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Manage the Project Communication
Create Project Documentation Project documentation is not a report that your team puts together after the project is completed. Any report that you might be required to submit is certainly part of the project's documentation, but leaving that job for one person to do during the last week of the semester is missing the point completely. Project documentation is the written trail that your team creates to a) plan the project, b) manage the work being done, c) report your work to your boss and client, and d) create a blueprint for future teams trying to accomplish similar work. The exact format of each of these documents is not important. One professor might ask you to submit a "memo of understanding" while another expects you to include the team's "mission statement" in a project binder. It is important to understand how each document functions as a communication tool and to use the whole collection of tools to make your project succesful. Memo of Understanding While a client or supervisor does not always specifically ask for a written statement of what your team will be doing, it is always a good idea to send a confirming memo or email to make sure that you are all in agreement. Just sitting down together as a group to write down exactly what you are doing (and why) will often uncover areas of disagreement or misunderstanding. This memo of understanding (or "mission statement" or "charge") should be included in the permanent project records as the "official" explanation of what you were doing and why. Sending this memo to the "right" people is nearly as important as writing it. You might have both a business client and a professor supervising the project. Both should get copies of the memo, and any disagreements they might have about the scope of your project, due dates, or deliverables can be resolved before you get too far along. If you expect to use any external resources, such as a client's staff person or another department's information, this memo acts as a confirmation, and copies need to be sent to anyone involved in the success of the project. Meeting Agendas and Minutes Every planned communication event has an agenda. No matter how short the conversation, it is scheduled because there is some information to be transferred or some decision to be made. If you can't decide what the agenda is going to be, you probably shouldn't be having the meeting! Conversations and meetings are more efficient when a) enough time is allowed to do the communication required, b) everyone involved has appropriately prepared ahead of time, and c) everyone understands how to proceed on each of the items to be covered. Thus a written agenda, including planned time frames, should be in the hands of every person in time for everyone to gather the information, ideas, or results needed to accomplish the goals of the meeting. Once the conversation is under way, a record must be made of all the information, issues, decisions, and commitments that are made. Taking notes keeps you from having the same conversation all over again when someone forgets what you decided at the last meeting. It also helps you to stay on task, so that meetings cover all the items they need to cover and only last as long as they are scheduled to last. Finally, your meeting minutes are included in the permanent records of the project so that you can explain to your client later on just when it was that he or she requested that particular change. Reporting Requirements Every client and every professor will have a different set of reporting requirements, but you can expect to let someone know what your group has accomplished on a regular basis. At the very least, your group will probably be making some kind of final report or presentation to let others know what you've done. Regardless of the format or frequency, reports include the same basic information: What were you trying to accomplish within this reporting period? What did you actually accomplish during this reporting period? What barriers prevented you from meeting your expected goals exactly as planned? What changes did you have to make in the project plan to meet your goals? What changes need to be made in the project or organization? (e.g. What new issues have come up that no one had thought of? What changes has the client requested? What resources will be needed to complete the job on schedule? What did your team find out that the rest of the organization needs to know?) What do you plan to accomplish before the next reporting period? Group Memory In an environment where work only lasts one semester, it's easy to forget that "real" groups doing "real" work need to keep records for the future. Whether it's your own team coming back next month to do an audit of a different client's books, or another group of pepole that will form a team to organize next year's company picnic, someone will be doing virtually the same project again. A group should always document its work in such a way that a new employee could pick up the project records and follow them as a guide to doing a similar project. Your project records should be kept in a format that makes it easy for anyone in the group to have easy access to all relevant materials. When some research is in one person's backpack and the project calendar is at another person's apartment and the assignment requirementsa re in yet another person's dorm room, you can be assured of one very unproductive team meeting! Records for large projects are usually kept electronically, often with shared files or intranet access so that team members can work on the project from their own workspaces. For students, who don't work out of permanent offices, a three ring binder is a good place to collect all the separate parts of a team project. You should obviously include your