Good PM4 – Be able to articulate the project’s current status
Posted: January 12th, 2009 | Tags: communication, Project Management, Project Manager skills, Status Reporting | No Comments »
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“If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.” —
How tell can you explain your project’s current status to a key business stakeholder? When you bump into the client’s CEO and he asks about your project, what do you say?
Most PMs can easily quote their current SPI, CPI, Estimated Costs at Completion etc.. but will the CEO of a Retail company really understand what you are trying to say?
A “good” PM needs to have the ability to translate all of these technical terms into business impact that will be understood by everybody. The message to the CEO is not the same that you will give to the CIO or the business unit manager that is affected by the project. Can you distill the key issues/challenges and package them for the specific audience? This skill is not easy to master. I must admit that I have not yet completely mastered this myself. I also tend to take the road well traveled and start speaking technical terms. The reward is mostly that blank look and a very abrupt end to the conversation.
Key to this skills is the homework you need to do in your stakeholder analysis. What are the top issues for the CEO? When you meet her/him, report only on these issues. A lot of us ended up doing a stakeholder analysis and communication plan at the start of the project which led to a well executed formal communication schedule. This however does not cater for these ad-hoc type feedback sessions. The other document that supports this skills is your project issues list. Do you know your top issues and their potential business impact? Are these articulated in business terms or technical terms?
A good place to practise this skill is when you husband/wife asks you – “How are things at work?” Can you really explain it to them? I know this is a bit different but still a good measure of your skill. Similar test to check your negotiation skills is by taking a 4 year old to the toy store! If you survive these challenges you can survive the busines world.
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