PMP® Project Management Professional Study Guide, Fourth Edition

Introducing Project Communications Management

CERTIFICATION OBJECTIVES

10.01 Communications Planning

10.02 Managing Project Communications

10.03 Controlling Communications

10.04 Reporting Project Performance

Two-Minute Drill

Q&A Self Test

What’s a project manager’s most important skill?

Communication.

Project managers spend about 90 percent of their time communicating. Think about it: meetings, phone calls, memos, e-mails, reports, presentations—the list goes on and on. Project managers spend the bulk of their day communicating news, ideas, and knowledge. They are communicators.

Project communications management centers on determining who needs what information and when, and then producing a plan to provide that needed information. It includes generating, collecting, disseminating, and storing communication. Successful projects require successful communication, and communication is the key link between people, ideas, and information.

Project communications management includes five processes that may overlap each other and other knowledge areas. There are only three communications processes, but these processes affect the entire project and are time intensive for the project manager:

Plan communications management The project manager needs to identify the stakeholders and their communication needs and determine how to fulfill their requirements.

Manage communications The project manager analyzes the project’s conditions and then determines who’ll need the information, how to communicate, and how urgent the communication must be.

Control communications The larger the project, the greater the need for the project manager to communicate. This process covers the mechanics of the communication process, such as meetings, reporting systems, and project analysis in the form of expert judgment.

CERTIFICATION OBJECTIVE 10.01

Communications Planning

Because project managers spend so much of their time communicating, it’s essential for them to provide adequate planning for communication. Such planning focuses on who needs what information and when they need it. A project manager must identify the stakeholders’ requirements for communication, determine what information is actually needed, and then plan to deliver the needed information on a preset schedule or based on project conditions. The project manager considers all aspects of the communication in this planning activity:

Who needs the information

When the information will be needed

The expected modality of the information

How the communications will be archived and, if necessary, retrieved

Communication influences (time zones, languages, working hours, technology, and cultural considerations)

Communications planning is typically completed early in the project. As part of this planning, the modality of the communications is documented. Some stakeholders may prefer a hard-copy communications document rather than an e-mail. Later in the project, these needs can change. Throughout the project, the needs of the stakeholders, the type of information requested, and the modality of the information should be reviewed for accuracy—and updated if needed.

In the communications management plan, the project manager must consider and document how the communications will be stored and retrieved. E-mails are a popular, logical choice but not always the best choice based on the urgency of the message or the stakeholders. Whatever modality is selected, verbal, electronic, or paper-based, there should be some acknowledgement and documentation of the message. Throughout the project, the project manager and the project team may need to retrieve past communications to make current project decisions.

Considering the Project Management Plan

The project management plan is a key input to communications management planning because it defines the intent of each of the knowledge areas in the project. Consider the related communication triggers that may be needed for time, cost, scope, quality, human resources, risk, procurement, and, of course, the project stakeholders. Through project integration management, each area of the project affects all of the other areas of the project—and this is why communication is so important. Without proper communication planning (and execution), the interactions and coordination of the project will likely suffer.

While project managers do consider all of the project plans, they must also examine the constraints and assumptions that will affect decisions, activities, and stakeholders. Every project has constraints and assumptions. Recall that constraints are any force that limits the project’s options. A project constraint, such as contractual obligations, may require extensive communications. The requirements of the contract should be evaluated against the demands of the project staff to determine whether extra resources will be needed to handle the communications. Constraints the project manager should consider when it comes to communications include the following:

The project team members’ geographical locales

The compatibility of communications software

Technical capabilities

Language barriers

Telephone and videoconferencing abilities

Constraints always limit the project team’s options. Assumptions are considered true but aren’t proven.

Assumptions will no doubt vary from project to project. Thus, the project manager and the project team should attempt to identify the assumptions made in the project that may hinder successful project communications.

Consider a project operating under the assumption that communications with management can happen only through e-mail. Management, however, expects the project manager to provide formal status reports and daily updates via memos and also needs staffing updates from each of the project team members. This false assumption can impose time demands that the project manager doesn’t expect.

Leveraging Enterprise Environmental Factors

When planning project communications, project managers should also consider their enterprise environmental factors. As a reminder, the following are the basic enterprise environmental factors that need to be considered for communications planning:

Organizational culture and structure

Relevant standards and regulations

Organizational infrastructure

Human resources

Marketplace conditions

Risk tolerances

Project management information systems

These factors can help the project management team determine what needs to be communicated and to whom. The project manager can also rely on organizational process assets (covered in Chapter 4). The two process assets that the project manager should pay most attention to during communications planning are lessons learned and historical information. The project manager can use proven information from the past to make decisions about the present project.

Of course, the project manager will rely on the project scope statement as part of communications planning. Why? Because the scope statement ensures that everyone involved in the project understands the project’s goals, and it provides a common point of reference for all stakeholders. This will come in handy when the project manager is managing the project stakeholders.

Identifying Communication Requirements

Stakeholders will need different types of information, depending on their interest in the project and the priority of the project. The project manager will need to complete an analysis of the identified stakeholders to determine what information they actually need and how often the information is needed.

There is no value in expending resources on generating information, reports, and analyses for stakeholders who have no interest in the information. An accurate assessment of stakeholders’ needs for information is required early in the project-planning processes. As a rule of thumb, provide information when its presence contributes to success or when a lack of information can contribute to failure.

