Communicating with your project stakeholders-your team members, the project sponsor, and anyone else with an interest in the project- is critical during all the project management process. Through ongoing communication, you keep stakeholders apprised of how the project is processing, what problems you're encountering, and ow you're dealing with the problems. he heads of each department should due their due diligence and ensure that all other departments are in alignment. Emails are definitely a quick way to communicate and ensure there is traceability but having skype meetings has also proven beneficial in terms of communication.
I believe that communication has to be implemented to everyone but the project manager should enforce and create a safe environment for everyone to be comfortable to communicate.If the person that you are trying to getting into contact with does not regularly check their email than it becomes calling the person. This relates a little to emotional intelligence because if you are rightly annoyed that this person does not use the main form of communication you can not show this or the task that you are trying to get done will be further delayed because you are more likely to work harder for someone you like and respect. Communication management is crucial for succeeding in a project and achieving the goal of the organization. It is very important for increasing the possibility of the project to meet-up the requirements. Communication between the team members is more essential to make out more deliverables and clear cutout planning process, at the initial stage rather at the final stage.
Within a project communication is key. Therefore I believe every involved in the project must communicate. However, I believe it is the project managers job communicate and set up the organization of the project. If the members involved in the project do not work together and communicate, the plans that the project manager has set in place will not flow well. In a professional setting there are multiple platforms that could be use. The best platform to communicate is face to face. In todays society different online platforms such as Zoom, and Microsoft teams are used to communicate, but that is due to work becoming more virtual. However, I do believe this is hindering the new generation, because it is preventing them from using there communication skills in the corporates world.
Communication is crucial for the progress of any project regardless of whether the project consists of 2 team members of 5 different departments and should serve as a two way street between management and the team members of the project. The most obvious and first form of communication for a project occurs when management discusses the purpose and scope of the project and provides the team members and their respective departments with the project requirements. Even though constant communication and updates from management is vital, the feedback from the project teams is just as important, if not more important, as these team members are the ones attempting to execute the project.
Although the most effective form of communication is in person meetings as there is minimal risk of miscommunication, this can be very difficult if different departments are in different locations and is nearly impossible now due to the times we are living in as a result of COVID-19. This means that the project team must be even more diligent with their communication in order for it to be effective. This could mean weekly meetings on video platforms, such as WebEx or Zoom. Providing meeting agendas before meetings and meeting summaries after meetings are ways to ensure organized and straightforward communication and are keys to keeping everyone involved in the project on the same page.
Communication is something which needs to be built in a team and it is a very core factor of a project team. Without proper communication however skillful or dextrose the team be, they will always fail to produce the right outcome and subsequently the project will be either delayed or have issues with. Having a good communication among all the departments is extremely important. The project managers have to manage the internal communication among the department so that whenever there is a finished product from one department goes into the other department straight without any time lag. It is also very very crucial that one sector gives feedback to the other such that there is a constant environment to grow. So communication management is a big part in the growth of a industry or even a small lab.
Every company has its own goal and statements. And each department of that company is assigned to perform a task that brings the company closer to its goal. Therefore, there has to be a smooth flow of communication from one department to the other to know how far away the company is to accomplish its goal. And when it specifically comes to project management, communication works the same way. There are people of different skillsets working to accomplish the same project. QA, manufacturing, QC, Marketing, etc. all come together with their own data/findings and investigations to show how well/far the project is from being successful. And its all possible only through proper and effective communications. And in my opinion, it should be the project manager who should initiate and maintain regular communications with every individuals working for a project.
The most professional and effective way of communication happens via emails and regular group meetings. Group meetings are effective because that allows face-face interactions with every individual and gives them a room to discuss about their findings, suggestions and concerns. Emails can be used to set up those meetings, for quick communications about the updates of the project etc.
I believe that part of being a good project manager is communicating with team members regularly to make sure that their work is on track. Of course, team members can also bring items to your attention if something unexpected occurs that could pertain to changes in the project.
In terms of what communication channel is used it really depends on the company policy. Some companies only communicate through emails. Some have slack or Microsoft teams with a mix of emails. But it really doesn’t matter as long as team members are actively looking out for messages and replying in a timely fashion.
Communication is vital for the successful completion of a project. To answer the first question, I agree with many others who think that the project manager is ultimately responsible for most of the communication that takes place during a project. Everything that is happening within a project should be known by the project manager. Even if specific departments or people are not communicating what is happening, it is the responsibility of the project manager to reach out and obtain the information needed. More than this, if there is ever a delay of a task, the project manager should be aware of what is happening and communicate with all parties that would be affected. A project manager is responsible for the project moving forward successfully, and communication is a major aspect to that.
In terms of what form of communication is best, this is dependent on both the company and the people communicating. At an old internship I had, the common form of communication was through skype and email. This was essentially set up by the company to be the main modes of interaction. However, just as much as the company’s influence, how communication is being done is also dependent on the people involved. For the same internship referenced before, I had one boss where it was much easier to speak with them in person. Communication through skype and email was not always efficient, and I found that face-to-face interaction was the best way to communicate with them. For these reasons, although there are a variety of ways people could communicate within a company, I believe it is largely dependent on the company itself and the people who need to interact.
