The Art Of Poor Communication

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When you are in a commanding position – from a Lead to a CEO or Stakeholder, much is expected in terms of communication. Someone said ‘giving is the best form of communication’. What do you give? Information.

And what exactly is communication? Transmitting thoughts that can be read and understood. It’s not the mastery of the language or the command of the vocabulary that makes your communication good. These are of course required, if not good to possess, but the essence of communications gets down to the basics. The simpler the content, easier the read, and greater the understanding – it applies to both verbal and written form. We tend to assume speakers who can speak for hours are good communicators. Some of the greatest communicators, like Former President Ronald Reagan, who was known pen his own drafts, is hailed one amongst the best in connecting with the audience. That is the ultimate objective. Exchange of thoughts in manner there is no misunderstanding.

So what are the pitfalls in communication that makes it poor? There are many, and we have selected some of the most recurring and repeated mistakes.

Occupation Hazard: It could be an occupation hazard or the work backdrop, that communication suffers – though unintentionally. A Marketing professional uses some jargon frequently used at the work place which subconsciously influences the fluency. “So, what is the bottom line?” can have many interpretations and mostly misunderstood. It can mean as the ‘most fundamental aspect’ or ‘the balance sheet’. So how does a kid understand? ‘What is that you want to say finally?’ that’s why the disclaimer ‘occupational hazards’. It happens. Take for instance, the acronyms. MSP can stand for “Managing Successful Programmes” to “Medicare Secondary Payer “and several more expansions. So the context is essential. Set the context, and even the jargons will fall in place. Else Mandarin and Cantonese become Chinese languages but totally different. 

Follow the 5-minute rule: this happens with mind boggling frequency at the senior level when they have to go through hundreds of mail in a day that some get missed out of oversight but the sender feels slighted and, at times, insulted. It is a good practice to post a return mail within 5 minutes, even if it’s just a line. “I am busy right now. Can I get back by the end of the day?” and let’s say you miss by the end of the day, the sender will give you the benefit of doubt that something caught up and put the response on hold.

Avoid condescension; another bane when mail or phone calls are deliberately given a pass because of any reasons, mostly personal. Or even the gap in the ladder? “Oh, that person is just a junior”. To shake your head sideways to proclaim ‘I never did that’ is sanctimonious, at least, you would have delayed and assigned lower priority. To say the least, the very act is unprofessional. So avoid. Effective Leaders are known to make others feel exceptional, especially at the grassroots and above. Treat everyone alike actually commands respect that they salute your spirit.

Beating the bush: Time is money, and when time gets wasted, the loss is colossal. This happens mostly in meetings when the speaker meanders, wandering around the world or circling around the centerpiece without ever approaching the subject. Agile standup meeting is cited as an example for its effectiveness in communication as there is an agenda and a time limit. Carry an agenda and stick to it without deviating much. There is a difference between brainstorming and team meetings. Let’s not confuse and get carried away. Sometimes, even after hours of deliberation, attendees have stepped out of the room scratching their head “what really went inside?” this is the reason ‘Minutes of Meeting’ helps.

Listen and let the other talk. There is no need for dominate but carry the conversation. Don’t pretend listening or don’t listen with intent to ‘give it back’. There is a streak of self-righteousness in all of us and hence we feel right in our sight and assessment and most unwilling to entertain an alternate or opposing perspective. You learn a lot by listening f only there is patience and willing to hear out till the end without interrupting. Preempting or try to prove ‘I am always right’ only weaken your stance. Rather let the other speak and hear.  ‘The less he spoke the more he heard.’ Business conversations ought to be professional.

No Communication. This is the worst form of communication. A meeting scheduled for a face to face interaction gets postponed or deferred or doesn’t happen at all.  A response to a mail is delayed, deferred or plainly ignored. This can be both discouraging and demoralizing. It is poor in etiquette, and pathetic to note that willful negligence can only resulted in wasted hours.

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Communicate with Clarity | Stakeholder Management

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All us will agree to the need for greater clarity in communication – be it any form, verbal, or written. We say a lot and really don't mean anything much.

Conflicts arise mainly due to poor communication. When words are minced, message loses its meaning. Basically, we failed to make sense, and probably never realized.  Confusion is otherwise called as noise.

Let’s look into some real-time scenarios:

Despite a set agenda, meetings, at times, drag for hours not deliberating the issues tabled, rather a stray thought entertained finds resonance with someone seated and soon the discussion veers off in a direction that’s tangential. When the meeting is concluded, everyone leaves learning a lesson not to get distracted but fall into the same trap that was supposed to be safeguarded.

Likewise, a client call to collect requirements goes into an infinite loop of ‘back and forth’.  Why? Either the message is not clear or the stakeholders are not in the same page for the lack of understanding. It’s as if the conversation is taking place in a language that the attendees in the call are absolutely clueless. This, when Language is no longer a limitation can be so ironical.