See the video “Project Communications Management.”

The project manager and the project team can identify the demand for communications using the following:

Organization charts

The project structure within the performing organization

Stakeholder responsibility relationships

Departments and disciplines involved with the project work

The number of individuals involved in the project and their locales

Internal and external information needs

Stakeholder information

Know this formula: N (N − 1) / 2, where N represents the number of stakeholders. It’s easy, and you’ll probably encounter it on the PMP exam.

On the PMP exam, and in the real world, the project manager will need to identify the number of communication channels within a project. Here’s a magic formula to calculate the number of communication channels: N (N − 1) / 2, where N represents the number of identified stakeholders. For example, if a project has 10 stakeholders, the formula would read 10 (10 − 1) / 2 for a total of 45 communication channels. Figure 10-1 illustrates the formula.

FIGURE 10-1 Communication channels must be identified.

Exploring Communication Technologies

Let’s face it: A project manager and a project team can take many different avenues to communicate. Project teams can effectively communicate via hallway meetings or formal project status meetings. Information can be transferred from stakeholder to stakeholder through written notes, or by using complex online databases and tracking systems.

As part of the communications planning, the project manager should identify all of the required and approved methods of communicating during the project. Some sensitive projects may involve classified information that not all stakeholders are privy to, while other projects may involve information that’s open for anyone to explore. Whatever the case, the project manager should identify what requirements exist, if any, for the communication modalities.

Communication modalities can also include meetings, reports, memos, e-mails, and so on. The project manager should identify the preferred methods of communicating based on the conditions of the message to be communicated. Consider the following, which may have an effect on the communication plan:

Urgency of the information When the information is communicated can often be as important as what’s being communicated. For some projects, information should be readily available, while for other projects, information needs are less demanding.

Technology Because of the demands of the project, technology changes may be needed to fulfill the project request. For example, the project may require an internal web site that details project progress. If such a web site does not exist, time and monies will need to be invested into this communication requirement. Also consider the availability of the project stakeholders to access the technology used to communicate.

Project staffing The project manager should evaluate the abilities of the project team to determine whether appropriate levels of competency exist to fulfill the communication requirements or whether training will be required for the project team.

Project length The length of the project can influence the project technology. Advances in technology may replace a long-term project’s communication model. A short-term project may not have the same technology requirements as a long-term project but could nevertheless benefit from the successful model a larger project uses.

Project environment How a team communicates often depends on its structure. Consider a collocated team versus a virtual team. Each team type can be effective, but each will have differing communication demands.

Sensitivity and confidentiality The nature of the message may affect how the message is communicated. Consider human resource issues, news about vendors, and major disruptions in the project execution, costs, schedule, or risks. Some news is more sensitive than others, so the project manager must determine the most appropriate way to communicate and guard sensitive information.

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, why are there so many problems on projects stemming from misunderstandings, miscommunications, failures to communicate, and similar communication failings?

Figure 10-2 demonstrates a few different communication models. All models, regardless of the technology involved, include 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 telephone wires.

Medium 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 The inverse of the encoder. If a message is encoded, a decoder translates it into a usable format. For example, the sender’s e-mail message is encoded to travel across the network, and the receiver’s computer translates the message back to a usable format.

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

Noise Includes anything that disrupts the transfer of the message.

Acknowledgement Verbal and/or nonverbal signs that the message has been received. Just because a message has been received doesn’t mean the receiver necessarily agrees with 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 every communication is listening. This means the project manager must confirm that the receiver understands the message being sent. The confirmation of the sent message can be expressed in the recipients’ body language, feedback, and verbal confirmation of the sent message. Five terms are used to 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 that 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.

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 Nonverbal clues affect the message being communicated. Facial expressions, hand gestures, and body language contribute to the message.

In interactive communications, two or more people are communicating at one time, such as a meeting. In push communications, the message is pushed out to the recipients, such as a group e-mail. In pull communications, the recipients retrieve the information from a central source, such as information pulled from a web site.

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. Remove body language from a conversation, and the message is interpreted by just the words and tonality. Always be aware of the downsides of various nondirect communication modalities: e-mail, reports, memos, and letters.

Electronic communications are more prevalent now than ever before: e-mail, texting, chats, collaborative software, and web meetings. All of these forms of communications are evolving daily, and the rules of how you communicate with these tools change just as quickly. It’s important for the project manager and the project team to establish ground rules for communication when it comes to electronic communication. The project type may dictate what type of communication is appropriate or official and when to use electronic communication versus face-to-face communication.

Creating the Communications Plan

Based on stakeholder analysis, the project manager and the project team can determine what communications are needed, to whom the communication is to be sent, and who’ll be responsible for the communication. There’s no advantage to supplying stakeholders with information that isn’t needed or desired, and the time spent creating and delivering such information is a waste of resources.

A communications management plan can organize and document the process, types, and expectations of communications. It provides the following:

The stakeholder communications requirements to communicate the appropriate information as demanded by the stakeholders.

Information on what is to be communicated. This includes the expected format, content, and detail—think project reports versus quick e-mail updates.

Details on how needed information flows through the project to the appropriate individuals. The communication structure documents where the information will originate, to whom the information will be sent, and in what modality the information is acceptable. This is especially important when dealing with the public, the media, or with sensitive information.

