"No society, whether human or animal can exist without communication." Anthony Burgess
In addition to the technical complexity of large technology projects (i.e. equipment and development and outsourcing projects), "communication" has emerged as a key factor influencing their successful delivery. Project leaders should customise their communication style to meet the needs of their project team. This becomes a more critical requirement for large technology projects.
There is little difference between managing large and small technology projects other than projects become harder to control as the number of project stakeholders and management challenges increase. Bad communication exponentially increases the possibility of serious mistakes occurring, whereas effective communication aids in smooth project delivery.
When assessing large-scale projects, the following four sets of activities should be used.
• Task management and control
• Managing relationships and communication among team members
• Managing application and solution design
• Managing logistics and administration.
The project manager has to have an understanding of his own as well as his team members' strengths and weaknesses in order to delegate work effectively.
When critical project information has to be communicated to the whole team, a team meeting should be arranged to ensure the same message is communicated. This would increase the chances of success.
A communications plan identifying all communication or reporting activities, their intended audience, the desired objective of the communication, the mechanism/media to be used, the frequency, the deadline/schedule and the owner/author should be prepared as part of the full business plan. This will help ensure that project communications are focused and timely and stakeholders' expectations are managed. A continual review of performance is important with the feedback and lessons learned shared among the team.