Respondents to a recent IT Manager channel poll spoke of the importance of managing the project communication process, and keeping stakeholders informed about the project's status.
Jon Barnett, a director at solutions provider Amity Solutions, believes that IT projects should be a shared responsibility. "Most, if not all, IT projects serve the business in some way or another," Barnett argued. "The project sponsors and the greater project team, including those who will be working with the result of the project, need to be brought into the 'circle of responsibility'".
He said that formal reporting may be needed in some circumstances, depending upon the corporate culture. "Less formal meetings to update on progress and issues regularly from the start can help smooth the way if problems occur later," Barnett said. "With shared successes in solving easier problems at the start of the project you build shared responsibility for completion of the project with the larger project group".
E-mail is one of the worst ways to raise any issues, Barnett believes, suggesting that IT professionals try to use the phone if they can't set up a face-to-face meeting with affected parties to discuss any problems. "E-mail doesn't build rapport for joint problem solving and is the least efficient way of discussing problems," he advised. "It can be read out of the context you intended, or can be misinterpreted.
"Managing projects is not just about technical skillsâ€"it is also about people skills. This is the real challenge in project management for technical people".
Lucas Randall, a systems analyst for customer care (business support) at Canon Australia, said he's experimented with different approaches to project reporting. This has included providing verbal reports at regular general meetings; chairing project status meetings with stakeholders; and providing regular written reports via e-mail.
"But the one approach I always uneasily return to is an online project traffic light report, detailing current or upcoming project milestones and their associated active tasks, with a traffic light indicating whether the task is on track, in jeopardy (with potential impact to a milestone), or off track (with likely impact to a milestone)," Randall said.
"Whilst this approach doesn't guarantee your business managers will keep an eye on the report, I've found all other methods also lacking because they [the recipient] often feel overwhelmed with information and simply don't bother to read it, he said. "At the very least, I make the information available to them and provide some analysis of the potential impact".
Brett Walker, a senior consultant with management consulting firm SMS Management & Technology, thinks that the secret to effective project communications is in the project planning process.
"Identify the stakeholders and classify them as to the nature of their interest and the frequency and nature of formal project reporting that is required," he suggests. "The project plan should include a section on project communications which clearly identifies each category of stakeholder and the nature of regular project reporting that is required".
Walker believes that the other fundamental concept is what he describes as "the doctrine of no surprises". "Impacted stakeholders should be notified in this way of issues or risks that have the potential to affect project timetable[s], cost or business outcomes," he suggests.
"The initial warning should be low key, as the vigilant project manager should be able to identify these risks far enough in advance that they are not yet putting the project at risk," Walker said.
"If it becomes significant, an appropriate early warning should have ensured the appropriate steps are take to manage the issue with the knowledge and support of the impacted stakeholders. The key question should be, 'who needs to know about this issue, and how much do they need to know?'"
He said that if you keep stakeholders appropriately informed throughout the project, it will run smoothly even when significant issues arise. "It all comes down to active management of all aspects of the project," Walker said.
Another IT professional who responded to the poll emphasised that a suitable information reporting structure needed to be in place, and a discipline build around that process. "Many times shortfalls are clearly visible and don't get attended to in time because of poor communication channels," he said. "I guess it all boils down to intial brief and debrief of the project".