Appropriate methods for communicating include e-mails, memos, reports, and even press releases.

Schedules of when the various types of communication should occur. Some communication, such as status meetings, should happen on a regular schedule, while other communications may be prompted by conditions within the project.

Escalation processes and time frames for moving issues upward in the organization when they can’t be solved at lower levels.

Methods to retrieve information as needed.

Instructions on how the communications management plan can be updated as the project progresses.

A project glossary.

CERTIFICATION OBJECTIVE 10.02

Managing Project Communications

The managing project communications process includes the gathering of project information, the distribution of the project information, and the archival of project communications for later retrieval if needed. At the heart of this process, however, is the actual distribution of the information to the appropriate parties. Information distribution ensures that the proper 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.

Four elements serve as inputs to managing the project communications:

The communications management plan This plan serves as the guide for communicating project issues within the performing organization.

Work performance reports The work performance reports document how the project is performing on cost, schedule, quality, and other key performance indicators. Work results, good or bad, serve as inputs to communication because they show progress (or lack of progress), quality issues, and other relevant information.

Enterprise environmental factors The organization’s internal requirements may affect how the project manager and the project team are allowed to communicate and with whom. Regulatory and government requirements will also likely affect how and with whom the project manager can communicate.

Organizational process assets The organization may have forms, procedures, templates, and electronic workflows established for the project manager and the project team to follow in communications. These elements are all part of organizational process assets that can assist and structure the communications.

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 repository, 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 it is updated as new information becomes available.

Creating Lessons Learned

Do you ever wish you could travel back in time? With lessons learned, you almost can. The whole point of lessons learned is to improve future projects by sharing what was learned during the current project.

A lessons-learned session is completed with the project manager, the project team, and key stakeholders to identify lessons they’ve learned in the technical, managerial, and project processes. Think of it: You’re helping other project managers way off in the future by documenting what works and what doesn’t in your project.

Lessons learned should happen throughout the project—not just at the project’s conclusion. As a project moves through phases, project managers can use a lessons-learned session as a good team-building exercise. This means documenting and learning from what worked and what didn’t within the project.

Distributing Information

Throughout the project, the project manager, the project sponsor, the project team, and other stakeholders are going to need information from 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 appropriate format in which to share variance information regarding project costs.

Information can be distributed through some of the following methods, given project demands and available technology:

Project meetings

Hard-copy documentation

Databases

Faxes

E-mails

Telephone calls

Videoconferences

A project web site

Examining the Results of Information Distribution

Information distribution results in the following:

Lessons learned When lessons-learned sessions are completed, they’re available to be used and applied. They are now part of the organization’s process assets.

Project records All of the project communications are part of the organizational process assets. This includes e-mails, memos, letters, and faxes. In some instances, the project team can also contribute by keeping their records in a project notebook.

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

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.

Feedback from stakeholders Stakeholders are usually happy to offer their feedback on the project performance. Project managers should then document this feedback and apply it to improve the project’s performance.

Stakeholder notifications No doubt as the project rolls along there will be notifications to the stakeholders about resolved issues, approved changes, and the overall health of the project. This information should be kept for future reference.

CERTIFICATION OBJECTIVE 10.03

Controlling Project Communications

The project manager needs to be at the hub of communications. The project manager must know what’s being communicated among the project team, the project customers, the vendors, and even among the public. Being a good communicator is a key asset for the project manager, but there’s more than just being able to speak with stakeholders. Controlling the project communications is an integral part of the project manager’s daily role. The project manager needs to examine on a regular basis what’s happening in the project, who needs to be informed of the project events, and how the information should be packaged, delivered, and protected.

Controlling the project communications doesn’t mean that only the project manager can communicate throughout the project. It means that the project manager is responsible for the communications—she ensures that actions are taken so that the appropriate project stakeholders communicate with one another. Of course, the project manager will issue the most communications regarding the project, but she must also coordinate bringing stakeholders together so that the two parties can contribute to the project information. A good project manager is a good communicator, but also a good facilitator.

Preparing for Communications Control

It takes some foresight to control how project communications take place, and part of this comes from project planning. By thinking through the strengths and weaknesses of project communications, the project manager and the project team can identify appropriate strategies for ensuring that the correct stakeholders get the correct information at the correct time. Following are the inputs for communication control:

Project management plan The project management plan ensures that the project information will be communicated to meet the stakeholder expectations for communication in all areas of the project. This includes the frequency of the communications, the parties that need to be involved in the communication, and the modality of the communication.

Project communications Existing communications, such as performance reports, status reports, schedule updates, costs, and risks, affect how the project manager communicates, how the news is communicated, and the sensitivity of the communication.

Issue log The project’s issue log documents known issues, their effect on the project, issue owners, dates for resolution, and the outcome of the known issue. The issue log is needed in the control communications process because the known issues will need to be discussed and monitored until they are resolved.

Work performance date The health of the project will affect the project communications. Consider any variance in costs, schedule, and scope and how the project manager must react to, communicate, and control this information.

Organizational process assets The organization may rely on templates, forms, and standardized approaches to communicate and control the communications in the project. Consider archival practices, security of the documentation, media relations, and approved modalities for project communications.

Analyzing Project Variances

Performance review meetings are not the only tools the project manager uses to assess project performance. Prior to the performance reviews, or spurred by a performance review, the project manager needs to examine the time, scope, quality, and cost variances within the project. The project manager will examine the estimates supplied for the time and cost of activities and compare them to the actual time and cost.