Or, the instance when a simple mail intended to communicate a message can be so misleading.

So, how do you bring clarity in communication?

You don’t have to be poetic. Just be precise.

There is no need to compose an essay. A 2-liner will be enough if the message can be conveyed.

Be verbal, not verbose. Compose crisp concise message using shorter sentences.

The second paragraph is this post itself is typical disclaimer as to ‘how not to write’. Rather, simplify. Make it easier for the reader to understand. It should not be a test on IQ.  Is your message easy to understand? Assess the easiness. If yes, post. If not, rewrite.

Clarity means simplicity. We often confuse that word as a business jargon. The challenge today that 'you might be possess the knowledge of a professor' but can you explain in a way that a third-grade kid can understand?

There should not be any confusion at all; nor the need to refer the dictionary. Prose that is plain yet elegant; correct in its context brings out greater clarity in communication.

It can be challenging. So is clarity in communication. 

The Cost of Employee Engagement – may be a lunch | HR Management

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(an account by one of our staff)

Personal stories really connect.

One of the employees seeking a day off met the HR for sanction. When queried for the reason, the employee responded “wedding anniversary”. Offering her congratulations, the HR requested for 5 minutes time. And then came around ‘where would you want to take your wife out tomorrow?”

The puzzled employee was taken aback by surprise and blurted “we don’t have any such plans. Just spend time together.”

The HR persisted “will it be lunch or dinner? How about candlelight dinner?”

Still in a daze, the employee politely declined the offer and thanked her thoughtfulness.

“I am not sponsoring. It’s the company’s gift. Why don’t you call your wife and let me know.”

“Thanks. Then we would prefer lunch.”

“Where exactly do you stay? I mean, your residential address.” The HR made careful note and sought another 10 minutes.

“A table for two booked tomorrow. The venue details messaged to you. Congratulations and hope you guys enjoy the lunch.” She greeted and parted.

Reaching home, the employee shared the ‘luncheon’ with his spouse, who smiled “hey, that’s really nice. Which place?”

“I don’t know but HR will message the venue.” And checked his phone. It was some name not that familiar “at least we can check it out and hope the food tastes good.”

When the couple showed up at the place, they were taken in by surprise. It was not some non-descript restaurant  as expected but star hotel. He would recollect “we were treated royally from the valet to the manager. First time I have ever been to a hotel like that and of course, it was quite an expensive lunch.”

His wife was intrigued and unspeakably impressed “never expected it to be so grand. How come we never heard and that too within our vicinity.” The employee understood why the HR took pain to know about the address. The drive was less than 3 miles and the food fabulous. And the place close – unthinkable, even for a wedding anniversary lunch.

Over that ‘umpteen’ course lunch, someone always waiting upon and filling the plate with something to munch, it was an amazing experience. Over ‘chow’ time, the wife queried “why this place? And why you? Do they do it for all the staff?”

"I dont know. First time for me." responded the employee lost in thoughts.

It was difficult a choice – which was more sweet? The dessert or the company’s decision.

“You know what, you must stay here. Even the place I work could think of something as ‘personal’ like this lunch, “ stressed the wife and surprised employee looked up “you mean, they just bought my loyalty for this table full of food?”

“It’s not the food or star-studded hotel. It is how they treat you. The kind of personal touch that makes you feel truly special. Respect. It gives a sense of belonging. Come to think of it, why didn’t my company surprise me with such an invite? Because, the personal connect probably missed the preoccupied minds. I am planning to offer the same to my team. Your company left an indelible mark and I am going to remember this lunch for a long time. Terrific HR. I am amazed. Seriously. “ that was an awesome toast.

She is right. Respect. You can’t buy anyone with a buffet. Commitment is a call within and how you a strike a chord matters. The company’ thoughtfulness in celebrating an employee’s milestone ‘measured in full’ their worthiness.

Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way. Booker T. Washington

How to Prevent Scope Creep | Scope Management

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Continuing from our previous post of containing creep, we have listed 10 pointers as useful reference to amplify your project management skills. Scope Creep management is primarily handled by a PM and hence it’s a fair expectation to observe the call taken to neutralize creep. Scope Creep is a way of practical life, and hence one can, at best, contain and thereby control. 

Team management must ensure some overzealous team member overstepping in reach by getting in touch with the customer, who might influence changes that might sound simple like ‘bells and whistles’, and also the peril of Gold Plating –whereby “After having met the requirements, the developer works on further enhancing the product, thinking the customer will be delighted to see additional or more polished features, rather than what was asked for or expected.”

Get the requirements clear

Sometimes, it might be iterative but unless all the stakeholders involved are the in same page, especially the client and vendor an converse in the same language and understand one another, closing all possible gaps, and if possible walk-through the requirements once again. It might burn some bandwidth but it will be worth it.

