If there is one thing I have learned about project management in the past six months that I have been managing projects on my own, I think it’d be how important communication is. Communication does not just mean an e-mail here and there or a phone call once a week. Project communication needs to start early, and be frequent and consistent.
Recently, Dan and I have taken the initiative to increase our communication but not just quantity of communication; we are trying to increase the quality of our project conversations internally and with our customers. For us, this means having discussions when there is good news, bad news and no news. Good news is just that- Good. These conversations are the easy and we frequently have pleasant project updates. Unfortunately, it is our responsibility to deliver not-so-good news. Therefore some people almost fear our calls or they’re apprehensive to open our e-mails, thus, being able to have conversations with clients requires a certain level of comfort and familiarity. Without the tools we have, including Lync, we would only have phone and e-mail to communicate with several of our clients. The added capabilities of unified communications, like instant messaging and video conference, allow us the chance to get to know our clients and for them to get to know us as well, making communication all that much easier.
Heidi Christensen, PEI
