Sharpen Your PM Writing Skills

 

Dr. Gerard M. Blair was addressing electrical engineers at the University of Edinburgh, but he could have been talking to project managers:

"It is absolutely vital for you as a professional engineer to actively develop the skill of writing...your project's success may depend upon it. Indeed, since so much of the communication between you and more senior management occurs in writing, your whole career may depend upon its quality." Thus begins an excellent article titled "How to Write Right" by Blair.

His article, written about 10 years ago (and still very appropriate today) is well worth reading and is part of an award-winning series of articles on basic management skills (certainly also worth reading), at that same site.

The article goes on to say that "writing is an essential part of any design activity" and I can attest to that from my experience as project manager for Web development projects. The writing that comes out of project meetings heavily impacts:

• Developers' and engineers' understanding of what the project entails
• Clients' understanding of what you promise to deliver
• Management and client reaction to changes and delays
• Motivation of team members to go the extra mile, and more

Unless you built your current organization from the ground up, there were already several communication standards in place when you became project manager. Before …

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