"The five basic steps you must do on a project" - Part 6

step 1 - Carefully define the outcome from the project.

step 2 - Defining and documenting requirements

step 3 - Creating a "doable" plan

step 4 - Manage Risks and Issues

step 5 - Track, Validate,  and Update

Over the past 5 weeks I have shared with you the five basic steps for managing a project. In this final part of the series, we will look at one very critical item that occurs throughout a project, Communication. All to often I have been asked to assess the health of a project and found that it was in trouble. Very often, communication issues were one of the root causes.

Communication is a core discipline of project management. From communicating status and schedule to escalating issues, you must be able to communicate well. More importantly you must communicate frequently and consistently. If you need a vendor to deliver your new commercial pizza oven before the shelving vendor installs the stainless steel storage racks, make sure that you communicate that to both vendors and your team. This way when the shelving shows up early and you are not there, somebody can tell them to wait or contact you directly. If you are keeping the project tasks on a checklist, send copies out to all of the team and vendors on a regular basis. One vendor may see where something is ahead of schedule and call you and say that they can also do their tasks earlier. This can save you time and money. Kind of  like that huh?

 One last point, if you communicate by e-mail, make sure you follow up with a phone call on critical items to make sure the recipient not only got the e-mail but understood it. Double checking once in a while is one of the best communication tools I know.