To answer the first question, effective communication is achieved by every member of a project, regardless of size or role. It is important that project team members maintain constant communication with one another to reduce risk of delays or setbacks. Should team members leave the project or go away for planned vacations or unplanned emergencies, effective communication ensures that there is always someone on the team who can fill in for any missing personnel. Lack of communication can also cause delays in the project if managers or departments are not kept up to date or informed of project progress or completed/missed milestones.
Although face to face communication is ideal, it is not always the best way to communicate. As we witnessed in the past year, it may not always be possible and situations out of the project team's control can cause the team to communicate through other means. That being said, it is important to have multiple forms of communication: emails, phone calls, video calls, and virtual meetings. It is also important to plan a set time for meetings with other team members and managers. In this way, team members can always be expected to receive updates on the progress on the project.
Communication is extremely important in, not only project management but, in life in general. In regards to your questions, for the first question of who should do the communication on a project dependent on the organization set-up, I believe its the job of the project managed to at least initiate communication through setting up meetings and asking/presenting questions. In terms of the second question of by what means or platform should be done to communicate in a professional situation, it is totally dependent on what the PM and project team agree on. In the very least, a weekly meeting (in person or on Zoom/WebEx/etc) is important. There should also be an open email chain so if there are any questions at any time, it can be presented at any time.
For the first question I think that the project manager should coordinate communication between the upper management and the project team. For communication that is between the project team I think each team member is responsible for communicating with the entire team on any issue. The project manager’s responsibility for communicating in the project team would be scheduling meetings when necessary. For the second question I think that the platform that a project team should use will depend on the context. If there is an issue with the project that is discovered and needs to be addressed, a face-to-face meeting should be scheduled. Other normal correspondence can be done through email or any similar communication method which can vary based on that organization’s culture.
Over my time of working in the medical device industry and working in the Quality Department, I also feel that communication is imperative to the success of a project. Although it may sound very trivial, communicating potential barriers to a project for example, can allow for the PM to take proactive action early on and tackle any potential delays to a project. I believe the project manager/leader of a project should be in charge of communication. This does not necessarily mean they need to be in charge of all communications, however, they should communicate frequently with members of the team (or the leads of certain tasks) and ensure any applicable/necessary updates are relayed to other team members. This can be done via emails or meetings. However, from experience, the most effective forms of communication have been through face-to-face meetings (or virtually), followed with a follow-up email regarding what was spoken about during the meetings. Such form of communication has allowed for effective actions if any action items were necessary from the meeting, as well as continued progress/success on a project.
Communication Management seems like a trivial knowledge area however, its seems as though it needs to be implemented in a PM. This topic of communication is critical. Lack of communication is why we have so many issues with marriages, friends, etc.. Which has been the fault of humans since day 0. We all communicate daily wither facebook messenger, twitter, texting, email etc or literally Face to Face which is a lost art. However, in order to have a successful project, you need to know what various project groups are doing in order to have a clear and concise line of communication. Issues arise because someone forgot to tell this person so on and so forth.
I have two questions:
1) Who should do the communication on a project dependent on the organization set-up
2) What means or platform should be done to communicate in a professional situation?
@krp67 this is a great point to bring up because communication management is the foundation for any successful project. To answer your questions i think it should be the responsibility of the project team lead to ensure that the group is communicating in a manner that is efficient for everyone in order to set up and organization tasks thy have to complete. Furthermore, the best ways to communicate are in person, through email and on zoom or any other virtual platform where you can communicate and work together. These three common methods of communication can be used interchangeably throughout the project to make sure there are no excuses for not communicating in a timely and effective manner.
I cannot stress enough how important communication is success of projects and how fundamentally important it is to have open lines of communication between project teams and not develop silos in the process. On one of the projects I was involved in we started using slack and it was great because it was an archive of all the communications and all the important information being shared amongst teams. Leveraging social media may prove to be useful especially if it’s an internal network like slack. Sometimes it may be difficult to go back in a long chain of emails to find relevant information but having a platform in place with separate folders and separate conversations that you could chime in on may help the conversation and facilitate open lines of communication among team members. The ultimate success or failure of a project is predicated on open lines of communication throughout every step of the process.
I also agree that communication is at times a lost cause but most importantly not always conveyed correctly. It is critical for the success of a project that various groups need to know what other various project groups are doing in order to produce the correct final product. Most of the time, issues occur because someone forgot to correctly pass down the information to the next team member so on and so forth. I can honestly attest to this in my work situation. We are a department but we are sectioned off and depending on "how" a team member feels about doing their job correctly on any given day can in fact dictate whether the task is completed accurately based on someone's willingness to accurately communicate.
1) Who should do the communication on a project dependent on the organization set-up:
Depending on the organizational set up the project manager should do the main project communication within the team organized for the task. The PM designated requirements to get selected may vary based on the organization, the credentials needed, and the "type" of individuals available to take on the task.
2) What means or platform should be done to communicate in a professional situation? There are various options as Dr. Simon mentioned in his lecture. Platforms change with the current times and vary based on the organization's availability and what the stakeholder is most comfortable utilizing. Examples of platforms include Twitter, Teams, FaceTime, plain old conference rooms, or group (and tracked) emails. What's most important when selecting a platform is that all variables regarding the team who is working on the project are considered such as planned leave, sick leave, established hours of communicating and etc.
