What means of [tag]project communication[/tag] do you need for your projects? Can you think a little out of the box for more effective communications to your [tag]stakeholders[/tag]? Today we have many available means of communications, and people in public or private are constantly being bombarded with communications of all sorts. Sometimes project managers have unique communication needs for their projects, and often some repurposing of old ideas leads to some pretty novel and effective solutions! Here is a quick but growing list common means of communications on projects today and when you should consider using them. If you are used to working within a confined niche, these might help you to think outside the box a bit for some new and effective possibilities:
| Communication Mode | Comments |
| Can be a little impersonal, but is very good for [tag]asynchronous communication[/tag] – when someone is not there. Can be frustrating if you need [tag]synchronous communication[/tag]. | |
| Telephone | Very direct, but the person must be there and often is not. |
| Telecons | Telephone meetings with multiple people at various locations |
| Virtual meetings | White boarding, screen sharing, demonstrating, polling, Q & A over the web |
| Cell Phone | Can be used anywhere, but attention is often not 100%, connections are not always good, and it can be a distraction to the users. |
| PDA or Hand Held Device | Use email and web sites anywhere (where there is service), but like cell phones, attention is often not 100%, connections are not always good, and it can be a distraction to the users. |
| Slow but sure; hard copy; requires hard copy filing and storage | |
| Fax | Quick and easy way to share content, but not actual, hard copies |
| Blogs | Great way to create a diary continuous conversation threads; can allow for automated building of project history |
| Forums | Great way to share ideas asynchronously, build consensus, and arrive at decisions in a virtual environment |
| Web Sites | Sharing of ideas, pictures, documents, messages; gateway for an audience to back end data and processes; must be marketed or promoted to get people to use, as they are ‘pull’ and not ‘push’. |
| Press Releases | Can be used to spread a single or series of messages to a targeted audience |
| Interviews | Scheduled meetings – in person or virtual – with one or more person to gather information about a specific topic |
| In-person meetings | Traditional meeting held at a table in a room |
| Reports | Documentation of specified or prescribed information |
| White Papers | Written content of a technical nature developed from in depth study of a particular topic |
| Radio | Audio communication over established network stations that can be secured or unsecured |
| Town Meetings | Large gathering of people to discuss a particular topic or set of related topics; can be on site or virtual |
| Newsletters | News and topical communications sent at intervals to a targeted audience |
| Television | Audio and visual live or recorded communication over established network channels that can be secured or unsecured |
| Billboard | Very locations specific and used to communicate with the driving public |
| Newspaper | Specific to demographic or geographic profiles, and physically mixed with news of various categories |
| RSS feeds | Can deliver updated or added topical content directly to the person’s desktop |
| Podcasts | Great way of delivering information, as it can be listend to online or while driving or working out |
| Instant Messaging | Like email, but synchronous; allows people to quickly share ideas and answer questions, can also be quickly liked to online resources for further discussion |
Can you think of more? Â I would like to add to this list.
______________________
John Reiling, PMP
Project Management Training Online
Lean Six Sigma Training Online Â
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3 responses so far ↓
1 Daniel Nilsson // Oct 1, 2007 at 9:13 am
My experience is that you really need to combine different communication platforms due to different needs within the project team and stakeholders. Most of the projects I work in at the time are geographical spread all over the world. We use a web platform where the team members could log in 24/7. As long as the information is updated frequently it’s a good way to inform the stakeholders that could get the information through emails, pod-casts and RSS. The struggle is to implement the project culture and to make the team members to use the platform, all the time. So, my contribution to your list is rss feeds and pod-casts. /Daniel
2 admin // Oct 2, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Thank you very much, Daniel. I added RSS feeds and Podcasts to the list.
3 admin // Oct 31, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Another article that has some similar listings of communications viehicles is “Know-Go“
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