The goals of analyzing project variances include the following:

Prevent future variances.

Determine the root cause of variances.

Determine whether the variances are an anomaly or the estimates were flawed.

Determine whether the variances are within a predetermined acceptable range, such as –10 percent or +5 percent.

Determine whether the variances can be expected on future project work.

In addition to examining the time and cost variances, which are the most common types, the project manager must examine any scope, resource, and quality variances. A change in the scope can skew time and cost predictions. A variance in resources, such as the expected performance by a given resource, can alter the project schedule and even the predicted costs of a project. Quality variances may result in rework, lost time, lost monies, change requests, and even the rejection of the project product.

Performance reporting is often based on the results of earned value management. See Chapter 7 for detailed information on how to calculate EVM.

CERTIFICATION OBJECTIVE 10.04

Reporting Project Performance

Throughout the project, customers and other stakeholders will need updates on the project performance. The work performance information, the status of what’s been completed and what’s left to do, is always at the heart of performance reporting. Stakeholders want to be kept abreast of how the project is performing.

Performance reporting is the process of collecting, organizing, and disseminating information on how project resources are being used to complete the project objectives. In other words, the people footing the bill and affected by the outcome of the project need some confirmation that things are going the way the project manager has promised.

Performance reporting covers more than just cost and schedule, though these are the most common concerns. Another huge issue is the influence of risks on the project’s success. The project manager and the project team must continue to monitor and evaluate risks, including pending risks and their impact on the project’s success.

Another major concern with reporting is the level of quality. No one will praise the project manager and the project team for completing the project on time and on budget if the quality of the work is unacceptable. In fact, the project could be declared a failure and cancelled as a result of poor quality, or the project team may be forced to redo the work, business could be lost, or individuals could even be harmed as a result of the poor quality of the project work.

Reviewing Project Performance

The project manager will host performance review meetings to ascertain the progress and level of success the project team is having with the project work. Performance review meetings focus on the work that has been completed and how the work results measure up to the time and cost estimates. In addition, the project manager and the project team will evaluate the project scope to protect it from change and creep. The project manager and the project team will also examine quality and its effect on the project as a whole. Finally, the project manager must lead a discussion on pending or past risks and then determine any new risks, as well as the overall risk likelihood and its potential impact on the project’s success.

Completing Trend Analysis

Picture this: You’re a project manager for a long-term project. You’d like to examine the project’s performance for the past few years to predict what the upcoming performance will be like. You’re doing trend analysis, an approach that studies trends in past performances in order to predict what upcoming experiences might resemble. It is great for long projects, analysis of team performance, and predicting future activities.

Examining the Results of Performance Reporting

The goal of performance reporting is to share information regarding the project performance with the appropriate stakeholders. Of course, performance reporting is not something that occurs only at the end of the project or after a project phase. Instead, it is done according to a regular schedule, as detailed in the communication plan or as project conditions warrant. Outputs of performance reporting include such things as the following:

Performance reports These are the results and summation of the project performance analysis. The communications management plan will detail the type of report needed based on the conditions within the project, the timing of the communication, and the demands of the project stakeholders.

Forecasting Will the project end on schedule? Will the project be on budget? How much longer will it take to complete the project? And how much more money will this project need to finish?

Change requests Performance results may prompt change requests to some area or areas of the project. The change requests should flow into the change control system for consideration and then be approved or denied.

Recommended corrective actions Corrective actions bring future project performance back in alignment with the project plan.

Forecasting project performance can use a time series method, such as earned value management, linear prediction, or the growth curve of the project. Forecasting can also use causal and econometric approaches to predict project performance. The Delphi Technique, scenarios, and forecasts by analogy are all examples of judgmental methods.

INSIDE THE EXAM

Communication is a project manager’s most important skill. Project managers spend the majority of their time communicating. Because the project manager is expected to spend so much time communicating, you can bet she needs a plan to determine what needs to be communicated, to whom, and when. The communications management plan is the comprehensive plan that the project manager and the project team rely on for guidance to all communication.

The organizational structure affects the level of communications the project manager can expect. Matrix structures must include the functional managers of the project team from the different units within the organization, whereas a functional organization doesn’t require the same level of complexity in reporting.

The basic communication model consists of a sender, a message, a medium, and a receiver. When technology is involved, the project can become more complex: encoders, the medium, and decoders are included. Consider sending an e-mail: You are the sender, Jane is the recipient, and the message is the information on the page to be sent via the e-mail system. The encoder is your outgoing e-mail server and software, and Jane’s incoming e-mail server and software on her computer is the decoder. The network between the e-mail servers, computers, and e-mail software are all the medium. Any interference on the medium is noise and could possibly disrupt the message during transmission.

Management, customers, and other concerned stakeholders will be interested in the project performance. The project manager will need to meet their expectations on an established schedule or based on conditions within the project. One of the most common methods for showing performance is through earned value analysis.

Stakeholder management is vital to a project’s success. Stakeholders expect the project manager to lead stakeholder management and to include them in the project. And this makes sense—it’s their project, after all. Issue management is paramount. If a project manager fails to resolve project issues that are important to the stakeholder, the project is likely to be riddled with delays, conflict, and stakeholder anxiety.

