When somebody from this team attends a high-level meeting with other members from different functions like telecasting, these issues may not be discussed or brought up unless there is a clear connection between them.
A good project communication plan also takes care to streamline the flow of information according to its relevance. You need to be vigilant of gaps in communication and fix them wherever they appear. Ensuring that a communication plan stays effective cannot be guaranteed, but there are some practices that can dramatically improve your chances.
Focus only on a few important points It might be tempting to be comprehensive and cover all aspects of a project early on. This might overwhelm or confuse the participants, especially if it is a meeting. Make meetings, emails, and other communication focused and target only a few topics at a time. This way the participants or audience will know what the meeting is about and what was the outcome of it.
Establish clarity and context Projects can involve individuals from different teams having distinct functions. The vocabulary used in communication should be simplified or the context should be set so that someone who does not know about the aspect of the project will still be able to make sense of what is being discussed and how it may relate to them.
Be vigilant to signs of confusion One of the biggest risks that you should watch out for in your communication plan is the possibility of the audience missing important facts. An email going into the spam folder or looking too routine to be opened may not communicate what it was supposed to do. Similarly in large and extended meetings individuals are bound to lose their attention from time to time. Keeping meetings short and small can help make communication more effective. Look for signs of disinterest or confusion from your audience.
Take feedback and involve others If your audience is engaged in communication, they can and will give input. These inputs could be used to make the communication plan more effective and relevant to the stakeholders. You do not have to bear the entire burden of improving communication across the projects.
Individuals in different profiles and roles will have unique inputs. Understand communication needs You should keep looking out for the changing needs in communication throughout the project. Who are the stakeholders not receiving information in a timely manner? Who are the participants that are not contributing to or benefitting from a meeting? Asking such questions would make communications more relevant to the audience.
Build relationships If the participants in a project do not share a good relationship with each other, it would help to account for some time for them to get properly acquainted before getting into the project. Understanding who is responsible for what would increase clarity and improve the quality of communication. Benefits of a Good Project Communication PlanA good project communication plan that is executed in the way it is meant to be can help your project on several levels.
All the different stakeholders involved in the project will work in a coordinated manner. There will be clarity for each participant on what is expected from them. Individual teams will have a better idea of dependencies in all directions. They will identify the teams that they depend on and the teams that depend on them. A good communication plan evolves as the project progresses, improving the effectiveness of communication.
Stakeholders get accurate updates about how the project is progressing. You can identify and fix issues early before they cause problems. There is greater transparency and cooperation. What needs attention is how the needs are evolving. We are changing the way we communicate. People expect information to be readily available.
We are also working on more complex projects that span organizations, continents, and time zones. To keep all stakeholders informed at every stage can appear to be a challenging task. A good project communication plan makes the job of all the stakeholders easier. A thorough, and flexible plan can go a long way in helping you and your organization achieve the desired project outcomes and could be seen as a critical component in your project. Project Management vs Product Management: Key Differences By KnowledgeHut With businesses getting increasingly competitive, steady and sustainable planning and management is needed to guide business strategies and set you up for success.
Project management and product management are critical to this business strategy. These two vital roles are often confused, and while they might sound the same, there are some key differences between them. Which role is right for you? Find out! A product could refer to a physical product, like a new version of an Apple phone, or a software application, such as a CRM tool, or even a service offered to a group of customers.
A project, on the other hand, is the effort involved, from start to finish, to create the product. Product management, therefore, is the function that is responsible for managing the product lifecycle—from the initial conceptualization, through the stages of its development and until it is introduced in the market, grows in acceptance and is eventually retired.
There is no fixed timeline as it will be based on the success of the product in the market. A product manager makes sure that a great product is built, and that it meets the expectations of customers and the needs of the market. Project management is the function that is involved with the actual creation and execution of the product or service.
It has a fixed timeline and is a one-time endeavour as it is completed when the project is closed, and the product is delivered to the customer. The lifecycle of the project goes through five stages—the initiation, planning, execution, tracking and controlling, and closure. A project manager oversees the project from start to finish, ensuring that all the goals are met. The Role of Product Manager Vs.
A Product Manager owns the product from start to finish. They create and maintain the product vision, and act as the liaison between the stakeholders, users and the development team.
They will understand the stakeholder requirements, translate them into design goals and coordinate with the team to see that the development is aligned with these goals. Quite often, the product manager is called the CEO of the product—probably because this role entails in-depth product knowledge as well as sound business sense.
The Project Manager understands the product vision and goals that are laid out by the product manager, creates schedules and plans, and manages the execution of the tasks that are required to achieve the goals. They take care of the nitty gritty of the budget, time and quality, and ensure successful completion of the project. The project manager can be compared to the captain of the ship, steering the project in the right direction.
To help make the distinction between the two roles very clear, imagine that you are a product manager. You might be able to answer questions like: What is the product brief? Who are the end users? What are the problems we are trying to address? How will the product look and feel?
What does the competition look like, and how can you ensure that this product scores over the others in the market? What is the budget? How can I manage the timelines? Is the team delivering on the promised quality?
