Project Communication Series: Meaningful Meetings

On projects, meetings are usually one of the three primary methods of communication.  The other two are emails and phone calls.  Given that, conducting high-quality and efficient meetings is important not only to continued project success but also to team member productivity.  No one likes to waste time – and often on highly visible, mission-critical projects the project manager can ill afford to waste anyone’s time, let alone their own.

Gary Heerkens book entitled “Project Management” covers the concept of high-quality, effective meeting communications.  Though I don’t fully agree with all of it – specifically when he discusses how you should not have a meeting if you have nothing new to discuss, because I think it’s critical to stay on schedule and at least have a brief weekly status meeting with the team and customer even if there’s little to discuss – I still think the text is interesting and worth noting here.  Please read on for Mr. Heerken’s views on this topic…

Conducting productive meetings

Meetings can be a very effective way to conduct business. They bring people together for a relatively short amount of time so that large amounts of information can be shared. As mentioned several times previously, you should conduct core team meetings regularly to promote a steady flow of information to and from team members. But you’ll find that there are many other times when you may need to call for a meeting. Meetings are a critical form of communication.

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Implementation Preparation

As the delivery team plans for deployment, or implementation – depending on what you prefer to call it, there is much preparation that must occur. How you prepare for your particular project depends on several things including the following:

• Customer requirements
• Type of system being implemented
• Policies and processes of your organization
• Logistics of customer, delivery organization, and implementation site

Personally, the type of implementation prep that I go through with my team is dictated heavily by the needs of the specific implementation and what was planned for and laid out as part of the statement of work and the kickoff sessions with the customer.

In his book “Project Management Nation,” Jason Charvat discusses his vision of typical implementation planning and preparation. While I don’t specifically endorse this process and understand that your specific situation usually dictates how implementation is handled, I believe that this is helpful and useful information.

Implementation Checklist

The project manager must be sure that the implementation follows the implementation tasks and activities as stated in the project schedule. This forms the basis against which the implementation will be done. Generally, the tasks would be to:

• Load or install the new system
• Perform a system test
• Convert to the new system
• Verify that an application works with other applications in the system
• Perform an integration test
• Perform an acceptance test

The Implementation Plan

The implementation plan, which was developed by the project manager during the design phase, should, at this stage, be approved and communicated to all project stakeholders. A successful project can be ruined by a poor implementation plan. A working implementation schedule should be developed and maintained for all parties to use and agree upon. As the project changes, the project manager must pay close attention to the schedule and update it to reflect the latest changes to the implementation date. This schedule should then be communicated to all project stakeholders.

It is important to publish an initial implementation schedule for each site early in the project. Many members of the deployment project team will reach a point where they cannot until they know the time, sequence, or date of the implementation. Experience has shown that developing a draft implementation schedule early in the project life, rather than later, resolves many problems. The project manager should remember that the implementation plan could be put on hold if the software development is late for whatever reason. However, if the implementation plan cannot be moved and there is no slack in the schedule, the project manager should immediately escalate this risk to the necessary stakeholders.

Meetings Leading up to Implementation

The implementation plan must be discussed and agreed upon by both the user management and IT support staff in order to ensure that both parties plan their work schedules to match the project schedule. For the majority of IT projects, implementation will most likely occur after hours or over weekends, during a series of working hours per day, or on public holidays.

Striving for Communications Effectiveness

I know I’ve said that Requirements Definition is the lifeblood of the project – and I still think that is true. But many aspects of project management are extremely critical to project success so if I can’t call communications the lifeblood of the project, then I’ll call it the backbone. Without effective communication – especially communication that originates or passes through the PM (since he/she is the critical communication focal-point) – then the project is likely to fail miserably.