CERTIFICATION SUMMARY

Communication is a project manager’s most important skill. Project managers must communicate with management, customers, the project team members, and the rest of the stakeholders involved with the project. The project manager’s foundation is communication. Without effective communication, how will work get completed, progress reported, and information dispersed?

Communications planning centers on two questions: “Who needs what information, and when do they need it?” Consider all of the different channels for communication on any project. That’s many different possibilities for information to be lost, messages to be skewed, and progress to be hindered.

The formula for calculating the communication channels is N (N − 1) / 2, where N represents the number of stakeholders. As a general rule, larger projects require more detail—and detail means more planning for communications.

The communications management plan organizes and documents the communication processes, acceptable modalities for types of communication, and the stakeholder expectations for communication. The plan should detail how information is gathered, organized, accessed, and dispersed. The plan should also provide a schedule of expected communication, such as project status meetings, based on a calendar schedule. Some communications are prompted by conditions within the project, such as cost variances, schedule variances, or other performance-related issues.

The communication model illustrates the flow of communication from the sender to the receiver. The sender sends the message. The message is then encoded by the encoder and travels over the medium. Once it arrives at its destination, a decoder decodes the message for the receiver. This model is easy to remember if you apply the processes to a telephone call.

Within a communication, five characteristics affect the message:

Paralingual Pitch, tone, and voice inflections.

Feedback Sender confirmation of the message by asking questions, requesting a response, or other confirmation signals.

Active listening The receiver confirms message receipt.

Effective listening The receiver offers confirmation of the message, such as nodding his head, asking questions, or initiating other interactions.

Nonverbal Facial expressions, hand gestures, and body language.

Key Terms

To pass the PMP exam, you will need to memorize the following terms and their definitions. For maximum value, create your own flashcards based on these definitions and review them daily. The definitions can be found both within this chapter and in the glossary.

active listening Occurs when the receiver confirms the message is being received by feedback, questions, prompts for clarity, and other signs of having received the message.

control communications Project management process that ensures that communication happens according to the project’s communications management plan.

communications formula The formula N (N − 1) / 2 shows the number of communication channels in a project. N represents the total number of stakeholders.

communications management plan A plan that documents and organizes the stakeholder needs for communication. This plan covers the communications system, its documentation, the flow of communication, modalities of communication, schedules for communications, information retrieval, and any other stakeholder requirements for communications.

decoder Part of the communications model; it is the inverse of the encoder. If a message is encoded, a decoder translates it back to usable format.

effective listening The receiver is involved in the listening experience by paying attention to visual clues by the speaker and to paralingual intentions and by asking relevant questions.

encoder Part of the communications model; the device or technology that packages the message to travel over the medium.

feedback Sender confirmation of the message by asking questions, requesting a response, or other confirmation signals.

forecasting An educated estimate of how long the project will take to complete. Can also refer to how much the project may cost to complete.

interactive communication Communication between two or more parties; usually through active communications such as meetings, phone calls, and videoconferencing.

issue Any point of contention, debate, or decision that has not yet been made in the project that may affect the project’s success.

issue log A log documenting all identified issues affecting the project. Each issue is assigned an issue owner and an ideal date for resolution, and its status is maintained through the issue log.

medium Part of the communications model; this is the path the message takes from the sender to the receiver. This is the modality in which the communication travels, and it typically refers to an electronic model, such as e-mail or the telephone.

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

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

progress reports These provide current information on the project work completed to date.

pull communications The information is pulled from a repository, such as a database or web site.

push communications The information is pushed to the recipients, such as an e-mail or a text message.

receiver Part of the communications model: the recipient of the message.

sender Part of the communications model: the person or group delivering the message to the receiver.

stakeholder registry A document that defines each stakeholder, their project requirements, influence on the project, phases of interest, details on the stakeholders contributions, and their contact information for the project.

status reports Provide current information on the project cost, budget, scope, and other relevant information.

TWO-MINUTE DRILL

Communications Planning

Communication centers on who needs what information, when the information is needed, and how the information is delivered.

Communication requirements are set by stakeholders.

Communication planning is accomplished early in the planning process.

Communications are linked to the organizational structure of the performing organization.

Constraints and assumptions can affect the communications planning.

Acknowledgment of a message can be positive or negative. Just because a receiver got the message, it doesn’t mean she has to agree with it.

The communications plan provides instructions on the communications methods, such as hard copies, reports, and e-mail.

Managing Project Communications

The choice of media is dictated by the urgency and importance of the message to be communicated.

The project manager should be versed in meeting management techniques to run a meeting effectively. Agendas, minutes, and a timetable should be enforced at most meetings.

The project manager should also identify a method to access needed information between regularly scheduled communications for the project stakeholders.

Controlling Project Communications

The project manager is responsible for managing project communication.

Face-to-face meetings are best for resolving issues with stakeholders.

Issue logs document issues between the stakeholders and the project. When issues are resolved, the issue log should be updated to reflect the resolution.

Communications can bring about project change requests depending on the information communicated to the stakeholders.

Reporting Project Performance

Status reporting provides current information on the project.

Progress reporting provides information on what the team has accomplished and may include information on what is yet to be accomplished.

Forecasting provides information on how the remainder of the project or phase is expected to proceed.

Variance analysis examines the reasons why cost, schedule, scope, quality, and other factors may vary from what was planned.

