Preparing for Information Distribution

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Information distribution is the process of ensuring that the appropriate stakeholders get the appropriate information when and how they need it. Essentially, it’s the implementation of the Communications Management Plan. The Communications Management Plan details how the information is to be created and dispersed—and also how the dispersed information is archived.

There are three elements that serve as inputs to information distribution:

• Work results Work results, good or bad, serve as inputs to communication because they show progress (or lack of progress), quality issues, and other relevant information.

• Communications Management Plan This plan serves as the guide on how to communicate on project issues within the performing organization.

• Project plan The comprehensive project may have information, requirements, or described conditions that are integrated with communications.

Examining Communication Skills

Here’s a news flash: communication skills are used to send and receive information. Sounds easy, right? If communication is so easy, then why are there so many problems on projects stemming from misunderstandings, miscommunications, failure to communicate, and similar communication failings.

Figure 10-2 demonstrates a few different communication models. All models, regardless of the technology involved, have a sender, a message, and a recipient. Depending on the communication model, several additional elements can be included. Here’s a summary of all the different parts of communication models:

Figure 10-2: Sender models can vary based on the modality of the message.

• Sender The person or group sending the message to the receiver.

• Encoder The device or technology that encodes the message to travel over the medium. For example, a telephone encodes the sender’s voice to travel over the medium, the telephone wires.

• Medium This is the path the message takes from the sender to the receiver. This is the modality in which the communication travels and typically refers to an electronic model, such as e-mail or telephone.

• Decoder This is the inverse of the encoder. If a message is encoded, a decoder translates it back to usable format. For example, the sender’s message is encoded to travel the telephone wires, and the receiver’s phone system translates the message back to a usable format.

• Receiver This is, of course, the recipient of the message.

Creating Successful Communications

The most common type of communication between a sender and a receiver is verbal communication. When verbal communications are involved, the project manager should remember that half of communication is listening. This means the project manager must confirm the receiver understands the message being sent. The confirmation of the sent message can be seen in the recipients body language, feedback, and verbal confirmation of the sent message. There are five terms that describe the process of communicating:

• Paralingual The pitch, tone, and inflections in the sender’s voice affect the message being sent.

• Feedback The sender confirms the receiver understands the message by directly asking for a response, questions for clarification, or other confirmation of the sent message.

• Active listening The receiver confirms the message is being received through feedback, questions, prompts for clarity, and other signs of confirmation of the received message.

• Effective listening The receiver is involved in the listening experience by paying attention to visual clues from the speaker and paralingual characteristics and by asking relevant questions.

• Nonverbal Approximately 55 percent of communication is nonverbal. Facial expressions, hand gestures, and body language contribute to the message.

The words in a oral message actually only account for seven percent of the message. The tonality of the message accounts for 38 percent of the message. The remaining 55 percent of the message is body language. A classic example involves a person talking to a dog. If the person has a friendly voice and posture, the dog will likely be receptive. However, if the person has a mean voice and guarded posture, the dog may feel threatened and on guard. When project managers talk with stakeholders, they must be aware of their body language and posture—not just the words they are communicating.

The medium in communication can help or hinder the message. For example, when a project manager talks to a stakeholder in person, the stakeholder has the advantage not only of hearing the message and tone but also of seeing the body language. Take out body language in a conversation and the message is interpreted by just the words and tonality. Always be aware of the downsides of the various non-direct communication modalities: e-mail, reports, memos, and letters.

Creating a Communications Matrix

A communications matrix can help the project manager organize communication needs by identifying who needs what information and when. A communications matrix identifies all of the stakeholders and shows where communication originates and to whom it is intended. The following table shows a sample of a basic communications matrix.

	Project Manager	Project Sponsor	Project Office	Project Team	Functional Managers	Customers	Media	Government Agencies
Project Manager		X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Project Sponsor	X		X				X
Project Office	X	X			X
Project Team	X				X			X
Functional Managers	X	X		X
Customers	X			X
Media	X	X
Government Agencies	X			X		X

Creating Information Retrieval Systems

What good is information if no one can find it? An information retrieval system allows for fast and accurate access to project information. It can be a simple manual filing system, an advanced database of information storage, or a robust project management software suite. Whatever the approach, the information must be accessible, organized, and secure.

The project team, the project manager, the customer, and other stakeholders may need access to design specs, blueprints, plans, and other project information. A good information retrieval system is reliable and easy to navigate and is updated as new information becomes available.

Distributing Information

Throughout the project, the project manager, the project sponsor, the project team, and other stakeholders are going to need and supply information to one another. The methods for distributing information can vary—but the best modality is the one that’s most appropriate to the information being conveyed. In other words, an e-mail may not be the correct format to share variance information on project costs.

Information can be distributed through the following as well as other methods, according to project demands and as technology provides:

• Project meetings

• Hard-copy documentation

• Databases

• Faxes

• E-mail

• Telephone calls

• Videoconferences

• A project web site

Examining the Results of Information Distribution

Information distribution results in the following:

• Project records Project records are vital to the project team. Project records are the memos, correspondence, e-mails, and any other project-relevant information. It’s important to secure and organize this information throughout the project for future reference. This information should be stored as part of the project archives.

• Project reports Reports are formal communications on project activities, status, and conditions. Management, customers, and policies within the performing organization may have differing requirements for when reports are required.

• Project presentations Presentations are useful in providing information to customers, management, the project team, and other stakeholders. The delivery and degree of formality of the presentation should be appropriate for the conditions and information being delivered within the project.

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