Managing Communication
Throughout this infoKit there are many references to good communication being a vital contributor to the success of an implementation and poor communication being a common reason for project failure. Few would argue that communication is equally important in life in general. In his article entitled "What makes a successful project?" in the Computer Weekly on 22 June 2004, Jonathan Mitchell reported on the 2004 annual awards of the Corporate IT Forum:
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"As the judges analysed the shortlisted candidates for the awards, which include prizes for technical innovation and IT projects that have boosted profits or cut costs, several common themes emerged. The successful shortlisted projects all had exceptionally close links between the business leadership and the project team. The business customer/IT supplier approach was all but absent and the judges saw the development of integrated teams, based around common goals, with each individual or group contributing something of value to the project. There was genuine collaboration, with the programmes adding something significant to the business. In many cases, initiatives were led by a senior business executive and IT projects were tracked at board meetings. IT projects generally have a poor reputation for delivery. However, all the shortlisted schemes were founded on sound organisational structures, with project boards, technical steering groups and high levels of communication between the involved parties. ...All the projects carried a risk register, but the judges noted that the status of risks was being constantly monitored by the project team. In most cases, formal risk reviews were carried out at frequent intervals - as short as a few days in some cases. As a result, there seemed to be few surprises and the projects performed in a very predictable fashion. ...There is nothing new in all the common themes to emerge from the shortlist. The difference is that in these projects the principles of project management, stakeholder management and risk management were executed both effectively and ruthlessly". |
So, it is important to communicate with people on how a new system will affect them, but implementation tasks add up to a tremendous amount of work and many other responsibilities take second place for project personnel, so that those tasks can be completed. Consequently, the project takes centre stage in their working lives and it is easy for busy members of a project team to forget that for most people the project was simply an article in an earlier newsletter that has long since disappeared.
Therefore, all too often, others not involved in the project will ask the question, "Whatever happened to that project?" Nothing has changed and so nothing is visible to those people. Things may go quiet for a while at certain stages of a project, but they shouldn't, at least not entirely.
The challenge for those in key project roles and all project personnel is to continue to communicate with the whole institutional community to make them aware of what is happening and what will happen before, during and after go-live. Communication should focus on the overall project process to all stakeholders, not merely on specific items of detail to those specifically involved.
Communication can take many forms and a communication plan should be devised during the early phases of the project. Further, someone with the time to do the job should be given the specific responsibility for communicating progress to all stakeholders at all times.