Trend analysis is the study of trends over time to reveal patterns and expectations of future results.

Earned value analysis is a series of formulas that reveal and predict project performance.

SELF TEST

1. In the project communication model, many elements must be present to allow communication to occur. One element, noise, can prevent the effectiveness of the communication message. Of the following, which one is an example of noise?

A. E-mail servers

B. Ad-hoc conversations

C. Contractual agreements

D. Distance

2. You are the project manager of a large technical project. You believe that Jose has received an important message but does not agree with it based on his body language. This is known as what?

A. Acknowledgement

B. Transmission

C. Negotiation

D. Decoder

3. You are the project manager for the LKH Project. Management has requested that you create a document detailing what information will be expected from stakeholders and to whom that information will be disseminated. Management is asking for which one of the following?

A. The roles and responsibilities matrix

B. The scope management plan

C. The communications management plan

D. The communications worksheet

4. You are the project manager of the HBQ Project in your organization. This project will last for six months, and you must communicate with 35 stakeholders throughout the project. You and the project team will create a communications management plan as part of project planning. Which of the following will help you, the project manager, complete the needed communications management plan by identifying the stakeholders’ communication needs?

A. Identification of all communication channels

B. Formal documentation of all communication channels

C. Formal documentation of all stakeholders

D. Lessons learned from previous similar projects

5. You are the project manager for the JGI Project, which has 32 stakeholders involved. How many communication channels do you have?

A. Depends on the number of project team members

B. 496

C. 32

D. 1

6. You are the project manager for the KLN Project. You had 19 stakeholders on this project and have added 3 team members. How many more communication channels do you have now compared to before?

A. 171

B. 231

C. 60

D. 1

7. You are the project manager of the HQS Project for your organization. Your project will utilize push and pull communications on a daily basis. A memo has been sent to you and project team members and the project customers from the project sponsor. In this instance, who is the encoder?

A. Project sponsor

B. Project manager

C. Project team members

D. Project customers

8. Mary is a project manager of the JQL Project for her company. This project is a multinational project with stakeholders in three countries: the United States, Belgium, and Germany. In this project, Mary will need to plan for project assumptions and constraints that affect how she and the other project stakeholders will communicate. Which one of the following is an example of a project communication constraint?

A. Ad-hoc conversations through web conferencing software

B. Demands for formal reports

C. Stakeholder management

D. The geographical locales of the project team

9. Project managers can present project information in many different ways. Which one of the following is not a method a project manager can use to present project performance?

A. Histograms

B. S-curves

C. Bar charts

D. RACI charts

10. How the message is communicated affects the meaning of the message. Of the following, which term describes the pitch and tone of an individual’s voice?

A. Paralingual

B. Feedback

C. Effective listening

D. Active listening

11. You are the project manager of the KMH Project. This project is slated to last eight years. You have just calculated EVM and have a CV of –$3500, which is outside of the acceptable thresholds for your project. What type of report is needed for management?

A. Progress report

B. Forecast report

C. Exception report

D. Trends report

12. You are presenting your project performance to your key stakeholders. Several of the stakeholders receive phone calls during your presentation, and this is distracting from your message. This is an example of what?

A. Noise

B. Negative feedback

C. Outside communications

D. Message distracter

13. You are the project manager for the OOK Project. You will be hosting project meetings every week. Of the following, which one is not a valid rule for project meetings?

A. Schedule recurring meetings as soon as possible.

B. Allow project meetings to last as long as needed.

C. Distribute meeting agendas prior to the meeting start.

D. Allow the project team to have input to the agenda.

14. As a PMP candidate, you must be familiar with the communication model and the structure of communication in a project. The three basic elements needed for communication in project management include which of the following?

A. Words, sentences, paragraphs

B. Proper grammar, spelling, ideas

C. Verbal, nonverbal, action

D. Sender, receiver, message

15. Your project is slated to last three years and will include stakeholders from four countries. In this project, you’ll rely on teleconferencing and web collaboration software to reduce the travel costs throughout the project life cycle. Based on this information, which one of the following is a project factor that may affect project communication?

A. Communications management

B. Management by walking around

C. The project length

D. Variance analysis reporting

16. Your project team relies on telephone calls and e-mails to communicate information on a daily basis. As the project manager, you’d like to see more interactive, face-to-face meetings for project team members that are located in the same geographical area. A team member asks why, and you say it’s because of the advantages offered by nonverbal language. What percentage of a message is sent through nonverbal communications, such as facial expressions, hand gestures, and body language?

A. More than 50 percent

B. 30 to 40 percent

C. 20 to 30 percent

D. 10 to 20 percent

17. One of the enterprise environmental factors that your project communications management plan must address is the concept of lessons-learned documentation. When does lessons-learned identification take place?

A. At the end of the project

B. At the end of each project phase

C. Throughout the project life cycle

D. Whenever a lesson has been learned

18. Why should a project team complete lessons-learned documentation?

A. To ensure project closure

B. To show management what they’ve accomplished in the project

C. To show the project stakeholders what they’ve accomplished in the project

D. To help future project teams complete their projects more efficiently

19. Often as a project manager you will have to negotiate. Negotiations work best in which environment?

A. Caution and yielding

B. Sincerity, honesty, and extreme caution

C. Mutual respect and admiration

D. Mutual respect and cooperation

20. You are the project manager for the PMU Project. Your project team has 13 members. You have been informed that next week your project will receive the 7 additional members you requested. How many channels of communication will you have next week?

