Project managers are often burdened with managing project communications along with other tasks. Sometimes, they fail to keep a record of things. However, documentation is an essential part of any project’s success. If you safely store the meeting minutes in your database, you can refer to them when in doubt. This helps you avoid having to call busy stakeholders. In this article Project-Management.com, Hannah Donato shares ten documentation tips for managing project communications.
Managing Project Communications Through Documentation
There are three real-time advantages of documentation:
- You have a record of all the decisions made for the project in writing.
- It is easier for you to discuss and negotiate expectations.
- You can constantly track the evolution of project priorities.
Here are ten ways to document while managing project communications:
Proposal
By sharing the project objectives, you are legitimizing what the project will deliver in black and white. This way, the clients also know what they can expect from you.
Auction or Bid
When clients share a request for proposal (RFP) or an invitation to bid (ITB), you can respond to it with a project bid.
Business Requirements
Managing project communications is not an easy task when stakeholders have conflicting interests. With a business requirements document (BRD), you will know the exact client requirements for each phase, milestone, and project.
Scope of Work
You want to seal the project scope to avoid diverging from the project delivery path after the project begins. Scope creep also causes overspending and delayed deliveries. You can safely prevent these with a defined SOW.
The Project Plan Document
The project plan includes goals, milestones, and how your team will achieve them within the deadline. Managing project communications becomes easier when you know what deliverables you must produce at every stage.
Status Report
Stakeholders might have several projects to take care of. Sending a status report will enable them to see how the project is progressing.
Change Register
At times, some features might get modified. Keeping versions of the requirements allows you to go back to the previous step if things do not turn out as expected.
Incident Communications
Nothing is more important than having a contingency plan ready during emergencies. You will know who to reach out to for what specific needs. These incidents can be anything, from system downtime to natural disasters.
Lessons Learned Log
You do not want to repeat the same mistake in every phase. Maintaining this document enables you to have an alternative path ready should such risks or issues arise again.
Closure Report
When it is time to wrap up your project, people are already assigned to other projects. So, managing project communications to tie up all the loose ends is necessary for project success. This report helps you end contracts, hand over remaining tasks, and review the project‘s success.
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