Project management is all about contacting different people. You exchange information with the project team. You exchange information with vendors and subcontractors. You exchange information with customers. You exchange information with your bosses. Many different situations. Many different people to contact.
The best way to do that? There isn’t any. We use formal documents, e-mails, phone calls, instant messengers, face to face discussions and group meetings. We use some systems to communicate. And I’m personally very often unsatisfied with the way someone’s chosen to contact another person.
I always want communication to be effective yet to achieve its goals, so I try to follow several simple rules.
Immediate
When you want to contact someone immediately use mediums which allow you to do that. Phone or face to face talk. You send your message immediately and you immediately receive your answer. You are sure that information was delivered. Problem solved. Case closed. However, so many people are scared of phone calls. I’m one of them to be honest. I hate phones, but when I need immediate contact and can’t talk face to face, that’s no-brainer for me – I won’t choose something that makes me feel comfortable but something that makes me successful.
Proof
Sometimes you need some proof that a sentence has been stated. When a customer agrees that the slip was her fault. When a developer agrees with a schedule and you expect he won’t make it. When you need an ass-coverer to undertake some actions. Then you should choose something reasonably quick yet delivering the proof. E-mail. No guarantee you’ll get the response however. Quite often on the other side there’s a person who doesn’t want to give you your proof and just won’t do it. In this situation it’s better to have your information gathered in any other proofless way then to have nothing. Make your follow up with other medium.
Singed documents
We, in Poland, still live in the era of paper. Formal documents like acceptance protocols etc just have to be printed and signed by a real person with a real pen. Because teleportation of objects isn’t yet fully invented you need to send those documents in some way because I’ve learned to believe that something is signed when I see that, not when I hear about that. I need to see that paper is actually signed, so I expect the document to be faxed. Waiting for a snail mail takes much, much longer. Of course snail mail should follow the fax message.
Thing to remember
Sometimes you ask for something that doesn’t have to be done immediately but one has to remember about that. Another time when e-mail is my best choice. Addressee has it in her inbox, you have it in your outbox. That brings at least two reminders about whole thing.
Fast but not important
Sometimes you need some information relatively fast but that’s not very important. I use instant messaging then. It has shorter response time than e-mail, but still you don’t distract the asked person as much as you would if you’d came to her desk in person or calling her.
Knowledge distribution
Sometimes you need to share some knowledge within a group of people. It doesn’t really matter if it’s ad-hoc discussion about a feature, an architectural discussion or telling about a mess in the kitchen. The best way is the meeting. Not the e-mail message sent to whole group. On the meeting the discussion is easier, and you show emotions which is also important. If a meeting in the real world is impossible the answer is conf call or (if possible) video conference.
Workflow
Generally I’m not a zealot of different system supporting communication. I prefer basic methods. However there’re some situations when some structure is needed. A great example is a bug tracker. There you have a workflow implemented and some constrains the message should fulfill to be accepted. You clearly know who is responsible for what. It’s easy for you to find a one to blame. The more complex is the process of passing and/or accepting information, the more you need some workflow system.
All of that is quite natural when you use common sense, but surprisingly often I see it all messed up. E-mail generally rules, probably because of laziness – you don’t have to even move your hands from the keyboard. People are afraid of direct communication, especially phones, but also plain old face to face discussions. Talking in front of whole team makes them very uncomfortable. On the other hand sometimes the purpose of communication is forgotten and on the end of the day there’s no proof that there were any communication at all. Communication is one of things, which are so easy, yet they’re so often screwed up.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Excellent article. Good thoughts about communication.
You’ve mentioned that you have some personal barriers to call somebody using telephone. How do you compete with this bad habbit?
Nothing special I guess.
First thing is I expect from my people that they will use direct contact (usually a phone call) if the case is urgent. Since I hate hypocrisy I always expect something from myself and then from the team. That keeps me me facing my fears.
Second thing I’ve mentioned in the post – I prefer to be successful than to feel a bit more comfortable. Getting needed information quickly is just more important for me.
Third thing is I always try to learn from my past experience and my past experience says that in some situations indirect communication fails. I don’t like to fail. No one does.
There’s one more: I invited a habit to call customers/partners/subcontractors/team members. The more you call the easier it becomes. First phone call to a manager of a maintenance team on a customer’s side was a real stress. Today, after few months, I called him just to ask if our systems was making well during the Valentine’s Day. After we get known better it’s easier to overcome me fears.
“I prefer to be successful than to feel a bit more comfortable” – great words and this can become a name for your book :).
But I think people should think about their internal comfort. Just imagine yourself when you are 60, successful manager\businessman, but feeling no comfort. I don’t think this is the thing you want.
I think if you don’t like doing something (e.g. calling) you should try to find something that attracts you in that process and feel good doing that with that small attractive details.
Actually being successful makes me comfortable after all, so it compensate some stress during the process of exchanging information. For me that’s the helpful pleasant thing you write about.