A. 1

B. 78

C. 190

D. 201

21. You are the project manager of the NH Project for your company, and you’re required to use earned value management in the project. The outcomes of earned value management contribute to the requirements and targets for performance reporting. Performance reporting should generally provide information on all of the following except for which one?

A. Scope

B. Schedule

C. Labor issues

D. Quality

22. Sam is the project manager of the AZA Project for your company, and he is required to use earned value management in the project. Management has created performance targets for CPI and SPI based on the project team’s overall performance in the project. Sam must follow the enterprise environmental factors for reporting all components of EVM. Which one of the following is an output from performance reporting?

A. Trend analysis

B. EVM

C. Variance analysis

D. Change requests

23. As a PMP candidate you must be familiar with the project communications processes, the communications model, and the terminology associated with communications. For instance, the process of sending information from the project manager to the project team is called what?

A. Functioning

B. Matrixing

C. Blended communications

D. Transmitting

24. George is the project manager of the 7YH Project. In this project, George considers the relationship between himself and the customer to be of utmost importance. Which one of the following is a valid reason for George’s belief in this?

A. The customer will complete George’s performance evaluation. A poor communication model between George and the customer will affect his project bonus.

B. The customer is not familiar with project management. George must educate the customer about the process.

C. The customer is always right.

D. The communication between the customer and George can convey the project objectives more clearly than can the language in the project contract.

25. Betty is the project manager for her organization and she’s currently managing the HGF Project. Her project has 45 stakeholders in two different time zones. According to the communications model, which one of the following means that communications occur when Betty communicates with the project team?

A. The transfer of knowledge

B. The outputting of knowledge

C. The presence of knowledge

D. The transmission of knowledge

SELF TEST ANSWERS

A. E-mail servers

B. Ad-hoc conversations

C. Contractual agreements

D. Distance

D. Noise is anything that interferes with the transmission and understanding of the message. Distance is an example of noise.

A, e-mail servers, is incorrect because it is an example of a decoder. B is incorrect; ad-hoc conversations are informal conversations. C, contractual agreements, are a type of formal communication.

2. You are the project manager of a large technical project. You believe that Jose has received an important message but does not agree with it based on his body language. This is known as what?

A. Acknowledgement

B. Transmission

C. Negotiation

D. Decoder

A. Acknowledgement means that Jose has received the message but may not agree with it.

B, C, and D are incorrect. A transmission is the output of the message, negotiation is not relevant to this scenario, and a decoder is the mechanism for decoding the message.

A. The roles and responsibilities matrix

B. The scope management plan

C. The communications management plan

D. The communications worksheet

C. Management is requesting a communications management plan, which details the requirements and expectations for communicating information among the project stakeholders.

A is incorrect because a roles and responsibilities matrix depicts who does what and who makes which decisions. B, the scope management plan, is also incorrect because this plan explains how changes to the scope may be allowed depending on the circumstances. D is not a valid answer for this question.

A. Identification of all communication channels

B. Formal documentation of all communication channels

C. Formal documentation of all stakeholders

D. Lessons learned from previous similar projects

D. Lessons learned and historical information from a previous project are ideal inputs to communications planning.

A, B, and C are incorrect because these answers do not fully answer the question. Lessons learned from previous similar projects is the best tool for identifying stakeholders’ requirements for communication.

5. You are the project manager for the JGI Project, which has 32 stakeholders involved. How many communication channels do you have?

A. Depends on the number of project team members

B. 496

C. 32

D. 1

B. Using the formula N (N − 1) / 2, where N represents the number of stakeholders, you have 496 communication channels.

A, C, and D are incorrect. These values do not reflect the number of communication channels on the project.

6. You are the project manager for the KLN Project. You had 19 stakeholders on this project and have added 3 team members. How many more communication channels do you have now compared to before?

A. 171

B. 231

C. 60

D. 1

C. This is a tough question, but it’s typical of the PMP exam. The question asks how many more communication channels exist. You’ll have to calculate the new value, which is 231, and then subtract the original value, which is 171, for a total of 60 new channels.

A is incorrect. 171 is the original number of communication channels. B is incorrect because this value reflects the new number of communication channels. D is not a valid answer.

A. Project sponsor

B. Project manager

C. Project team members

D. Project customers

A. The project sponsor is the source of the memo because this is the sender of the message.

B, C, and D are all recipients of the memo, not the sender, so they cannot be the source of the message.

A. Ad-hoc conversations through web conferencing software

B. Demands for formal reports

C. Stakeholder management

D. The geographical locales of the project team

D. Team members who are located physically close together can be a communications constraint because it’s tougher to communicate when distance between team members exists.

A, B, and C are all incorrect because these are not project communications constraints.

9. Project managers can present project information in many different ways. Which one of the following is not a method a project manager can use to present project performance?

A. Histograms

B. S-curves

C. Bar charts

D. RACI charts

D. RACI charts do not show project performance, but accountability of the resources involved in the project.

A, B, and C are incorrect because these answers do present project performance.

10. How the message is communicated affects the meaning of the message. Of the following, which term describes the pitch and tone of an individual’s voice?