Pay attention to the detail

From the first piece of code written to a single line drawn in the wireframe, make sure everything is as per agreed terms and within scope.  From experience, it may be noted that design and development inexplicable makes way for creep. So ensure that a sign-off is sought on design aspects, and read the requirement document again before commencing coding

Divide the requirement into small logical parts

Smaller projects have a much greater chance of success, so smart PMs do a work-break-down in creating sub-tasks so that the effort estimated and actual; spent can be controlled better. It is always easy to divide the requirements into small logical parts and assign the corresponding effort against it.

 Identify priorities

You will need to decide on the scheduling as to which will go first followed by or will there concurrent tasks. And identify the deliverable and break the deliverable into actual work. In case of larger project, it might mandate upgrades which need to be factored for effort and hence breakdown of deliverable helps.

Plan for Prototype

When the requirement/solution is not clear, plan for Prototype/Spike User Story before finalize the scope

Understand the requirement

Reverse Understanding/document for the Customer to ensure that requirement/expectation is well captured

Capture revision/changes

Have clear understanding on implication of the revision/changes in the requirement and document the agreement

Change Control Board

Make sure there is a Change Control Board in place  to track any deviations from the accepted and scoped requirements. Changes, if any, need ti be recorded, communicated to client for confirmation and only upon their explicit the changes can be accommodated, that too at a timeline best suited to the project interest. Bottom line, it’s out of scope which becomes a part of development through Change Request.

Present the impact Analysis in detail

When there is request for Scope Change, Present the impact Analysis in detail as Technical or Design Impact on effort and Cost, especially through rework and lost effort

Study Intangible impact

 i.     Moral of the team

 ii.    Trust factor with the Customer

In any case, the Scope Change has to be treated as Change Request. Regular review meeting with Customer on Progress Status Vs Plan should be conducted to eliminate creep as much as possible.

Scope Creep - But Why Always | Project Management

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This is not some fictitious account but facts presented in the form of a case study. A project in the construction industry with a budget of $10 Million was overshot by 20%. One might wonder what would be the margin then, clearly marking the bottom-line in red.

Root of the problem

When the builder was questioned about the glaring rise in the overheads, that went way over the budget, "it cannot be reported as scope creep though it turned out eventually." Haven’t we heard that before? “Yes, we have. And before you ask, this is not my first project. I am an experienced hand and I speak from personal experience, and that’s why 20 percent might sound whopping to you, is inevitable to me.  You speak about creep, like a leaky water pipe.  Then imagine in a massive water plant, one spot in a particular pipe will call for a complete overhaul of the plumbing unit. Don’t assume there is a quick fix like some adhesive pasted to block the leak. That’s a layman’s understanding. What actually takes place is more complex and cumbersome. Assuming, this took away a major chunk of the work from completion, you are looking at lapse in work which translated in hours and converted in dollars and cents can lead to sever deficit financially diminishing the returns. So to identify the root cause can prove painfully expensive.

The lesson learned, amongst many, can be the plumbing factor – which we naturally pay more attention and extra-cautious in the next undertaking. Then unbeknown, in the next project there will be some other issue out of the blue – it can be a wiring issue, for all you know.

Forces beyond

Risk is inherent. No doubt about it. But the nature of risk? How about a team member falling sick? Or the work done by someone isn’t thoroughly checked and impacts the development made so far? Or natural calamity or a strike? These don’t constitute creep but do attribute to scope creep one way or the other. Assuming a team member falls sick and the deadline has to be met. Sometimes, driven by deadline pressure or closure on dependency, one tends to crosscut and aim for closure. There are some risks to be taken, which may not impact short-terms but make you pay with grave consequences in the long run. Well, that again is a risk. So creep need not necessarily be direct, straight and said forth.

Creep is not something that can be defined or confined to a particular category. At best it can be contained is not clichéd. Objectively assessing, that’s reality because every project closure will script its own ‘lessons learned’ and yet we observe failings in some form. Incredibly, some repeated; it may not be intentional or ignorant but things that’s possible to be overlooked as trivia can prove to be a thorn and troublesome.

To wrap it up, we would want every lesson learnt to be put into use after all what is knowledge without application. Furthermore, the client’s expectation of earning more for every penny needs to be professionally managed. Expect the customer to come up with last minute surprises, that is strictly out of scope but then you can’t say ‘no’ not wanting to offend. Hence one should draw the line somewhere without hurting either party involved. It’s a thin line that calls for a fine act. We don’t want scope creep – it just self-invites. That’s scope creep. I just gave you a long-winded definition."

Scope Creep Inevitable?

Inevitable? So there is no way out? There are ways to mitigate but Scope Creep control has everything to do with you.  We started with why is there scope creep always.  And also, we stated categorically that creep can be contained.

