What Is Communication Management?
Many new project managers do not realize the importance of communication to project success. The Project Management Institute (PMI) says that project managers spend about 90% of their time communicating. That means you need to have a plan so that communication on your project is timely, is directed to the right audience, and get the message across. But remember, the project manager does not have to do all the communicating. Team leaders and project staff can support the communication. Let’s examine the process for developing a communications management plan.
A good project team must have effective communication within the team and between the team and the project stakeholders. A hazard in project management is the belief that communication links are functioning effectively as long as people are communicating with one another. The truth is that communication must be well planned to be effective. As the project manager, you are responsible for planning, building, and maintaining effective communication.
To do this, you must first recognize the variety of communication that a project needs. Different communication channels have different requirements. For example, communication from the project manager to the project sponsor and the client has one set of requirements. These differ greatly from the requirements of communication between project managers and their teams and subprojects, or between the overall project manager and the project managers of subprojects or related projects.
Communication management includes all the processes required to collect, generate, disseminate, store, and dispose of project information. Effective communication management requires communication planning, which includes the following.