A. Paralingual

B. Feedback

C. Effective listening

D. Active listening

A. Paralingual is a term used to describe the pitch and tone of one’s voice.

B, feedback, is a request to confirm the information sent in the conversation. C, effective listening, is the ability to understand the message through what is said, facial expressions, gestures, tone and pitch, and so on. D, active listening, is the process of confirming what is understood and asking for clarification when needed.

A. Progress report

B. Forecast report

C. Exception report

D. Trends report

C. An exception report is typically completed when variances exceed a given limit.

A is incorrect. A progress report describes the progress of the project or phase. B is incorrect because this is not a valid answer. D, a trends report, is an analysis of project trends over time.

A. Noise

B. Negative feedback

C. Outside communications

D. Message distracter

A. Noise is the correct answer because their phone calls are distracting from your message.

B, C, and D are incorrect because they do not answer the question.

13. You are the project manager for the OOK Project. You will be hosting project meetings every week. Of the following, which one is not a valid rule for project meetings?

A. Schedule recurring meetings as soon as possible.

B. Allow project meetings to last as long as needed.

C. Distribute meeting agendas prior to the meeting start.

D. Allow the project team to have input to the agenda.

B. Project meetings should have a set time limit.

A, C, and D are incorrect answers because these are good attributes of project team meetings.

A. Words, sentences, paragraphs

B. Proper grammar, spelling, ideas

C. Verbal, nonverbal, action

D. Sender, receiver, message

D. The three parts of communication are sender, receiver, and message.

A, B, and C are all incorrect.

A. Communications management

B. Management by walking around

C. The project length

D. Variance analysis reporting

C. The project duration is the only factor that may affect project communication. Project communication is always needed, but longer, larger projects will require more communications than shorter, smaller scoped projects.

A is incorrect because communications management focuses on managing communications, not performance. B, management by walking around, is an effective management style, but it does not reflect project performance. D, variance analysis, is incorrect because it focuses on the root causes of variances within the project, but not solely on the project performance.

A. More than 50 percent

B. 30 to 40 percent

C. 20 to 30 percent

D. 10 to 20 percent

A. More than 50 percent of a message is conveyed through nonverbal communications.

B, C, and D are incorrect.

A. At the end of the project

B. At the end of each project phase

C. Throughout the project life cycle

D. Whenever a lesson has been learned

C. Lessons learned takes place throughout the project life cycle, not just at the end of the project or its phases.

A, B, and D are incorrect because lessons learned takes place throughout the project life cycle.

18. Why should a project team complete lessons-learned documentation?

A. To ensure project closure

B. To show management what they’ve accomplished in the project

C. To show the project stakeholders what they’ve accomplished in the project

D. To help future project teams complete their projects more efficiently

D. Lessons-learned documentation helps future project teams complete their projects with more efficiency and effectiveness.

A, B, and C are incorrect because each statement does not reflect the intent of lessons-learned documentation: to help future project teams.

19. Often as a project manager you will have to negotiate. Negotiations work best in which environment?

A. Caution and yielding

B. Sincerity, honesty, and extreme caution

C. Mutual respect and admiration

D. Mutual respect and cooperation

D. Mutual respect and cooperation is the environment needed for fair and balanced negotiations.

A, caution and yielding, is not a good environment for negotiations. B, although tempting, is not the best answer. C is incorrect because the people involved in negotiations don’t necessarily need to admire one another.

A. 1

B. 78

C. 190

D. 201

C. The project currently has 13 team members, and next week 7 additional team members will come aboard, thus making a total of 20 team members. Using the formula N (N − 1) / 2, where N is the number of identified stakeholders, the communication channels equal 190.

A, B, and D are all incorrect.

A. Scope

B. Schedule

C. Labor issues

D. Quality

C. Labor issues are not part of performance reporting.

A, B, and D are all part of performance reporting.

A. Trend analysis

B. EVM

C. Variance analysis

D. Change requests

D. Of all the answers, a change request is the only acceptable answer. Incidentally, there are two outputs of performance reporting: change requests and performance reports.

A, trend analysis, is the study of project performance results to determine whether the project is improving or failing. It is a tool used as part of performance reporting, but it is not an output of performance reporting. B and C are also tools used in performance reporting, but they are not an output of the process.

A. Functioning

B. Matrixing

C. Blended communications

D. Transmitting

D. When information is sent, it is considered to be transmitted.

A, B, and C are all incorrect. Functioning, matrix, and blended communications are not valid communication models.

A. The customer will complete George’s performance evaluation. A poor communication model between George and the customer will affect his project bonus.

B. The customer is not familiar with project management. George must educate the customer about the process.

C. The customer is always right.

D. The communication between the customer and George can convey the project objectives more clearly than can the language in the project contract.

D. George and the customer’s relationship can allow clearer communication on the project objectives than what may be expressed in the project contract. The contract should take precedence on any issues, but direct contact is often the best way to achieve clear and concise communication.

A is incorrect because the focus is on personal gain rather than the good of the project. B is incorrect because the customer does not necessarily need to be educated about the project management process. C is incorrect because the customer is not always right—the contract will take precedence in any disagreements.

A. The transfer of knowledge

B. The outputting of knowledge

C. The presence of knowledge

D. The transmission of knowledge

A. The transfer of knowledge is evidence that communication has occurred.

B and C do not necessarily mean that knowledge has originated from the source and that it has been transferred to the recipient. D is also incorrect because messages are transmitted, but knowledge is transferred.