Chapter 30: Communications Management during Monitoring & Controlling the Project

Aim: To understand the Report Performance process

Communicating How Your Project Is Performing

Communicating with the project team and the outside world is one of the project manager’s primary jobs. As a communicator, the project manager must understand the mechanics involved in sending a message. There has to be an initiator, encoding of the message, sending of the message, and the receiver whom decodes the message, acknowledges the message, and, last but not least, confirms receipt of the message. It is important to maintain open communication with the stakeholders to provide timely and informative updates of the project’s progress. The report performance process addresses issues with communicating with the stakeholders.

The table below shows the inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs for the report performance process.

Report Performance
Inputs	Tools & Techniques	Outputs
Project management plan Work performance information Work performance measurements Budget forecasts Organizational process assets	Variance analysis Forecasting methods Communication methods Reporting systems	Performance reports Organizational processes assets updates Change requests

In the normal exchange of information with the stakeholders, the project manager will use methods and techniques that help with formal and informal communication. Formal methods include items such as contracts, status reports, public speeches, and performance appraisals. Informal methods are those such as “The Scuttlebutt,” email, and telephone conversations.
One way to determine how complex communication will be in a project is to determine its communication channels by using the formula (n*(n–1))/2, where n represents the number of participants in a project. For example, a project with 10 participants will require 45 communication channels.

With this in mind, it is important to adjust the message and its delivery method based on the audience and the level of impact the project might have on the individuals with whom the project manager is communicating. For example, consider a board member versus the person doing the work. For the worker, getting information about revenue projections and return on investment might be of little or no consequence in her daily duties. However, providing figures on how many additional widgets can be made in an hour would definitely have an impact on her duties and equipment maintenance cycles.

In addition, the project manager must be cognitive that when delivering a message, nonverbal communication and physical appearance have a direct effect on the message been delivered. For example, the project manager delivers a message to a construction team. First, ensure that language and colloquialism used are appropriate to the group. Bear in mind, though, that the same approach might not work when giving a project update to the company senior team. It is important to ensure that the message and intentions are clearly understood by the audience who is the target of the message.

To know more about the Report Performance process Click Here

Prev: Chapter 29

Next: Chapter 31