How do you contain scope creep? We will discuss the ways in our next posting. Meanwhile, if you have any ideas, suggestions, theories, or experience, please do share and educate our users.

Has Trust lost its ‘Trust’? | Stakeholder Management

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The word is abuzz about funds being embezzled or malpractice within company. Recent news about controversies and scandals are doing the rounds and ties that were painstakingly built appears so fragile. In the past days a CEO has stepped down, misuse of money in a blue chip company, and non-conformance of standards spells disaster in the parlance of people management.

Governance by every company is based on strong ethics and values and yet incidents like these rock the boats, sending shivers down the spine. Many exclaimed in disbelief ‘It’s just not possible”, and yet that’s exactly what happened – trust deficit.

It’s in good faith and belief that something is entrusted, but when the person manning the gate gives up blowing the cover then it’s a classic case of the ‘cats guarding the chickens.” Stakeholder Management is proving to be more critical. One might wonder if the company or the whole crew or the entire block that bungled, but all it takes is one rotten apple that makes the basket stink. And despite the foolproof security measures put in place, failure like the incidents cited can not only be frustrating but erode the confidence misplacing the faith.  The murky matters cast a long shadow sparing none from suspicion. Paradoxically, the benefit of doubt cannot be passed and things have worsened to a state where one has to prove innocence. So where went the ‘you are innocent unless proven guilty’. We live in different times that demands drastic changes and impose difficult compliances lest we face dire consequences.

What makes one misbehave? Chances, conditions, circumstances, or plainly greed. Whatever might be the motive, it shatters everything the individual stood for, and along with brings down the whole house. Integrity is imperative. Character is what you do in the dark – when no one is noticing. Integrity plainly put is ‘do what  you say and say what you do’. Hence, it becomes critical that we pay more attention to our human assets by studying behavioral aspects and identify scope for improvement. Not everyone is strong; some are susceptible. It’s up to the management to identify the grey areas and iron out the weakness. A SWOT generally helps – especially from an ethical standpoint.

Stakeholder Management involves your internal partners as well, whom at times, are overlooked. Build trust. It works both ways – employers and employees. It is incumbent on an individual to be accountable. You are answerable to your actions. So, the choice is clearly yours.  

We will like to hear your thoughts about this subject. Please do share and we welcome your inputs.

Bring Work-Life Balance with Disciplined Project Management

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There seems to be early burn-out in IT professionals. Doctors are appalled at the heart-risks and related ailments; whenever a  young person wheeled into the emergency ward, the first question invariably is “are you working in IT?” why is it so? Job pressure, peer pressure, management pressure – the stress is too much. A number of factors collide and contribute to this havoc wreaked on youngsters. Heart attack in the forties or fifties doesn’t shock or surprise but in late twenties and early thirties psyches the physicians, who are perplexed dealing with the predicament. Such is the severity, and cut-throat the companies, employees either by choice or force end up staying late at their desk ‘burning the midnight oil’.

Does the number of hours clocked or the contributions  count? The misconception in the market is that one who spends long hours in the office is deemed ‘hard working’. Anything less and your talent is questionable or the workload is not just enough to justify your paycheck. So some just pretend to stretch or ‘kill’ time by indulging in other activity instead of freeing up bandwidth to take up additional tasks. “If I do this task or accommodate more chores in addition, will the amount in the salary credited change?” this reflects not just the individual lack of commitment, but reflects poorly on the leadership as well.

Devotion to work should be wilful, lest it leaves one dissatisfied and disgruntled. Once resourceful, now turned rebels are primarily due to poor people management. Long and late nights are part of the daily rigor of an IT Professional. Time consumed at office leaves with less for family. Everything ought to be balanced – including work.

A project manager, whom I used to report, will sit beside me and plan the ‘tasks for the week’ taking my inputs for the ‘hours allocated’ and sometime let me estimate the ‘number of hours’. Effort estimation is both critical and crucial. Bagging the project by heck or crook, and later slogging the days, night and weekend are typical signs of burnout. It’s like cutting the foot to match the boot. That’s not project management. Weekends usually act as buffer and my manager managed on the maxim of “if you can’t get the work done in eight hour, either you are inefficient or incompetent."  People also tend to procrastinate – another malaise with no medicine in sight. Hence there is no blaming the managers alone. Both sides suffer from their own shortcoming and apparently there has to be a middle ground.

The 40 hour week

Any project manager with appreciable knowledge and experience will not estimate more than 8-hours as man day in the project plan. How many hours does the team work is another question but for the record its 8 hours, and usually the weekends are not factored – and mostly serve as buffers. Remember time is money and hence any inflation in your estimation will have an adverse implication on your cost estimation. If the budget balloons, the project will slip out of your hands. It’s a typical trapeze act or skating on thin ice. So balancing the 40-hour and keeping the project within cost calls for a skilled and smart time management.