planning items and minutes as soon as you greate them. Research, plans and reminder notes for future portions of the project can be safely kept here until the group is ready to complete a step. The binder should obviously attend all group meetings and should be kept by someone who is not likely to get snowed into Des Moines the weekend before any major due dates! Resolve Conflicts Within Your Group The point of using good team communication skills is to prevent conflict from getting in the way of success. All of the steps you've taken so far have been designed to minimize misunderstandings, to facilitate communication about all the necessary topics, and to create an atmosphere of creative, competent cohesiveness. If you've done them well, there probably won't be any serious conflict within your team. With the groundwork you've laid, you should be able to recognize problem issues as they come up, resolve them constructively, and remain productive all semester. Recognize Issues Some teams become totally unproductive because they are so anxious to "avoid conflict" that they refuse to talk about work at all. Others avoid dealing with issues until the conflict is so serious that it can't be resolved in the time remaining during a semester. Perhaps the worst situation is the group that thinks it's doing well because everyone "gets along" but is doing poor quality work because no one admits to any disagreements, differences, or criticisms. A successful team will actually engage in more disagreements and even arguments that a poor team. Its members will lovingly and openly criticize each other's work. The team will be solid in its agreements because it has found and resolved its disagreements. A crucial communication skill in group work is the ability to articulate "issues" before they turn into the emotional impasse of "conflict." It's an employee's job to tell a team member when he or she does something unexpected, wrong, or dangerous. As a group, it is your responsibility to watch for issues that might create problems in completeing your task. Every group will face different issues, but some typical situations do come up often enough that you should watch for them: During the forming stage, when the group is getting acquainted, watch for misunderstandings of each other's goals, interests, or assumptions. You have little information about each other's previous courses, cultrual background, general personality or academic skills. If you think someone holds a view or an assumption that is "unworkable" in a group situation, don't simply jdge that person as a "jerk" or a "slacker." Instead, ask more questions until you find some area of commonality on which you can build your collaboration. While a good forming stage will minimize the storming phase, you will still find that you disagree about how the group should be run and how the work should be done. You'll discover that you have different priorities and different ways of managing your time. You'll discover that the group doesn't have enough internal or external resources to do your task easily (or at all). People will think they understand each other, but then one will do something the other didn't expect. Don't think your group is dysfunctional because it takes a meeting or two to settle into a routine. Tell each other when you are surprised or annoyed, but your goal is to be able to predict each other's behavior, not to make everyone act the same way. Once you are performing as a group, you will still find issues that have to be resolved. You might discover an unexpected lack of resources (including time). Individuals might make errors or fail to meet goals. Someone might forget to report on the status of a task, or you'll find differences between the way something was done and another's expectations. You might discover taht you aren't getting information you need from your client, your professor, or from each toher. In spite of an agreement to be open with each other, someone might fail to report an error, voice objections or request a change in procedures. In fact, norm violations could bring the group all the way back to the storming stage again, and misunderstandings could even arise because you don't actually know each other as well as you thought you did. Resolve Issues Once you have identified something that is in the way of getting the job done, take steps to resolve the issue. Again, good interpersonal skills are the basis for good group communication. You need to be able to clearly explain what you thought was going to happen, and to constructively describe the actual events. You must discuss the various barriers and choices that are preventing progress, without becoming judgmental or defensive. You need to actively listen to each other to find out what your goals, interests, assumptions, and knowledge actually are on the subject.	To Do List: Create Project Documentation Memo of Understanding (Tool #10) Agenda and Minutes Guidelines (Tool #12) Resources Don't get hung up on documentation formats. Unless you need to distribute them to outsiders, you don't need to type your minutes or bind your project records or transcribe your research notes. The documentation is a tool, not a presentation. Click here to view a Memo of Understanding Click here to view Agenda & Minutes Guidelines               Successful group communication relies on some basic interpersonal skills. If you don't know how to maintain a relationship with a peer identify issues and talk about them give and receive criticism constructively you will not be able to interact well in a work group. To Do List: Resolve Conflicts The steps you have already taken will prepare you to resolve issues constructively before they become conflicts. Resources Use the Path to Conflict Resolution (Tool #13) to guide your conversation about an issue.
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