The Project Communications Game

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The Project Communications   GAME Brett Harned @brettharned 2014 Digital PM Summit

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HOWDY!

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COMMUNICATE Project Managers for a Living

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Credit: @brennaheaps, @omniplan

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Credit: @jennasteckel

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Credit: @allisin

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Credit: @arethachoi

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PLANS CHANGE …and each day brings a new challenge

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The Project Communications   GAME

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LEAD HAPPY TRAILS You’re working with a new set of stakeholders who have never worked on a digital project. It’s up to you to help them understand your team’s work. Get going, partner!

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CLIENTS Understanding

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The First Meeting • Set the tone for the project • Discuss preferred modes of communication • Review your scope together • Talk about your teams and roles and responsibilities • Always communicate next steps

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Who Are the Stakeholders? • Project Owner/Core Team • Primary Stakeholders • Secondary Stakeholders • Management • Executive

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Grab This Resource theprojectgame.com

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PROJECT RESEARCH Isn’t Just About Design

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Stakeholder Interviews • Attend them and take notes • Suggest questions to be included • Dig deeper on: • Project goals • Team dynamics • Potential issues and risks

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Grab This Resource theprojectgame.com

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WELL DONE! You did your research, so you now know your project stakeholders. Now try keeping them wrangled…

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The Project Communications   GAME

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SCORE! You took great meeting notes and the team thanked you for them.

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Quick Note-taking Tips • Stick to keywords and phrases • Write notes in your own words (not verbatim) • Record key points, decisions, action items • Use the tool that is right for you • Text Expansion • Evernote • Post notes to all attendees and make them editable

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The Project Communications   GAME

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FIX THIS ONE! Aw shucks! Your team abandoned Basecamp for Google Drive. It feels like you’re missing project details. Sort that out, partner.

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STANDARDS Set Team Communication

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– Joseph Priestley “The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate." 18th century chemist and clergyman

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1. Everyone Must Be Aware of Project Goals and Deadlines

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2. The Team Must Be Clear On Project Responsibilities

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R. A. C. I. (Responsible Accountable Consulted Informed) Project   Manager Designer Developer Content   Strategist Creative Brief A R I C HTML Wireframes I A R C Style Tiles I R C A Content Recommendations I A C R

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3. Establish Team Preferences on Meeting Time vs. Solitary Time

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– The New Science of Building Great Teams by Alex “Sandy” Pentland, Harvard Business Review, April 2012 “If we look at our evolutionary history, we can see that language is a relatively recent development and was most likely layered upon older signals that communicated dominance, interest, and emotions among humans. Today these ancient patterns of communication still shape how we make decisions and coordinate work among ourselves.”

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4. Promise Transparent and Honest Communications (No side conversations) (No backchannel conversations)

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– Greg Hoy, The Backchannel Consumes Us All  https://the-pastry-box-project.net/greg-hoy/ 2014-september-17 “The backchannel can all-too-easily erode trust and compromise relationships.”

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5. Consensus on Tools

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NICE ROUND UP! Team communications can be challenging to round up. If you keep cool, set basic guidelines, and adapt your style accordingly, you’ll ride oﬀ into the sunset.

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The Project Communications   GAME

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BONUS! Your team is a tight-knit pack, just like The Young Guns.

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"The best predictors of productivity were a team’s energy and engagement outside formal meetings.” – The New Science of Building Great Teams by Alex “Sandy” Pentland, Harvard Business Review, April 2012

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The Project Communications   GAME

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GIT YER LASSO OUT! You just received written feedback from the clients.  •5 stakeholders love the design. •3 hate it. •2 haven’t weighed in yet. ! Your team is upset and your clients are confused.

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MODERATE (GOOD) FEEDBACK

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1. Prepare Everyone for a Good Presentation

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2. Observe and Take Good Notes

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3. Set Ground Rules on How You Accept Feedback

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4. Be Clear About Your   Feedback/Revision Plan

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5. Facilitate Healthy Conversation

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MOVIN’ ON Project decision making can get tough, If you set boundaries and communicate clearly, you’ll meet deadline and budgets,

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The Project Communications   GAME

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MEETING MASSACRE! You tried Skype, but the audio failed. You moved to Google Hangouts and that quit on you. Twice. So you went to the phone, but by that point, half the attendees gave up. Your meeting was a Ghost Town.

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MEETINGS: Good Guy or Organizational Outlaw?

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How To Decide if You Need a Meeting • Goals of the meeting • Attendees • Success factors • Timing: today, tomorrow, next week? • Length of the meeting • Agenda

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MEETING Design a Successful

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1. Find the Right Meeting Place

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2. Create and Follow an Agenda

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3. Determine Meeting Roles

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Leader Recorder Facilitator Timekeeper

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PROJECT MANAGER

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4. Be All-Inclusive

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5. Encourage Meeting Productivity

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SAVED! Meetings can be a challenge! If handled improperly, they can halt project progress. You can make them GREAT if you lasso in all of the details and make it worth while.

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The Project Communications   GAME

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GOOD MOVE! Your team and clients give you bonus points for being honest and holding oﬀ on answering a question suited for a developer.

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TRUE GRIT It Takes to Be a Good PM

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– John Wayne “Courage is being scared to death…and saddling up anyway”

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The Project Communications   GAME

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BOOT THE SCOPE CREEP You’ve delivered the site and the client says, “This feature is not working the way we expected.” ! What they want is going to take 2 additional weeks to complete and the scope is questionable.

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Wrangle Documents! • Scope • Strategy Brief • Requirements • Project Plan • Status Reports

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Articulate Eﬀort • Dissect the issue or feature • Discuss goals • Determine impacts • Budget • Timeline • Show your estimates, be transparent

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Work Breakdown Structure Source: http://edge.rit.edu/content/P10205/public/basestation_prelim_WBS.png

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Work Breakdown Structure:   Wireframes Brainstorm Internal Meeting Personal Brainstorming Design  Create Wireframes Internal Team Review Internal Iteration  Present Prep presentation Review with Client Collect Feedback (x3) Iterate (x2) Total Time: 2 days Total Time: 10 days Total Time: 15 days

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BOOTED! Last minute changes and requests are common in projects. Sometimes you’ll let them slip, but you’ll always want to think it through and discuss it with your team and clients.

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The Project Communications   GAME

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KEEP IT MOVIN’ Almost done! But before you ﬁnish things up, a new stakeholder joins the client team. How can you onboard a new client, keep the project in track, and stay on time and under budget? Good luck!

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HOWDY (NEW) PARTNER

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Let’s Get Acquainted

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Grab This Resource theprojectgame.com

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BANDIT BEWARE!

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NEW ALLY MADE If you carve trails for new stakeholders and lead them and their horse to water, you’ll make a life-long partner. If you handle it really well, they’ll come back to you for the next project showdown.