Performance and productivity

No matter how many hours you clock, you are most productive for the first 4 hours.  The body might be willing but the mind simply is not up to it. Exhaustion,and fatigue hampers performance. Your ability to concentrate ebbs with passage of time. There should be a reason why Henry For came out with the brilliant strategy of ‘weekend’ so as to boost morale, improve productivity and increase time spent with family.  Sources from public domain cite that working fewer hours increase productivity and thereafter tend to wane.

Work-life balance

“I am too busy at work” is the usual refrain. You start before the kids awake and return after the fast asleep. Many professionals itinerary falls in to this pattern. Genuine cases of work chewing and even gobbling time is a possibility but that can’t become the norm. Its not family first or work at any cost. One has to strike a balance to do justice to both – stakeholder management.  Your internal and external client included, family too is part of stakeholders. And its important to attend on everyone, and if possible satisfy.

A gallup study revealed that we work 47 hours – which is 7 hours more. What will all the dollars, incentive, promotions and perks amount when you compromise your health for career. Think about it.

Conflict Management – How to Resolve Conflict at Work Place | Project Management

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Conflict amongst co-workers is a common occurrence in the work place. If there isn’t none, call that a monastery, even where doubt persists about domestic disturbance. We aren’t programmed metallic boxes but people with a myriad of emotions that at times, distracts from some difficult and disturbing disagreements which stem mostly from difference of opinions, when taken personally proves toxic and dismembers from the team. Too often distancing away, avoiding eye-contact, building blocks of hate, digging wells of anger and raising wall of resentment are too many symptoms of this malaise.

This further deteriorates to forming allies who would have endured something similar and hence a common thread that connects the complaint. So a tussle between two extrapolates in numbers, and before the situation could be brought into control, its blown away out of proportion as finding a way to settle personal scores can’t find a better timing than the present confrontation. 

So one versus another turns out to be they vs. them - factions of dissent. And of course, those defectors within the dissenters and add to the woes, the fence sitters. So two embittered employees embroiled in an encounter escalate to the point of livelihood endangerment? Better to sack than put up with the strife?  Ridiculous. The best is to resolve. 

Interpersonal conflicts is a given in our daily walk of life from haggling with a vendor – and hence the disgruntled customer, to the ticket collector in the bus short of change fuming at you for the lack of, and so will it be in an organization. Conflicts can be due any reasons from skirmishes or stress or pressure or plainly put, ego.  An argument is usually an assault of words, and accusations hurled  out of which  conflicts arise in your work and outside work as well.

why should you resolve conflict?

Strained relationships do more harm to the organization and employee engagement calls for a dedicated role. Negotiation is the primary means of arbitration in ironing out the differences in bring out agreement and harmony. Usually the differences are tabled and handled professionally without preference or prejudice thus reaching for a fair settlement. Some are straightened out in the first attempt but some case might have deep roots and hence calls for more time to bring the person/group in the same page. Some really take time to work out a peaceful solution.

when should you resolve conflict?

There is a no stress barometer and neither is an ideal situation. The moment the ugly head of conflict raises, neutralize. Conflict is like gangrene which left unattended can start spreading making other parts dysfunctional. So resolve at the earliest the possible.

how should you resolve conflict?

There are no hard and fast rules. Some seek the formal route and others informal channel. Diplomacy pays. Chemistry works. It all boils down to the skills of the handler in dealing with the opposition through dialogue and diplomacy. The arbiter can earn the confidence of the affected parties through trust and transparency in effectively resolving the crisis.

There are other methods as well.

Have you come across such a situation and successfully resolved the conflict?  Please share your experience. 

Project Management, IT Service Management, Quality Management, Program Management and Emerging Technologies Certification Training Courses from iCert Global

Project Management, IT Service Management, Quality Management, Program Management and Emerging Technologies Certification Training Courses from iCert Global

Forms of Business Communication

Communication is the cornerstone for the success of any venture. Preceding blog discussed about the importance of Communication in Project Management, and this post will draw your attention to the different forms of communication. Communication put simply is sending or receiving information. Be it person to person [one-on-one] or with multiple contact [one with many] or within contacts [many to many], the bottom line is effective and efficient communication will prove decisive in the success of business venture. Timely call and timely action underscores the indispensible need for communication.

The insights from PMI’s Pulse of the Profession™ In-Depth Report: The Essential Role of Communications are interesting in its findings. “Highly effective communicators are also more likely to deliver projects on time (71 percent versus 37 percent) and within budget (76 percent versus 48 percent).”

The methods and means to communicate are as important as communication itself.  It’s a difficult fact to digest that despite understanding the significance of communication at the required hour, there is still a struggle to keep concerned informed of the critical details and updates. 

