Lecture 10 - Communication

Question 1

How do you plan communications management (background)?

Answer 1

*75-90 percent time spent communicating (writing, reading, talking and listening);
* Poor communication continues to frustrate and undermine the workplace (problems,
issues and misunderstandings);
* Information should be provided in the right format, at the right time, to the right
audience and with the right impact

Question 2

The communication model

Answer 2

Refer to slides please

Question 3

What are some communication barrier?

Answer 3

➢Lack of client involvement;
➢Poorly informed stakeholders;
➢Lack of meetings and/or too many meetings leading to little action;
➢Lack of reporting requirements;
➢Poor and incomplete documentation;
➢Frequent scope change;

Question 4

How can you map project communication in terms of information?

Answer 4

Timely and appropriate planning, collection, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval, management, control, monitoring, and disposal of information;

Fact—indisputable, objective truth accepted by everyone;
Fantasy—someone’s opinion or interpretation;
Folklore—rumour, gossip or hearsay;
Feelings—intuition, ego or emotion;

Communication works best when you work at communication.

Question 5

What questions can be asked about project meetings?

Answer 5

➢How much of this time is spent wisely, efficiently and effectively?
➢How many of the meetings result in actionable outcomes?
➢What percentage of meetings include stakeholders who make the required decisions?
➢How much constructive information is presented at the meetings?
➢How participative are the meetings?
➢How many meetings are poorly managed?

Question 6

What is a kick-off meeting?

Answer 6

➢ Detailing the project objectives, expectation, deliverables, outcomes and benefits;
➢Meeting the client or their representative;
➢ Reviewing all the scope inclusions and exclusions;
➢ Clarifying the roles and responsibilities of executive, project, operational, technical, team and/or other support members;

Question 7

What is a kick-out meeting?

Answer 7

➢ This is the meeting that formally brings the project to a close;
➢ Projects can close at any time, completed or not;
➢ Final meeting ensure that all aspects of the project are formally closed out prior to the team being disbanded;

Question 8

What should performance reports do?

Answer 8

Reports can often lead to an impressive work of fiction (at worse), or a concise and honest summary of the project’s progression, status and likely conclusion (at best).
Reports should convey:
➢Accurate, complete and timely information;
➢Reflect the true facts on the project’s progression;
➢Encourage early detection of problems;
➢Enable problem-solving and facilitate decision-making;
➢Track all the scope changes and revisions;

Question 9

What are the 3 ways to report progress?

Answer 9

➢ Progress report (time zero to present)
* Reports information after it has happened - achievements, budget and cash flow progress, issues addressed, milestones reached, risk managed, changes adopted, approvals received, delivery accepted, etc.

➢ Status report (present)
* Reports the current position of the project against the plan – on time, on budget, as specified, etc.

➢ Forecast report (completion oriented)
* Reports against the original completion date, anticipated scope changes, pending risks, approvals pending, escalating issues, expected delays, projected cost over runs, etc.

Question 10

What does a change control require?

Answer 10

➢ All scope change requests are to be in writing;
➢ All scope changes must identify & be signed by the stakeholder initiating the change;
➢ All scope changes must identify the complete impact (time, cost, specification & resources, TBL) the
change will have on the project;
➢ All scope changes must include an updated risk assessment reflecting the changes;
➢ All scope changes must include an updated quality assessment (and TBL) reflecting the changes;

Question 11

What are the causes of scope creep?

Answer 11

➢Poor initial definitions of requirements
➢Unanswered questions on deliverables
➢Lack of stakeholder involvement
➢Evolving expectations and/or mentality of ‘exceeding’ expectations
➢Discovery of new ‘solutions’

Question 12

What are the 7 benefits of project control?

Answer 12

 Monitor
 Assess
 Improve
 Adjust
 Document
 Forecast
 Evaluate

All are linked to performance

Question 13

How can you measure actual achievement?

Answer 13

➢Performance milestones
➢Time completed
➢Deliverables (including TBL)
➢Level of effort
➢Budget spent
➢Remaining duration

Question 14

What are the steps to effective project control

Answer 14

The steps:
➢Establishing the standards which will become the measurement benchmark
➢Monitoring the standards through regular inspections & related activities
➢Measuring performance against the standard
➢Taking corrective action to correct deviations (if required) and/or reinforce compliance

The tools
Milestone charts
Budget charts
Control charts