10.1 Plan Communications Management

Decide who needs which information, how often, and through what channel.

Planning / Communications · ← PMBOK reference · See it on the map

Why it matters

Without a plan, some stakeholders are flooded with updates they do not need while others who need to know something important never hear it.

What done looks like

A communications plan names each stakeholder's needs, format, and frequency.

First time tip

Ask each stakeholder how they prefer to receive updates before you set the plan. A channel that suits you but not them just gets ignored.

What you need (Inputs)

• Project Charter
• Project Management Plan
• Stakeholder Register
• Requirements Documentation
  How Scrum/Kanban projects satisfy this — counted from: backlog items (driftless/models/agile.py:BacklogItem) — a backlog item's description IS its requirement statement; present once any item has one, healthy once every item does
• Enterprise Environmental Factors
• Organizational Process Assets

How you do it (Tools & Techniques)

• Expert Judgment
• Communication Requirements Analysis
• Communication Technology
• Communication Models
• Communication Methods
• Data Representation
• Interpersonal and Team Skills
• Meetings

What you get (Outputs)

• Communications Management Plan
• Project Management Plan

Worked example

A small town is replacing the water mains under four residential streets. The project manager lists who is affected — the residents on those streets, the two businesses on the corner, the council, and the school whose bus route changes — and writes down what each one needs: residents want a week's notice of any shutoff by postcard and text, the council wants a monthly summary in its meeting packet, and the school needs the detour dates as soon as they are fixed.

Common pitfalls

• Planning every update as an email because that is easiest for you, when half the affected residents do not read email.
• Listing only the people who come to meetings, so the neighbors actually losing water never appear in the plan.
• Promising a frequency you cannot sustain, so the weekly bulletin quietly stops after three weeks.

How driftless helps

• Communication Technology can be run here.
• Communication Methods can be run here.
• Meetings can be run here.
• Communications Management Plan can be created in the wizard.