Testing Communication Effectiveness

Whether the communication is written or verbal, formal or informal, the question must be asked as to whether or not it was effective. Did the information transfer that had to occur happen? Communications effectiveness can only be tested through feedback—the receiver is the ultimate determinant as to whether or not the message was received. The obvious test of communications effectiveness is to ask the receiver in the communications model to reiterate what has been said or what commitments have been made. Although they may be able to recite chapter and verse of what was originally stated, such regurgitation may not truly reflect understanding. Better instead to ask the receiver how they will act on the information or what the next steps in the process are, to ensure the communication has gone from interpretation to action.

Communication is Key

Communication is the cornerstone of effective project management, and yet most of it is done ad hoc, driven by individuals, personalities, and preferences, rather than by needs, protocols, processes, and procedures. Communication breakdowns are continuously cited as one of the key reasons that projects fail, which is why communication needs to be addressed as a critical activity and skill for project managers.

It is critical that managers improve or enhance their communications whenever possible. But “improving communications” is a vague concept. No two people are going to have the same notion as to what that means, unless com- munications goals are identified on the project. Communication is basically nothing more than an effort to make the world “smaller.” It is an attempt to create a common understanding and a common informational basis among various parties. It is the pursuit of commonality. It is an effort to bring individuals closer together.

How close is appropriate in the project environment? How deep must the common understanding be? The goal of communication in the project environment needs to be to establish a common understanding to the requisite level of depth. That level of depth will vary from project stakeholder to stakeholder. A security guard who affords access into the building may need only a single memo or e-mail from time to time, and needs virtually no understanding of the project plan or its intricacies. The customer needs to know what is being delivered and when, but may have no need to know how the work is being performed. Internal managers may need information on resource usage and performance, but may not concern themselves with project performance from day to day.

Summary

As a general practice, the goal of communication should be to clarify information to the level of depth required by the receiver by minimizing barriers that might inhibit understanding. In implementation, that implies a broad understanding of audience, interest, and environment.

The bottom line is the project manager must be the skilled communicator on the project and very adept and maintaining both formal (status reports, status calls, project schedules) and informal (phone calls, emails, adhoc meetings to discuss issues) with the delivery team, the entire delivery organization, and the customer.

Project Communications: The Project Manager’s Responsibility

I’ve long held (and documented deep in these articles) that one of the project manager’s key roles on any given project is that of primary communicator. The PM must disseminate information all the time – in the form of emails, phone calls, status reports, project status meetings, issues and risks lists, etc. Not all project communications originates from the PM, but it all goes through the PM at one time or another and if there’s a communication breakdown, the PM must be on it to correct it.

I was reviewing Carl Pritchard’s book “The Project Management Communications Toolkit” and was particularly interested in his section on The Role of the Project Manager in Communications. I’m not saying I wholeheartedly agree, but I think it’s one person’s good view on the topic. It can be expanded further, as I’ve described above and for those of you interested, I do have a Communications Plan template available by email just for the asking – many readers have already received this from me over the last few months. Here’s Mr. Pritchard’s take on the subject…

The Role of the Project Manager in Communications

The role of the project manager is one of communications facilitator. That does not mean he or she sends all of the communications. It means that the project manager is responsible for ensuring that communications are sent, received, and (to the degree possible) understood. To accomplish that, the project manager can identify preferred communications modes for the critical stakeholders, assess the best means to enable those modes, and ensure the integrity of the process as the project continues.

To identify preferred communications modes, the project manager should assess a representative sample of the project’s stakeholders. In a small project, this may be done by interviews. In larger projects, this may be accomplished by surveys.

Once the communications modes have been identified, the next task in the communications plan—enabling those communications modes—is critical. The project manager may need to establish e-mail protocols or telephone voice-mail etiquette. He or she may need to invest time and energy in constructing a project Web site or “virtual community” on the local-area network (LAN). He or she may need to identify the specific tools to be used (and tools to be avoided) based on customer and team needs. Regardless of the choice of technology or approach, guidance needs to be established to ensure consistent application. Without consistency, communications will eventually break down.

