Click the photo to listen to Marjorie talk.
The Importance of Planning
Think back. Have you ever worked on a project in which the team was not well organized? What happened to the project?
Effective teams don't just happen because the project manager was lucky or had highly-placed friends. I have seen great project managers with great teams fail because they didn't spend the time defining and documenting how their team would work together. I have also seen other cases where a team with mediocre skills was able to miraculously fulfill their commitments because of the up-front planning that was done and because the team worked well together and communicated with each other.
"I have a team charter. Why have a communication management plan too?"
I believe a communication management plan is key to a successful project for the following reasons.
The plan facilitates efficient communications and quicker responses, because everyone knows who is supposed to get the information, as well as how the information is delivered and how often. We all have a story about the stakeholder who surprises everyone and stops the project saying, "I didn't know" or "Nobody told me." A stakeholder analysis ensures the PM considers all stakeholders and their information needs. The communication management plan is the plan that ensures that the stakeholders receive the documentation and communication they need, and answers their questions.
Remember that project managers are not the only ones responsible for project outcome. Communication between the project manager, team, and stakeholders is crucial. I remember early in my career, I was a project manager on two very different projects. One was my best project, and the other was my worst project. These two projects occurred one right after another in the same year. One project had a Chief Information Officer who appeared to me to actively work to see the project fail. And he succeeded; it failed. The other project was the best project I had ever managed. In this project, it was the client who made the difference. This client took responsibility, made difficult decisions, took political heat, and truly owned the result. Could it be that I completely failed in one project and was a success in the other? Did I change tactics or become a different person? No, in fact my best project happened immediately prior to my worst project. This was my first lesson that we, as project managers, are not the only people responsible for project outcomes, whether the outcomes are good or bad. So it’s important to understand your stakeholders and have a plan for keeping them committed to the project.
Finally, one of the most frustrating things that I have experienced as a project manager is when team members are spending time talking to the clients or sponsors. First of all, they don't have time to do the work I need for them to do and talk to those people. Also, they only see a small part of the whole project. Often times, their opinions of the other parts of the project are not based on facts, and then I have to spend hours of my time doing damage control.
I have found that if I create a communication management plan and get the team to agree to it, it really does save me and my team time and money.
A communication management plan ensures that proper documents and reports are generated to satisfy the needs of formal documentation for project reviews and ISO 9000 audits. This really reduces my work load when I have to get ready for those reviews.