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Project Management Communication: How to Mitigate Risk And Drive Growth Fast

project management communication

Project management communication is a set of procedures that ensures the proper communications are transmitted, received, and understood by the right people.

Project management communication is one of the PMBOK’s (Project Management Book of Knowledge) ten major knowledge areas. The processes contained in this area have evolved over time, but there are three core project communication management processes in the present version.

They are as follows:

  1. Plan communications management
  2. Manage communications
  3. Monitor communications


Project managers must explicitly define how they will handle communications between projects. This is accomplished by developing a project communication management plan.

Project managers should follow these five phases while developing a plan:

Determine your goals: What will the goal of your communication be? You might utilize some communication methods, such as a status report, to raise awareness. Others, such as requiring a sponsor to sanction spending or a customer to approve project testing, may necessitate action.

Determine your target audience: Who are the project’s stakeholders? Make a comprehensive list of everyone engaged. Consider anyone who is affected by the project or who has an impact on its success. This list should include team members, sponsors, customers, and anyone else that is interested.

Write your message: What will each sort of communication message be? This is the content that will be distributed. Scope, schedule, money, objectives, risks, and deliverables are all important components to communicate.

Select your channel: How will the message be communicated? Will it be an official report sent to all stakeholders through email? Or will it be a casual verbal debriefing during a team meeting?

Set a timetable: When are you going to deliver your message? Do you need weekly or monthly reporting from your stakeholders? Is there a time limit to meet? Consider time zones and employee schedules while making this decision.

That said, your project communication management strategy should be precise enough to explain why you’re sending a message, who you’re sending it to, what specific information will be provided, and how and when you’ll send it.

Involving your stakeholders in the development of this plan is key to making it work. You must be aware of their communication preferences and expectations.

Why? Because they may stop paying attention to what you say if you overcommunicate. Don’t communicate often enough and that can lead to misconceptions and problems.

In this episode and post, Angela Thurman shares certain nuances to project management communication that we should be aware of to mitigate risks and increase ROI.

About Angela

Angela Thurman is the Principal Managing Director at Thurman Co. LLC. As an electrical engineer, she has worked with companies like NASA and Collins Aerospace leading to the launch of her own company that aims to add the personal touch to Project, Contract, and Supplier Management.

Angela holds a BS, in Electrical Engineering working as an analytical, process-oriented program and contract manager as well as a Mensa Society Member.

Her background includes experience working in the aerospace, defense, telecom, and power sectors. Anglea is a proven leader dedicated to creating an environment where teamwork, organization, efficiency, and client satisfaction are core values.

In this episode, she shares her experience and shares why project management communication is the critical linchpin to seeing projects achieve success and effectively mitigate risks. The implications of a project’s success or failure could amount to millions of dollars if not more in a lot of instances.

Some topics we discussed include:

  • How to deal with project change management
  • How to best deal with the million-dollar implications of project management outcomes
  • Project management communication – what is key and why it is so critical
  • A key area that is often overlooked in project management
  • Why the boiled frog report is key to project management communication
  • Use of templates to aid project management communication and manage change
  • What does it entail for a project manager to mitigate risk
  • Does managing a project required developing a narrative of success
  • Why Angela doesn’t focus so much on tools to ensure project management success
  • How to create the right project management culture and project management communication expectations
  • and much much more ….

Listen to the episode

Connect with Angela

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Author

  • Vinay Koshy

    Vinay Koshy is the Founder at Sproutworth who helps businesses expand their influence and sales through empathetic content that converts.

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