Communications, Say It Again

When I’m in meetings or workshops I often have small epiphanies based on what is being discussed, that I write down as memos to self. A few weeks ago, my memo said: “Remember external communications”.

It came up as a reminder to myself when my client commented that she knew that things were happening but there was a lull of a couple of weeks (while we were busy producing a deliverable) where she didn’t hear from us and ‘kind of wondered if things were okay’. Ouch.

As project manager for the project, that was a big wake up to remind myself that communication is everything in the project - everything. And communication doesn’t end with making sure that the internal team is working away, that obstacles are being quashed, and that everything is tracking to time and quality. It also means making sure that the client is aware of what is happening at all times.

A couple of things that I reminded myself to do to keep external communication going are:

1. Every time you finish an internal project discussion ask yourself if anything has changed that the client should know about. It is too easy to think that they’ve already been told because you know that you discussed it already (and they have - it is just that you only discussed it with your team!)
2. Set regular cmns updates and keep them - even if you don’t have anything new to say that week, repeat your update from last week and remind the client what is happening now and what to expect over the next week. Remember that they have a million other things to focus on, and that one of the reasons that they hired you was so that you would keep them informed without them having to ask.
3. Use plain language - tempting as it could be, don’t hide behind behind jargon just to make your info sound more impressive.