How can I optimize resource allocation? The job of the project manager ends when the product is delivered. They are not required to be a part of the marketing and launch. SkillsetMust be good at market research, strategic thinking and business-savvyMust be good at planning, budgeting, organizing and time management. Responsibilities of Product Managers Vs Project ManagersAlong with the difference in the two roles, comes the differences in the responsibilities as well.
Essentially, the product manager has external responsibilities; those of dealing with stakeholders, management and end users, and understanding the technical aspects of the product. The project managers have internal responsibilities, which involve issues that have to do with functionalities, planning and execution, and they look inward toward the development team. There is certainly quite a bit of overlap between the two roles of Product Manager and Project Manager.
Both roles have the product in focus, and work to maximize product value, enhance customer satisfaction and deliver quality products on time and within budget. They are both required to be excellent communicators and should have great organizational skills and leadership capabilities.
For both roles, experience and the right training are very important. However, product managers drive product development, while project managers drive project execution. There are certainly instances, usually in smaller companies, where one person could wear both hats. This does not always work out well, however, and there could be several issues that could arise as a result.
These issues could include the following: As we have seen, product managers have more focus on the product itself, and not on the process of creating it—which comes under the purview of the project manager. If one person plays both roles, either of the two responsibilities will suffer as a result. Product managers usually take part in many external activities, such as attending trade fairs to keep an eye on the competition, interacting with stakeholders and so on.
If they spend all their time in looking after the daily work, these activities will languish. Project managers might not have sufficient knowledge about the product itself and may not be able to define and prioritize the features adequately, as they will not have sufficient knowledge about the market. Product managers, when tasked with managing the project, might not have adequate expertise in balancing and juggling scope, quality, financial outlays and time schedules.
Quite often, and understandably so, quality is what gives way first. As projects grow increasingly complex, having a product manager focus on the strategy, while the project manager takes care of the tactical aspects will lead to more successful outcomes.
Wrapping Up: Final Thoughts As we have seen, the two roles are complementary, and both are equally important for successful outcomes. To equip yourself with industry best practices and start your career on the right foot, explore these sought-after project management certifications. However, this can lead to any novice project manager or project manager apprentice not knowing the difference between these interchangeable terms when they are learning from a project manager who confuse the two.
Risks and issues are different concepts and need to be handled in completely different ways. Both concepts need monitoring and an efficient project manager should have strategies in place to manage the risks and issues and also to adapt to changing situations. But before you can put any strategies in place, it is vital that you understand the difference between a risk and an issue and the different approaches needed in the management of both.
Considering risks at the start of any project is an essential part of planning and strategizing. A risk is something which has the potential to occur or to go wrong. It is vital that risks are considered at the beginning of any project so that all parties are aware of things that could affect the success or the outcome of the project. Risks may be conjecture or the anticipation of things happening, they may be likely to happen or very unlikely but even if there is the smallest possibility of it affecting the project then it is considered a risk.
An issue is defined as an event which has happened and is having an impact on your project. Issues require immediate attention and action in real-time and may be a result of risks you identified at the start of the project or they may have come from an unseen area.
Either way, issues often present themselves in most projects and any effective leader should be able to deal with them efficiently using their experience and project management skills. Any project manager worth their salt should bring up risk management from the outset. It is often not a popular topic, but it is a good idea to talk about potential risks during initial kick-off meetings at the beginning of the project. This may be the only time you have the entire team and all stakeholders together before the project is completed so that is a good time to gather thoughts on potential risks from all perspectives.
This stage of planning is too often missed out with the increasing need for speed to fend off competition. However, this can cause big problems for your project further down the road.
Viewing Risk From a Different Perspective. The first thing you and your team need to ask yourselves is what could go wrong?
Are there any factors which could prevent any part of the project being completed? Do you need to consider elements such as seasonal weather, outside suppliers, market changes, political effects or material stockpiles? As part of identifying the risks to your project, you should begin to think about the potential impact these risks pose to your project. What type of effect will they have? Why Distinguish a Risk from an Issue?
Are we splitting hairs? The distinction between risks and issues matters for a few reasons. Proactive Management Saves Time. Project managers can save valuable time through prevention. Measure of Management Effectiveness. If a project manager is experiencing lots of issues, it may be a sign that the project manager has not been managing the project effectively. Different Type Response. Issues require a different response than threats. You have to deal with such facts and take them into account when planning your project.
These general statements, which are often found in risk reports, definitely do not correspond to risks, but to facts or current problems:. But there is one thing you have to consider: Although these statements do not represent any risks, they could be causes for future risks.
Such risks should be directly transferred to problem management. The following figure shows again the difference between problem and risk in a differnt way. The following diagram shows the course of a risk in the context of risk and problem management.
Often one also speaks of crisis management when a risk occurs — whereby crisis then tends to point to something very serious that requires highest attention.
Note that many risks fortunately do not materialise and disappear into thin air over time. Tip: In the case of risks that you cannot reduce or avoid with measures, pay attention to early warning signals triggers so that you are better prepared should the risk actually occur. Another important point you should keep in mind: If you do not talk about risks in your project, then you will probably often have to struggle with problems.
These problems have certainly arisen from risks that no one has paid attention to in the past. Unfortunately, the following statement applies to many projects:. A risk is an uncertainty. The definition of an issue is not so clear in project management and even the PMBOK does not provide more clarity.
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