Project Communications Management:

Part A) A project manager (PM) should focus on actively managing stakeholders’ expectations. This includes addressing concerns that have not yet become issues and clarifying issues that have been identified. In order to be successful at these tasks, the PM needs to develop interpersonal and management skills. Several important interpersonal skills for a PM are the ability to build trust, resolve conflicts, and overcome resistance to change. Management skills include presentation/public speaking, negotiating, and writing. Pick one of these critical interpersonal or management skills and discuss your personal experience(s) with this skill. Then explain this skill to the class as if you were trying to assist a colleague in better developing that skill.

Part B) Reporting performance is an essential part of project communications management. Project managers spend a significant amount of time creating various types of reports. The most obvious forms of reporting are reporting on status, current performance, work to be completed and approved changes. Based on your experience or cases in the literature, characterize the types of reporting that are required of project managers, the content of such reports, and the frequency of the reports.