Part II

Planning Your Software Project

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 Chapter Four

Planning for Communications

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 Chapter objectives
• After completing the chapter, you have to be able to:-
– Understand the demand of communications
– Building an effective communication management
plan
– Determine which stakeholders need
communication
– Define the communications modality

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 Introduction
• According to PMI, project managers spend 90 percent of their
time on communications.
• Communication, both verbal and nonverbal, drives what project
managers do.
• Effective communication drives about every aspect of a project
manager’s activities.
• Likewise, ineffective communication can have disastrous effects.
• Poor communication costs time and money and causes headaches
• Since communication skills aren’t easy to cultivate, there are
specific strategies that you can employ to develop your
communication skills.

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 The Importance of Communicating
Effectively
• Effective communication occurs when a clear transfer of
knowledge exists between two person (for instance you
and project stakeholder through conversation, e-mail,
meeting, presentation etc.
• Clear and accurate communication within your project
team is vital to a project’s success.
• Why?
– SPM is labor intensive. Even though the project team is doing
different tasks of the project, as the project manager you’re the
one ensuring that the work is done according to the project
scope and within budget, while also meeting project
deadlines.
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 …contd’
• In SPM you must be able to communicate with the
project team about many important things, including:
– Changes in the technology
– Nuances of the software being created
– Demands being made by the customer
• You and the project team must have a clear
understanding about what the project is creating, the
demands of the project stakeholders, and your
expectations about the project deliverables.
• If a communication breakdown occurs, it’ll create
various issues.
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 Ensuring Accurate Communication
• Every members (i.e. project team to stakeholders) must
communicate openly and accurately, unless you facilitate
each conversation.
• Here are some tips how do you ensure accurate
communication
– Document your conversations in e-mails, memos, or meeting
minutes- putting the conversation points in writing helps the
party with whom you’re communicating has an opportunity to
clarify various points if there are any misunderstandings.
– Sign where the line is dotted (i.e. both parties sign off on the
document) like scope statement, scope change, budget, and
schedule.
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 …contd’
– Document scope, time, or cost compromises-
document solutions (to the issues, delays, problems
with vendors, problems with your project team you
have faced as your project progress) so you don’t face
repercussions downstream in the project.
– Set an agenda-An agenda sets the direction of the
meeting and prevents other non-relevant issues from
creeping into the discussion.
– Also helps you and the project team prepare for the
meeting by bringing the appropriate files, status reports,
and other pertinent information
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 Communication Management process

1. Communication planning
– Every project should include some type of
communications management plan, a document that
guides project communications.
– Creating a stakeholder analysis for project
communications also aids in communications planning
• Communications Management Plan Contents
– Stakeholder communications requirements.
– Information to be communicated, including format,
content, and level of detail.
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 …contd’
– The people who will receive the information and
who will produce it.
– Suggested methods or technologies for conveying
the information.
– Frequency of communication.
– Escalation procedures for resolving issues.
– Revision procedures for updating the
communications management plan.
– A glossary of common terminology.

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2. Information Distribution
• Getting the right information to the right people at the right
time and in a useful format is just as important as developing
the information in the first place.
• Important considerations include:
– Using technology to enhance information distribution.
– Formal and informal methods for distributing information.
• Distributing Information in an Effective and Timely Manner
– Don’t bury (hide) crucial information.
– Don’t be afraid to report bad information.
– Oral communication via meetings and informal talks helps
bring important information—good and bad—out.

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Importance of Face-to-Face Communication
• Research says that in a face-to-face interaction:
– 58 percent of communication is through body language.
– 35 percent of communication is through how the words are
said.
– 7 percent of communication is through the content or words
that are spoken.
• Pay attention to more than just the actual words
someone is saying.
• A person’s tone of voice and body language say a lot
about how he or she really feels.

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 Determining the Number of Communications
Channels
• As the number of people involved increases, the
complexity of communications increases because
there are more communications channels or pathways
through which people can communicate.
• Number of communications channels = n(n-1)
2
where n is the number of people involved.

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04/24/2024 14
 …contd’
3. Performance Reporting
• Performance reporting keeps stakeholders informed
about how resources are being used to achieve project
objectives.
– Status reports describe where the project stands at a
specific point in time.
– Progress reports describe what the project team has
accomplished during a certain period of time.
– Forecasts predict future project status and progress based
on past information and trends.

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4. Managing Stakeholders
• Project managers must understand and work with
various stakeholders.
• Need to devise a way to identify and resolve issues.

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 Who Needs What Information
• Each layer of the organization has its own project objectives with various
communication needs:

• Each layer of an organization has its own interests and purpose.

• As a project manager, you have to communicate with each layer of an
organization, as well as with individuals and groups outside of the
organization.
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 Defining Communication Modalities
• Modality is just a fancy way of clarifying the form
communication takes. Some communication should
be paper-based, while other communication should
be electronic. On other occasions, a formal, face-to-
face presentation is the necessary modality.
• Modalities for formal communication
– Presentation, reports, conference/phone calls, e-mail
• Modalities for informal communication
– Emails, Ad-hock meeting, instant messaging and text
messaging, and coffee talks

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 Automating communications
• Several programs are available that can help you and your project
team automate the communication of the project:
– Microsoft’s Project Server www.office.microsoft.com - is a server-based
system that ties into Microsoft Project, Microsoft Internet Information
Server, Microsoft Exchange, and SQL Server, allowing add-on
components from third-party vendors.
– It enables to publish Web forms that your project team members, key
stakeholders, and even vendors can use to report progress, issues,
change requests, and just about anything else project related.
– It can then be piped into your SQL database to generate reports, statistics,
and automate communications by publishing and allowing querying of
data to a secured Web site
– Pacific Edge (www.pacificedge.com) and Primavera (www.
primavera.com) offer many similar features as the ubiquitous Project
Server.
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 The End!

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