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What’s one thing about project communication you only understand after managing enough projects?

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Sandeep Kashyap CEO| ProofHub India

When something goes wrong on a project, the first instinct most early-career PMs have is to make sure no one is left out of the loop. So they loop everyone in on everything. More syncs, more updates, more people on every thread. The logic feels right. But that's not how communication breaks down on real projects. It breaks down because the right information didn't reach the right person at the right time in a way they could act on. And looping everyone in on everything actually makes that harder, because now the critical update sits alongside 40 things that don't matter to that person. The experienced PMs I've watched work do the opposite. They narrow the paths instead of widening them. Curious what other lessons about project communication only clicked after running enough projects.

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Fabian Crosa
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PMO Leader | Speaker & Mentor | Content Leader – PMOGA Latin America Hub| Catholic University of Uruguay Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay
One of the hardest lessons I learned after managing enough projects is that communication isn’t about volume, it’s about precision. Flooding everyone with updates creates noise; what really matters is ensuring the right person receives the right information at the right time in a way that enables action. Experienced PMs design lean communication paths, not wide ones. What other communication practices have you found only become clear after leading multiple projects?
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Rami Kaibni
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Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Sandeep, from my experience managing large complex projects, I’ve learned a few things about project communication:

1) Communication is a two-way stream. It’s not just about getting the right information to the right person at the right time. It’s also about getting the right response, decision, or confirmation back in time to take action otherwise, you’re just broadcasting information.

2) Communication is as much about listening as it is about communicating. Active listening helps you understand what is actually being said, what might be missing, and what the other person needs before you decide how to respond or move forward.

3) More communication doesn’t necessarily mean better communication. One of the things you learn with experience is that the goal isn’t to keep everyone informed about everything. It’s to make sure the people who need to know something have enough context to make the right decision or take the right action.

4) Clarity beats volume. A short, clear message that answers what happened, what it means, what’s needed, and by when is often more valuable than a long status update that leaves people figuring out what they’re supposed to do.

I think that’s one of the biggest shifts that happens with experience: you stop thinking about communication as “keeping people in the loop” and start thinking about it as enabling people to act.

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