Aims of this chapter

10. Project Communications Management

Why communication is important in projects

Some problems of project communication

Ten principles of project communication

A systematic approach to communications mangement

Communication is the real work of leadership. Nitin Nohria

The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate. Joseph Priestley

It can be that half or even more of your time as project manager needs to be spent on communication.

This chapter is about how to communicate for your project. That means communicating both within the project team, and also to others outside the project team. There is a view that communication is a less important skill than planning and doing project management. This is not so. If you communicate badly, your project will fail. This is because you will not have discovered all stakeholders, analyzed their needs, and got them on your side. Your project won't have traction with them.

Communication skills can be used immorally as in political spin, but that is not what this chapter is about. Communication is a vital skill, and your stakeholders and your project team deserve decent communication.

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

• explain why communication is important in project management;

• state the tensions that exist in communication;

• state the principles of good project communication;

• plan communication for your project;

• create a stakeholder management plan;

• distribute the right information about your project to the right people at the right time.

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