Pmbok Chapter 10 - Project Communication Management

Front 1

What is Project Communications Management?

Back 1

- Includes the processes required to ensure timely and appropriate generation, collection, distribution, storage, retrieval and ultimate disposition of project information.
- Project managers report that they spend 90% of their time communicating, which is not surprising since they are achieving results through the effort of others
- Communication is the glue that connects the project stakeholders

Front 2

Describe the process 10.1 Identify Stakeholders.

Back 2

- This is the process of identifying all people or organizations impacted by the project, and documenting relevant information regarding their interests, involvement, and impact on project success.
- Remember that stakeholders can have either a positive or negative influence on a project; both are important to identify.

Front 3

Why should you identify stakeholders early?

Back 3

- It is critical to identify stakeholders as early as possible in the project, because each stakeholder is a potential source of project requirements
- Failure to identify a stakeholder may well lead to so-called "scope creep" that in this case is really a failure to properly identify all requirements in the beginning
- We also need a strategy for dealing with each stakeholder

Front 4

What are the INPUTS of the process - Identify Stakeholders?

Back 4

1. Project charter, which as an initial list of stakeholders
2. Procurement documents, which indicate parties to a contract that become stakeholders
3. Enterprise environmental factors, including organizational culture and structure, and any relevant governmental or industry standards
4. Organizational process assets, including stakeholder register templates, and historical information, including lessons learned.

Front 5

What are the TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES of the process - Identify Stakeholders?

Back 5

1. Stakeholder analysis
2. Expert judgement

Front 6

What are the OUTPUTS of the process - Identify Stakeholders?

Back 6

1. Stakeholder register
2. Stakeholder management strategy

Front 7

Describe Stakeholder Analysis.

Back 7

- Identify all potential stakeholders and relevant information about them, such as their roles, departments, interests, knowledge levels, expectations, and influence levels. Key stakeholders are those in decision making or management roles. Also identify other stakeholders during interviews with stakeholders.
- Identify the potential project impact or support the stakeholder could provide, classifying them to help define an approach strategy. Prioritize them.
- Assess how kep stakeholders are going to react or respond to various project situations and issues, to plan how to influence them to enhance their support and mitigate their negative impact.

Front 8

Describe Stakeholder Impact Analysis

Back 8

Classification models include power/interest grid, power/influence grid, influence/impact grid. Below is an example power/interest grid, with power on the Y-axis and interest on the X-axis. Each stakeholder is position within a quadrant.

Keep Satisfied | Manage Closely
---------------------------------------------------------------
Monitor (min effort) | Keep Informed

A salience model describes classes of stakeholders based on their power, urgency, and legitimacy, driving the strategy for dealing with the stakeholder.

Front 9

Describe the Stakeholder Register

Back 9

The Stakeholder Register contains all the details related to identified stakeholders, including:
- Identification, such as name, position, role, contact information
- Assessment, such as major requirements, main expectations, potential influence on the project and in what phase
- Classification, such as internal or external, attitude toward project (support, neutral, resister)

Front 10

Describe the Stakeholder Management Strategy

Back 10

The Stakeholder management strategy is the approach to be used to increase support and minimize resistance, including:
- Who can significantly impact the project
- Desired level of participation in the project
- Stakeholder groups, and their management, as groups

A common format for this output is a matrix or spreadsheet outlining the stakeholder, his interest, assessment of impact, and potential strategies

Front 11

Describe the process 10.2 Plan Communications

Back 11

- Determining the information needs and communication approach of the stakeholders (Who needs what information, When they will need it, How it will be given to them, and by whom)
- Identifying the informational needs of stakeholders and determining a suitable means of meeting those needs is an important factor for project success
- Tightly linked with enterprise environmental factors and organizational influences such as project's organizational structure will have a major effect on project communication requirements.

Front 12

What are the INPUTS of the process - Plan Communications?

Back 12

1. Stakeholder register, output of Identify Stakeholders process
2. Stakeholder management strategy, output of Identify stakeholders process
3. Enterprise environmental factors (all of them)
4. Organizational process assets, especially historical information and lessons learned.

Front 13

What are the TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES of the process - Plan Communications?

Back 13

1. Communications requirements analysis
2. Communications technology
3. Communication models
4. Communication methods

Front 14

What are the OUTPUTS of the process - Plan Communications?

Back 14

1. Communications management plan
2. Project document updates, including the project schedule, stakeholder register, and stakeholder management strategy

Front 15

Describe Communications Requirements Analysis

Back 15

Information needs of stakeholders are analyzed, including type, format and timing needs.
- Take care to avoid wasting resources on unnecessary information or inappropriate technology
- Remember to consider the number of communications channels n*(n-1)/2 to limit who will communicate with whom

Front 16

Describe Communications Technology

Back 16

Analysis to consider methods and technologies suited to the project. Factors to consider:
- Urgency of need for information
- Availability of technology
- Expected project staffing
- Duration of the project
- Project environment

Front 17

Describe Communication Methods

Back 17

- Interactive communication, includes meetings, phone calls, video conferencing
- Push communication, when we send information to specific recipients. Includes letters, memos, reports, emails, faxes, voice mails, press releases. Without a confirming return, we cannot know this communication reached its target.
- Pull communication, when the stakeholder actually has to act to retrieve communication. Includes internet sites, knowledge repositories.

