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Project Communications: A Visual Understanding
| The purpose of communicating with any stakeholder is to build his or her understanding of a project. But there is a huge gap between looking at a written message and understanding its contents. The PMBOK® Guide differentiates between the: • Message -- what you want to communicate • Medium -- the way you send the message and • Noise -- things that interfere with comprehension. The concept of noise disrupting communication is easy to appreciate when you are talking with a stakeholder, either face-to-face or on the phone. But what many project managers fail to realize is that the same principles apply to written communication. A significant body of research suggests a well-designed document can communicate up to 80 percent more information to your stakeholder than one that is poorly designed. Consider these elements when designing your next project document: Page layout: In most cases, the eye starts naturally at the top left of a page and flows down to the bottom right. Ignoring this flow disrupts the natural reading pattern and reduces comprehension. Clutter: Multiple fonts, font sizes and colors may create a great visual impression but fail the communication test. The best combination for text color is a black font on white background. I find that serif fonts, like Times New Roman, are easiest to read in the body of a document. Sans serif fonts like Ariel look cleaner in headlines. Use one of each with minimal embellishment to reduce noise. Page design: Leave plenty of white space at the margins, between paragraphs and around images. Place key messages in headlines, use diagrams wisely and caption them effectively. Designing an effective document layout is an art -- you need to balance creating an attractive document with making the information inside easy to read and understand. Do you think document design can impact your project's communications with your stakeholders? Why or why not? Tell us about your experience. Read more posts from Lynda. Read more posts about project communications. |
Program Managers Can Be An Organization's Top Salespeople
Categories:
Program Management
Categories: Program Management
It's usually up to the sales representatives and executives to pique the interest of potential investors or partners in a project. But program managers are in a prime position to offer unique insights into project proposals:
But program managers should also be justifying and arguing the long-term benefits of their new projects -- not relying on others to do that for them. Program managers have a duty to do more than ensure projects under their supervision are completed on time and on budget. Program managers have a lot more authority and opportunity -- and therefore responsibility -- to further the strategic objectives of their organization than a project manager. Program managers need to realize they're a catalyst -- someone who should be open to new opportunities, ready to explore new business ideas and enable their organization to move forward. From this viewpoint, program managers resemble salespeople. They have a duty to sell a vision for the future to their senior management and all their stakeholders. What do you think? Should program managers act as salespeople, too? Read more posts from Roger. Find out more about the Program Management Professional (PgMP)®credential. |
Project Management at Work -- And in Life
Categories:
Reflections on the PM Life
Categories: Reflections on the PM Life
| Let's face it -- although we may not see ourselves as the great organizers we'd like to be, we are often more organized in our projects in the workplace than we are at home in our own lives. Of course we're trained to do what we do at work, which isn't always the case for everyday life. We seek out specialized training for our field, and then we get to obtain certifications and credentials, continue our education and earn professional development units (PDUs) to maintain our designation. Meanwhile, there's no training for how to live an organized life. Having project management knowledge allows us to be better project managers in our lives -- not just in our workplace. Indeed, project management processes can be applied to life's personal projects and activities. When I was studying for my Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® certification, for example, I realized that my knowledge of the PMBOK® Guide applied to everything I was up to -- not just the management of projects at work. I became more organized. I worked on more projects of my own and had structure that allowed me to progress faster, and with better concrete results and more confidence. All that came from this preparation. When I obtained my CAPM®, I was convinced that every single person that worked in the office could benefit from this education and certification, including project managers, project team members or department members that don't even work on large projects. How do you apply project management principles to your life? See more on PMI certifications. See more posts from Dmitri. |
The Value of Project Team Rituals
| A couple of small projects happening in my neighborhood of South Melbourne, Australia have me wondering about the value of many of the trappings and rituals we use in our projects. Do they contribute value to the stakeholder community or not? One project involved resurfacing a small section of road. The crew turned up with their trucks and road-making equipment, finished the job and left. For the two days needed to complete the job, the workers brought their own lunches or went to a local café. On the next corner, a production company was doing a shoot for a segment of a TV cop show. They spent a day setting up tents, canteens and support vehicles. They brought a cast of hundreds, including security and canteen staff. Over two days, the cast and crew rehearsed and shot the segment. The difference between the two worksites had far more to do with ritual-based traditions and stakeholder expectations than actual needs. The facilities provided for road crew were lean. By comparison, the facilities provided for the TV crew were luxurious but possibly necessary to attract the right "talent." Rituals can certainly be very powerful ways to build identity and cohesiveness in a team. Many rituals, however, may have simply become time-consuming habits. A good example is the monthly executive review of all projects that has never resulted in a single canceled a project. Another is the Thursday morning team meeting that is called for no other reason than because it's Thursday. Take a look at the rituals associated with your projects and ask how many of the meetings and processes add real value to the stakeholders involved. How many should be refined, redefined or altogether abandoned? What are the most valuable rituals for you and your stakeholders? See more posts from Lynda Bourne. See more posts on project teams. |
Project Managers in the C-Suite
Categories:
Career Development
Categories: Career Development
| I've seen some articles and heard some commentary lately that lament the fact that there doesn't seem to be a clear career path that leads from project management to the so-called C-suite, also known as the "executive suite." Where I work, there is no direct path that leads from project management to the executive ranks. Occasionally, a person who has worked as a project manager becomes an executive, but it's certainly not the norm. From my own point of view, this isn't a problem -- on the contrary. Had I wanted to be a "line" executive, I would have stayed in line management. I chose project management because I saw it as a means to manage the kind of work that I really enjoy most: the realization of ideas. For me, career growth means managing projects that are more important, more valuable, more interesting or just more fun. Often, this can mean bigger teams and bigger budgets, but for me, that doesn't necessarily translate into bigger thrills. Career growth does not mean at all that I need to become an executive to feel fulfilled. I see project management and executive management as complementary, but very different, skills. To me, that means that the two fields will appeal to two very different kinds of people, depending on individual temperament. Project management is very tactically focused. It's all about defining the job and getting it done. It seems reasonable to me that the kind of person who manages projects is also tactically focused, and temperamentally oriented toward the realization of ideas. On the other hand, I see executive management as more strategically focused, more about defining a strategic vision and deciding which projects to undertake to realize that vision. It seems reasonable to me that the kind of person who becomes an executive is also strategically focused, and temperamentally oriented toward defining strategy and how to achieve it. What do you think? Are project managers under-represented in the executive ranks? If this is true, do you see this as a problem, generally speaking? Personally speaking? Do you have aspirations to become an executive? If so, do you see being a project manager as an obstacle to those aspirations? Do you believe that project managers are temperamentally different than line managers? Why or why not? Read more posts from Jim De Piante. Read more posts about improving your career. |