To ensure the integrity of the process, the project manager must test the system occasionally to ensure that messages are being received and understood. In one training organization, the president would occasionally plant brief, bizarre messages deep in his memoranda to test whether or not the entire message was being received. He learned that only a handful of his staff were really reading the entire document, and he changed his protocols as a result. The project manager who communicates well will find ways to test the integrity of the system, both in terms of message receipt and understanding. Just because an email is marked as “received” doesn’t ensure that it was actually read or understood. Validation through spot-checks is a reasonable means of working to improve the quality of message as it moves from sender to receiver. Talking to the senders about feedback and receivers about the messages is a first step toward identifying potential gaps.

The Attributes of a Successful Project Manager – Part 3

In the finale of this three-part series we will look at further at Jason Chravat’s presentation of the attributes of a project manager from his book entitled “Project Management Nation: Tools, Techniques, and Goals for the New and Practicing IT Project Manager.”

In this segment, we’ll discuss the need for the project manager to be able to:

• Make timely and critical decisions
• Effectively select and manage a team of skilled IT resources
• Have a professional approach when dealing with management, the team, and the customer

Ability to Make Decisions

An important attribute of any project manager is the ability to make decisions on a project. In meetings, project managers are often challenged to make decisions that are crucial in moving the project forward. If the project manager cannot effectively make decisions, the project surely fail.

Ability to Select and Manage a Project Team

It is important that the project manager be able to draw up a preliminary list of people who will be needed on the project. He or she can be do this by selecting those individuals who are available within the organization and who possess the relevant skills and experience required by the project. The project manager should be able to guide and initiate the external hiring process for those team members who are unavailable. Key factors or selection criteria that should be kept in mind when selecting team members are:

• Candidates have the skills and expertise for the project
• Candidates are available to remain for the full duration required on the project
• Candidates are team players
• Candidates are results-orientated and can set goals
• Candidates are optimistic about the project and outcome
• Candidates are trustworthy
• Candidates are able to work on multiple tasks in isolation

Remember, once the project manager has selected the team members,the success of the project will depend on the manager’s ability to keep the team focused, optimistic, and committed to achieving the overall project objectives. However, it is not uncommon for personal problems to arise while working on a project, and the project manager should be able to identify many of the symptoms ahead of time. The project manager should have the experience and ability to work with all people, irrespective of any individual’s race, religion, nationality, age, or gender. The project manager and the individual should immediately deal with any conflict that arises, and the manager should use the most appropriate course of action to resolve the problem. Additionally, the ability to praise and recognize the project team is important. It is essential that when the team has worked hard to meet objectives, often under difficult circumstances, that they are awarded the recognition.

Having a Professional Approach

Project managers should want to be considered as professionals. The status affects the quality of life for all people on the project, organization, and even in society. Therefore, it becomes vital that a project manager conducts work in a professional manner in order to earn and maintain the confidence of team members, colleagues, employees, employers, clients, and the public. The following is a code of ethics that project managers should use to help maintain their professionalism:

• As project manager, I will strive to maintain high professional standards in the preparation and delivery of my projects, and I will be held accountable for the success or failure of those projects.
• Regarding the actual work aspect of my project, I will strive to provide the leadership, trust, tools, and support to ensure all projects are completed on time, within cost, specification, and to my clients’ requirements.

Professionalism refers to being able to encourage respect and honesty in all business-related matters and during the course of any project. It is important that project managers ensure that all client or employer information be kept confidential and not lead to a situation where there is a conflict of interest.

Project managers also have a duty to their respective communities, by ensuring that no project be implemented in any location where it could possibly place lives and property at risk. An appropriate quotation from one of history’s famous project managers can be used to describe ethics.

The general must be righteous. If he is not righteous, then he will not be severe. If he is not severe, then he will not be awesome. If he is notawesome, then the troops will not die for him. Thus righteousness is thehead of the army. —Sun Tzu