Front 18

Describe the Communication Plan

Back 18

The Communications Plan, contained in, or a subsidiary of, the project management plan. Contains:
- Stakeholder communication requirements
- Language, format, content, and level of detail
- Reason for distributing the information
- Timing and frequency of distribution
- Responsibility for authorizing and communicating
- Methods of conveying information
- Resources allocated for communications activities
- Issue escalation policies and procedures
- Update method for maintaining the plan
- Glossary of common terms
- Flowcharts of information flow
- Communication constraints

Front 19

Describe the process 10.3 Distribute Information

Back 19

The process of making information available to project stakeholders as planned. Includes implementing the Communications Management Plan, as well as responding to unexpected requests for information.

Spans a number of techniques, including sender-receiver models, choice of media, writing style, meeting management techniques, presentation techniques, and facilitation techniques.

Front 20

Why does sharing information mean sharing power?

Back 20

- Project personnel should communicate data honestly and thus share power.
- Sharing data gives project personnel potential power
- Senior executives and the project manager are responsible for establishing the conditions that encourage honest communication and shared power.

Front 21

What are the INPUTS of the process - Distribute Information?

Back 21

1. Project management plan, including communication management plan
2. Performance reports to distribute project performance and status information. This will include forecasts, perhaps from earned value management techniques
3. Organization process assets, including templates, historical information and lessons learned, and policies, procedures, and guidelines regarding information distribution

Front 22

What are the TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES of the process - Distribute Information?

Back 22

1. Communication methods, such as meetings, video and audio conferences, computer chats and so forth
2. Information distribution tools, including hard-copy documents, filing systems, press releases, shared access databases, electronic formats like e-mail, fax, voice mail, telephone, websites, and electronic tools for project management, such as web interfaces, virtual office, software portals, etc.

Front 23

What are the OUTPUTS of the process - Distribute Information?

Back 23

1. Organization process assets updates including:
- Lessons learned documentation
- Project records (includes correspondence, memos, and documents describing the project)
- Project reports (formal or informal reports on project status and/or issues)
- Project presentations (formal or informal presentations to project stakeholders customized based upon the needs of the audience)
- Feedback from stakeholders
- Stakeholder notifications

Front 24

Describe the process 10.4 Manage Stakeholder Expectations

Back 24

- The process of communicating and working with stakeholders to meet their needs and addressing issues as they occur
- Managing expectations can help to increase the probability of project success by making sure that stakeholders understand the project benefits, risks, and issues, thereby enabling them to be active project supporters
- Managing stakeholder expectations is a project manager responsibility

Front 25

What are the INPUTS of the process - Manage Stakeholder Expectations?

Back 25

1. Stakeholder register from Identify Stakeholders process
2. stakeholder management strategy, from Identify sTakeholders process
3. Project management plan, which contains the communications management plan
4. Issue log, which documents issues, assigns ownership, and sets a target data for closure
5. Change log, documenting changes that occur in the project
6. Organizational process assets, including issues management procedures

Front 26

What are the TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES of the process - Manage Stakeholder Expectations?

Back 26

1. Communication methods
2. Interpersonal skills, including building trust, resolving conflict, active listening, and overcoming resistance to change
3. Management skills, including presentation skills, negotiating, writing skills, and public speaking

Front 27

What are the OUTPUTS of the process - Manage Stakeholder Expectations?

Back 27

1. Organizational process updates, including causes of issues, reasons for corrective actions taken, lessons learned
2. Change requests, to be process in Perform Integrated Change Control
3. Project management plan updates, including the communication management plan
4. Project document updates, including stakeholder management strategy, the stakeholder register, and the issue log

Front 28

Describe the process 10.5 Report Performance

Back 28

Involves collection and distribution of performance information, including status reports, progress measurements, and forecasts to stakeholders
- Can include how resources are being used to achieve project objectives
- Should provide information on scope, schedule, cost and quality
- May also require information on risk and procurement
- Reports may be prepared comprehensively or on an expectation basis

Front 29

What are the INPUTS of the process - Report Performance?

Back 29

1. Project Management Plan, which includes baselines
2. Work performance information from Direct and Manage Project Execution, including deliverable status, schedule progress, and costs incurred
3. Work performance measurements, to generate project activity metrics, including planned versus actual schedule, cost, and technical performance
4. Budget forecasts from the Control Cost process
5. Organizational process assets including report templates, policies and procedures defining the measures and indicators to use, and organizational variance tolerance

Front 30

What are the TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES of the process - Report Performance?

Back 30

1. Variance analysis, to look at what caused variance
2. Forecasting methods
3. Communication methods
4. Reporting systems, which is a standard tool to help the project manager capture, store, and distribute information to stakeholders, using software tools to assist.

Front 31

What are the OUTPUTS of the process - Report Performance?

Back 31

1. Performance reports
3. Organizational process assets updates, including reports, lessons learned, causes of issues and corrective action taken, and any other historical information
3. Change requests, processed through Perform integrated change control process. Could include recommended corrective or preventive action.

Front 32

What are examples of Forecasting methods?

Back 32

- Time series method, using history to estimate future outcomes
- Casual/econometric methods, including regression analysis, auto-regressive moving average, and econometrics
- Judgmental methods, including composite forecasts, surveys, Delphi method, scenario building, technology forecasting, and forecasting by analogy
- Other methods including simulation, probabilistic forecasting, and ensemble forecasting.

Front 33

How are Performance Reports used?

Back 33

Performance reports organize and summarize the information gathered and present the results:
- Information should include status, progress, and issues
- Format can be bar charts, S-curves, histograms, and tables
- Variance analysis, earned value analysis, and forecast data are often included

Front 34

What are some samples of information in Performance Reports?

Back 34

- Analysis of past performance
- Current status of issues and risks
- Work completed in period just ended
- Work to be completed in period coming up
- Summary of changes approved in period
- Results of any variance analysis
- Forecasted project completion (time and cost)
- Other relevant information