To get everyone associated with the project on the same page, it is necessary to speak the language of business. Communication is often glorified as a dialogue or discussion between figure heads or ‘key’ personnel, especially decision makers, sponsors or business owner. The last person is counted whose views, opinions, suggestions and response matters. Communication is a two-way street when “we reach out by speaking and listening”.

Communication is of two types in the context of business: internal and external.

Be it internal or external, communication works mainly on the following methodologies:

Verbal

It’s the spoken word, which can be face-to-face, particularly individual to individual (one on one), or groups (conferencing) or one to many (interviews, stakeholder meet or client meeting). Verbal communication these days are empowered by employing media like phones (direct conversation) or radio and television (passive listeners).  Some stakeholders meetings in the Asian-pacific region are known to be held in football stadiums. Verbal communication is the traditional form and cuts out the clutter or confusion. Unless recorded, which can have legal implications, the verbal exchange can at best be captured as minutes or notes, which can be less accurate.

 

Written Communication:

Anything in the written format that include letters, memos, bulletins board, circulars, notice, posters, articles, magazines, and books. This method is chosen when communication is intended to reach multiple persons who are at a distance that voice can’t reach or in a different location. Before the advent of technology, this was considered as the predominant method of communication. For authenticity and authority, written format can best serve the purpose like offer letter, or user manual or business related correspondence like agreements, invoice and other legal documents. Also, records in writing serve as proof or testimony and in legal parlance as evidence too. The downside is the delay in delivery and failure in acknowledgement can leave the fate of the correspondence in hanging; too much of paperwork and hence housekeeping could be cumbersome and the adverse impact to nature by felling trees to make papers.

Electronic Communication:

Technology has revolutionized communication. Electronic Communication includes email, sms, social media, websites (enquiry and feedback sections), web conferencing, and online chats. Pen and paper are fad, other than signature or the occasional notes. With gadgets governing the order of the day, it’s electronic all the way because of the access, use, reach, convenience, comfort and connectivity.  The communication can be complete with a click of a mouse.

E-mail is the most preferred form of communication, especially in the written format. Technology enabling voice, it will not be necessary to type or key words, as the system will intelligent to input the words from voice software technology.

Web conferencing is where remotely located person or people can connect either face-to-face meeting take place on a secure connection. Web conferencing can be leveraged for instructor-led online training and alternatively a recorded session can become the course content for self-paced or e-Learning for training, lectures, presentations, workshops and the like.

Social media sites also act as good platform, especially for marketing and promotional activities with its vast network, they help to connect and collaborate in exchange of information. Such sites are also used in the sphere of learning where the learned impart their knowledge and thereby serve the community.

There are of course, online chats for customer service provided by any merchant put up a shop online or service provider offering services. As technology advances, newer ways to connect are created strengthening communication. There is always a downside to anything creative or innovative but the evaluation will always  be based on the pros and cons.

Importance of Communication in Project Management

Records reveal that 90% of the productive time engaged by Project Managers is on communication. The PMI’s 2013 Pulse of the Profession report states that effective communications to all stakeholders as the most critical in project management.

The report further cautioned about the high risks due to poor communication, which is a shocking figure of 56% percentage. 

One of the reason attributed to this rise in risk is the negligence to proper communication as project managers, at times, tend to take it for granted.  Communication during the inception, especially about requirement walk-through can prove critical and impact the outcome of the project. It’s important all the stakeholders well informed and educated about the expectations. Capturing the requirement correctly – usually exchanging notes and drawings or prototype – is again typical communication management. If the start is good, it’s as good half the battle won. Most of the failures when analyzed point to the requirement analysis when the customer and vendor’ understanding failed to match. Furthermore, effective communications prove to be main reason(s) for successful execution of projects by meeting deadlines with some delay and at cost. It spells top performance of all the stakeholders. For the scope of this article, let’s look at key aspects that stress the need for effective communication in a business project.

Understanding stakeholders’ expectation: it’s easy to misread as ‘requirements’. Stakeholders always have an expectation as to how the project should evolve and shape up. It will be difficult to gauge the expectation in the first call and hence it’s iterative. The back and forth exchange is a necessity till all involved are able to read and interpret the message in voice – unanimous.  The objectives agreeable mutually should be engaged as the mission of the project.

Risk Mitigation: Any undertaking will have its share of risks. Black and white is almost picture perfect. There will be some grey area, which is expected in a business engagement. . When the communication is free and frequent, chances are good in ironing out the difference and closing the gaps. The worst of risks are the assumptions made in the absence of valid or required information. Correspondence between different stakeholders will cut down the clutter and enhance understanding. The better the understanding, lesser will be the assumptions.  Assumptions are inevitable, but efforts should be made to keep it to the minimum with least impact.

