Want a successful project? Here are some useful questions!

It doesn’t matter if you are about to realize a rather huge or small project, one aspect you always have to keep in mind in order for your project to be successful and your team to operate at maximum efficiency is to communicate with your team on a frequent basis. There needs to be a strong, two-way communication system in place.

You will want your team members to feel comfortable bringing things to your attention and you will want to have a way to get information to them clearly and quickly. Your plan for communicating should be more involved than just group round-robin emails. You need an established, agreed upon strategy for communicating so that vital information is not missed by any party.

To develop your strategy, examine your Gantt chart illustrating the start and finish dates of the elements of your project and then ask yourself the following questions.

Questions for a successful project 

• How often do we need to meet as an entire team?

• How long will we meet each time?

• Does everyone have to be at every meeting, or can you communicate to some members of the team in a more effective way?

• What will the guidelines be for our meetings? Will we have a standard agenda with everyone reporting their status or will we only address issues that might take us off track?

• What documentation will we keep that will track our information in case we have to refer back to it?

• Who will be responsible for keeping up with that documentation? What format will we use to do so?

• What types of information will I want the team to communicate to me immediately instead of waiting for a meeting? How do I want them to do it?

• What expectations do I have as to the team’s availability outside of work hours? Is it OK to call, email, or reach them at home? On weekends?

• What communication needs to be sent to our management staff?

• Who will be allowed to communicate that information to management?

• Who will be allowed to speak to the press (if applicable)?

These questions will not all apply to your situation, but they should demonstrate the types of issues that can arise if you have not clearly defined a communication plan for your project team. Write it down, agree upon it, and put it into use and you will find your team is able to operate more smoothly.

You can find more aspects of project management such as project management tools or systems by reading “Managing Projects” by MTD Training.

Download “Managing Projects” right here