Development Cooperation Handbook/Designing and Executing Projects/Communication Management/Communication Planning/Identify the Method and the Effort Required
The Project Development team (PDT) identifies:
- Who produces the product
- Who receives the product
- The method of product transmittal
This information is tied directly to WBS elements and sub-products required for the project. The communication matrix includes all the information needed to manage project communication.
Keep in mind the following guidelines:
- Prepare a clear path. To keep messages flowing freely, you need to ensure that the channels you use for communication are ready at the beginning of the project. Here are a few preparations that can help smooth the way.
- Set up your tools
- Set up e-mail and phone distribution lists for groups inside and outside the team.
- Create a central network location for storage of all project information.
- Create templates for presentations, status reports, meeting minutes, and other important documents. Make sure that these follow organization-wide standards.
- Schedule conference rooms, projectors and conference calls in advance.
- Provide the team with access to the right tools, such as the following:
- A shared project calendar
- Collaboration software
- Access to intranet web sites
- Access to project databases
- Set up standard procedures
Contact third parties early to set up procedures for communicating with your project team.
- Create an approval chain for announcements that go outside the project team.
- Advise team members to organize all project-related e-mail messages so that they are easy to locate and refer to throughout the project. Team members can either file messages in electronic folders or print hard copies and keep them in a binder.