Transparency leads to trust. Communication helps to earn the stakeholders confidence. Much depends on the matter and manner which is being communicated and the manner. Its time bound and information critical to build a good rapport in order to build credibility. When there is nothing to hide, why will be the need to doubt? Open and transparent communication always clear results in garnering goodwill and establishing trustworthiness. An honest response that conveys an unpleasant message might be difficult to savor but that’s how integrity is build. Trust deficit or erosion can create serious conflicts in slowing or stopping project. On the other hand, earning stakeholders’ confidence will help in better understanding within both the parties to allow some leeway or latitude. All said and done, it boils to the trust – how reliable you are, and more importantly, truthful.

Precise and concise communication. Prompt, punctual and proper exchange of information using appropriate channels defines communication.  How many actually acknowledge a mail receipt – though it’s the best way to assure.  It doesn’t need to be rich in prose or sound poetic – a simple message using simple language is enough as long it communicates the required and desired information. Besides, stakeholders, especially decision makers are always short of time and may not be read the length of the letter. Hence it’s recommended to keep it precise and to the point.

Regular and frequent communication. It’s never construed as disturbance when it comes to the messages affecting the commitment. Free and forthcoming communication that’s scheduled or unscheduled is always welcome and never understood as an intrusion specifically about project updates. The daily status report, weekly status report and similar reports are scheduled ones that are expected. And any alerts, warning or clarification exchanges are unplanned or unscheduled. Frequent communication will help in project navigation and better understanding of the actual progress made as accountable stakeholders will confirm or raise flags as concern to undertake remedial measures, if required.

Communication Management features as one the knowledge areas in PMI’s PMBOK® A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). If you have a comment, please drop by and we can discuss it further.

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Challenges with Project Management

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The iron triangle is too tough to balance. Too often or not, it was observed that one axis is either long or short compared to the other two. And it might be near perfection to maintain equidistant axes.   Project stakeholders are left perplexed tearing the hair wondering what went wrong, and ‘how didn’t we see that coming? We failed to detect and decipher the warning. Did we throw caution to the wind?’ that will sound too critical as due diligence is done through detailed discussion and deliberation before inking the contract, yet, projects going off the rails poses serious threats in damage control and contingency measures.  What went wrong should be a lesson learnt for the next or projects in pipeline, yet projects seems to stumble in the same spot flummoxes and shakes the foundation. It might sound clichéd or routinely repetitive but professionals tread on a beaten track and worn out path, and ironically can’t sight the pitfalls and potholes? What possible oversights that project suffer – that are ‘known’ knowns and still found wanting on action and remedy.

Identify Project Objective and Goals:

The stakeholders stating the objective should make sure that project goals are identified and make sure the message reaches out to the team. Chances of disconnect is disturbingly high when objective isn’t clear or communication incoherent. Minor addition to the original scope will result in a major reshuffle, transfiguring the original requirements.  Consequently, the project fails to progress on expected lines. It can be any field and platform independent and technology agnostic as project is a temporary endeavor with a start and end date. The dates differ because the project team plays a different wherein goal posts keeps keep shifting. 

Determine the Project Scope:

Always the slippery slope. The in-scope and out-of-scope tends to blur and blend, and the risk is inherent.  Is it easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle? It might be appear as exaggeration expression. Most experienced project managers would agree that ‘admission and accommodation’ that starts as a trickle is difficult to stem as a tide. Nudge here and poke there and scope is nowhere near the ‘original’ scope. 

Emphasize Project Communication across Stakeholders:

Stepping up communication will set the expectation right. The fundamental reason for any misunderstanding is poor communication. In a technology advance professional work environment, gap due to improper communication is unacceptable hampering hampers productivity and performance. Be it manual or electronic exchange, there will be greater degree of transparency and accountability only when communication between stakeholders is crystal clear and timely on delivery.

Prepare proper Project Deadlines:

Delivery deadlines must be realistic. Setting up unreasonable timeline is self-destructive. It can lead to serious issues running your project progress and workforce morale. Raising the bar is good to groom but poor governance to reflect in the target. The date of completion can be setting after taking stock of the soft skills and availability. The resources pose an intrinsic risk, admittedly, and hence there is a standby or fall back provisions made in the ‘resource plan’ but the usual practice of engaging someone on something is strictly on ‘evaluation of excellence’ and securing confidence.

Evaluate Talent Pool:

Expectation are always high – be it employer or employee but rising up to it and staying in ‘top of form’ consistently is breaking grounds in terms of performance.  Team, inevitably, will be a mix of talent pool. Any shortcoming or deficit will be offset by outstanding performance and that’s how it becomes teamwork.  The delivery and deadline should be worked out only after factoring your Talent Pool. Assessing your resources becomes critical before committing about the possible time of completion. Besides, it strongly recommended conducting the SWOT analysis on every team member to evaluate the team’s strength and weakness. Sometimes there is too much of reliance on a particular resource that can lead too much ‘burn’, and ‘wear’. There is only so much a resource can perform and efforts are to optimize. Beyond that the very resource is put in peril – too much of a risk.

