Project Communications Management

A project manager has a problem with a team member's performance. What is BEST form of communication for addressing this problem?

• Formal written communication

• Formal verbal communication

• Informal written communication

• Informal verbal communication

Formal written correspondence with the customer is required when:

• Defects are detected.

• The customer requests additional work not covered under contract.

• The project has a schedule slippage that includes changes to the critical path.

• The project has cost overruns.

A large, one-year telecommunications project is about halfway done when you take the place of the previous project manager. The project involves three different sellers and a project team of 30 people. You would like to see the project's communications requirements and what technology is being used to aid in project communications. Where will you find this information?

• The stakeholder management plan

• The information distribution plan

• The bar chart

• The communications management plan

Communication is key to the success of a project. As the project manager, you had three stakeholders with whom you needed to communicate. Therefore, you had six channels of communication. A new stakeholder has been added with whom you also need to communicate. How many communication channels do you have now?

• 7

• 10

• 12

• 16

A project manager has a project team consisting of people in four countries. The project is very important to the company, and the project manager is concerned about its success. The length of the project schedule is acceptable. What type of communication should he use?

• Informal verbal communication

• Formal written communication

• Formal verbal communication

• Informal written communication

You have just been assigned as project manager for a large manufacturing project. This one-year project is about halfway done. It involves 5 different sellers and 20 members of your company

on the project team. You want to quickly review where the project now stands. Which of the following reports would be the MOST helpful in finding such information?

• Work status

• Progress

• Forecast

• Communications

A project manager overhears a conversation between two stakeholders who are discussing how unhappy they are with the impacts of the project on their own departments. Stakeholder A asks if the project is on time, and stakeholder B replies that the SPI is 1.05. Stakeholder A asks if the project manager for the project knows of stakeholder B's concern. Stakeholder B responds that he is not sure. What is the BEST thing for the project manager to do?

• Make sure the stakeholders see that the project manager overheard. Then ask them to direct any questions to the project manager in writing.

• Make a presentation to all the stakeholders regarding the status of the project.

• Send both stakeholders a copy of the issue log and ask for additional comments.

• Arrange a meeting with both stakeholders to allow them to voice any concerns they may have.

A project manager has just been assigned a team that comes from many countries including Brazil, Japan, the United States, and Britain. What is her BEST tool for success?

• The responsibility assignment matrix (RAM)

• The teleconference

• Team communication with the WBS

• Communication and well-developed people skills

The project has 13 team members and affects more than 15 departments in the organization. Because the project is 20 percent complete to date and the team has had successful performance reports from five of the affected departments, the project manager holds a party to celebrate. The project manager invites key stakeholders from all of the departments to the party, in order to give those providing good reviews an informal opportunity to communicate good things to those departments that have not yet been affected by the project. At the party, the project manager walks around to try to discover any relevant information that would help her make the project even more successful. She happens to hear a manager of one of the departments talking about setting up more regular meetings on the project. The BEST thing for the project manager to do would be to FIRST:

• Record the effectiveness of the party in the project lessons learned.

• Review the effectiveness of the project's communications management plan.

• Hold a meeting of all the stakeholders to discuss their concerns.

• Make sure the manager has a copy of the communications management plan so he is reminded that such concerns should be sent to the project manager.

The requirements of many stakeholders were not approved for inclusion in your project. Therefore, you had a difficult time gaining formal approval of the project management plan.

The stakeholders argued and held up the project while they held meeting after meeting about their requirements. The project was finally approved and work began six months ago. All of the following would be good preventive actions to implement EXCEPT:

• Keep a file of what requirements were not included in the project.

• Make sure the change control process is not used as a vehicle to add the requirements back into the project.

• Maintain an issue log.

• Hold meetings with the stakeholders to go over the work that will not be added to the project.