Project Communication Management is one of the most important areas of knowledge

Communication is a vital necessity in the success of a project. An important task in the communication plan is to first identify the stakeholders. For the success of your project, you need to inform the stakeholders about the progress of the project. You plan your communication process to ensure that each category/type of stakeholder has their information needs adequately addressed. You will need to determine these needs beforehand. Managing expectations is another dimension of the plan to be drawn up. Last but not least, of course, is reporting on project performance. How it is progressing, if there are delays, possible delays and risks or opportunities seen are some of the aspects that would be of interest to stakeholders. The processes involved in communications planning, then, should involve the following.

– Identify stakeholders

– Communications plan

– Manage expectations

– performance reports

The identification and categorization of stakeholders are measures based on their interests, participation and influence on the success of the project. These are never quantitative, but there are analytical techniques that help assess their importance to a project. Depending on the evaluation of these dimensions, you must ensure that the communication needs of each are met. The manager the PM reports to needs to know a lot of details. Rather, the division manager would certainly need to know if the project is running smoothly on a regular basis, not the nitty-gritty. Stakeholders are people you may need to consult. They are the people who have the power and influence to take corrective/remedial action initiated on time.

Therefore, it will be necessary to formalize exactly how and what details are communicated to stakeholders. For smaller projects, the communications process could remain somewhat informal. However, formal planning is the only way forward for substantial projects. The tools, techniques and media to be used must be carefully planned.

Stakeholder perceptions are important. It is against their expectations that they will perceive the performance of the project. Therefore, it is absolutely important to manage expectations. Raising expectations is a sure way to create widespread disappointment. One of the most important aspects of communication planning is managing stakeholder expectations.

The most important communication you want to convey to stakeholders is how exactly your project is performing. Performance measurements should be performed frequently. It should be frequent enough that you can discern any likely problems. It shouldn’t be too often to overwhelm everyone with information overload. The project management plan is the guide that helps determine performance. You must determine the actual progress of the project against the planned progress, as well as the cost baselines.