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Can Artificial Intelligence ‘alert’ Project Managers?

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This blog is written in the backdrop of Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai heralding “Artificial Intelligence’ as “We will move from mobile first to an AI first world." in the recently held Google I/O 2016.  Science becomes spectacular in its endeavor to make possible the deemed impossible, reminding Robert Kennedy “There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”

Sometimes it’s so surreal. When the movie ‘Minority Report’ , a concept conceived in the late nineties and hit the silver screen by 2002, the reviews about the sci-fi was superb and many wondered what could the world be in 2054  as set as timeline in the movie. It was half-a century away. Everything can be put in place past the event or outcome but possible to predict something to happen with precision? Plausible? From a technology perspective, the spectacle that dazzled us with 3-D, touch screen depicting data on-demand, transportation and logistics, the movie ported us to a scientific space of sophisticated software and advanced intelligence.

Artificial Intelligence as the key driver

The breakthrough in AI is simply breathtaking. and going places that Mars may not be the final frontier. Today you can key-in or just use voice for search – any kind of search. Different people have different needs and the system is so intelligent and efficient to identify the ‘searcher’ to serve customized results and also recommendation on the screen.  IBM is working on digital advertising screens that can play advertisements best suiting the consumer’ preference using the RFID technology, picking their shopping flair and taste from their payment cards and phones that use RFID chips.  

A Japanese company has created digital signage that can organize through The customer facial recognition software and cameras helps to identify the gender, age and range in displaying advertisement best fitting the democracy - Typical customer-centric campaigns to promote products and services.

If anything, AI is growing from strength to strength. Look no further for evidence – just search for something in Google and check how soon and swift the results came through.  Does it rain or shine? The forecast for the week?  Or check the kids play Mariocart or Xbox where simulations or gesture-based gaming to the  driverless car. In the movie Minority Report, the newspaper will update itself for latest news. Today, why don't you   check the Google news page which is almost there with its updates, though not auto-refresh.  There is much more than that meets the eye. This is an era of information overload and hence developments sometimes are overshadowed or even go unnoticed.  Impressively, human’s pursuit to make ideas to realities is relentless.

Artificial Intelligence and Project Management

What’s the probability that the lead programmer in the team will show up for work tomorrow? Will the server hold up till the end or tank all of a sudden? Will the project meet its deadline and deliver?

Your guess is as good as anyone.  

For the scope of this account, let’s confine to human resources and hardware. If Big Data is growing powerful with predictive analysis as a powerful and potent tool, what will happen Artificial Intelligence is employed to study and predict personnel about presence and performance.  Can the Intelligence available alert about the impending change(s)? Can we leverage on behavorial biometrics for human identficiation and expand its scope to mine data?

In Seoul, AlphaGo, an AI system created by Google, crushed Lee Sedol, an 18-time world champion who is regarded as the decade's top player of Go - an abstract strategy board game. The victory meant that "AI-calculated-faster-than-a-human”. Agreed, but the AI-calculator was again created by human mind and its very unfair to state Seedol lost, rather collective brains won that day.

So if Big Data can do the imagined and beyond, can it rise up to the challenge is by providing statistics and information about human behavior, more from human physiology and psyche? Efforts are underway and research is ongoing, like ‘social character’ , or ‘Human Genome Project ‘providing insights into genes, which hopefully can wade into rough waters to understand the incredibly complex human system. Though the goal of this study of Human Genome is to create personalized medicines, use analytics to check a cure is within a particular timeline, can it not encompass behavioral traits as well? 

The if-only theory that a Project Manager applies in analyzing team’s composition and hardware infrastructure – “if only the server didn’t shutdown without warning”, “if only the programmer didn’t fall sick”, “if only the architect didn’t drop his papers ”, “if only there was a backup before the power failed”…….all these can be written as useful Use Cases with alternate scenarios. From a Project Manager’s desk, Technology in the form of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence can empower at arriving at informed decisions – especially about health reports of both men and machines, then risks can be mitigated to a greater extent and the assurance of the success of any undertaking will be expectedly high. Artificial Intelligence, in this context of human understanding and analysis,  is extremely challenging given the multi-layered, multi-dimensional and multi-faceted undertaking that’s complicated in its complexities. Many doubt its possibility, but then so did the skeptics when “Minority Report’ was released.  Spielberg views sounds psychic “I wanted all the toys to come true someday. I want there to be a transportation system that doesn't emit toxins into the atmosphere. And the newspaper that updates itself...”

Mankind shares the same sanguinity that Artificial Intelligence arms the Project Manager with the ability to view way ahead in predicting scientifically about a project holistically - the entire ecosystem.