing communication, 8Manage PM offers enterprises the following automated workflows:
- Collecting and analyzing planned and delivered activities, deliverables, and milestones
- Creating reminders for upcoming or missed deadlines
- Transmitting or distributing communication messages to the appropriate stakeholders
- Storing communication reports, documents, and related files according to the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- Allowing retrieval of any stored communication records
Monitoring Communication
8Manage PM helps monitor communication throughout the entire project lifecycle. This includes ensuring:
- Communication messages are shared as scheduled
- Relevant stakeholders receive the messages
- The messages are understood
- Proper feedback is provided to the appropriate stakeholders
Final Thoughts
Throughout a project, consistent and effective communication is crucial to ensuring smooth progress and identifying potential issues early. Without clear communication, decision-making can be delayed or obstructed. Utilizing a project management system with communication management functions can break down barriers, streamline information sharing, and help project managers deliver projects more efficiently and effectively.