Information technology (IT) over the last several years has changed. Phone calls and e-mail no longer will suffice. Instead, a vast part of successful IT revolves around communicaton and new mediums including but not limited to: workgroup tool and web interfaces which allow for collaboration and communication between teams, business units and between customers and clients via new avenues such as chat, document repository and video conferencing.
The best remedy when in an IT project is to create a communications plan. This plan should lay the groundwork for how teams, business units and the customers and client relationships should communicate.
A typical plan will outline how communication will take place - whether it be via a weekly status e-mail, weekly or monthly status documents (which maybe placed in a document repository where others can access them), face to face meeting, and video conference etc. Additionally all dates and times should be included in the plan as well.
Essentially, a time table is listed as well as key members whom will be in attendance at the meetings - additionally if reports are to be provided at meetings, the substance of such reports should be made known in the communication plan.
Once the project progresses - meetings that were monthly, maybe pushed to be weekly and also a ½ hour meeting may have enough information to go to an hour nearer the project deadline.
In my opinion, a large part of IT’s downfall with communications is that it lacks a plan or major issues and risks are not brought forth to the table in a timely manner. A concrete well followed communication plan that outlines when an issue is known - X will happen - is far superior then finding out after a project completition - it has problems.
Now as the world of IT follows a more standard business process methodology - it is essential that communication play a pivitol role in the success of IT.
The best remedy when in an IT project is to create a communications plan. This plan should lay the groundwork for how teams, business units and the customers and client relationships should communicate.
A typical plan will outline how communication will take place - whether it be via a weekly status e-mail, weekly or monthly status documents (which maybe placed in a document repository where others can access them), face to face meeting, and video conference etc. Additionally all dates and times should be included in the plan as well.
Essentially, a time table is listed as well as key members whom will be in attendance at the meetings - additionally if reports are to be provided at meetings, the substance of such reports should be made known in the communication plan.
Once the project progresses - meetings that were monthly, maybe pushed to be weekly and also a ½ hour meeting may have enough information to go to an hour nearer the project deadline.
In my opinion, a large part of IT’s downfall with communications is that it lacks a plan or major issues and risks are not brought forth to the table in a timely manner. A concrete well followed communication plan that outlines when an issue is known - X will happen - is far superior then finding out after a project completition - it has problems.
Now as the world of IT follows a more standard business process methodology - it is essential that communication play a pivitol role in the success of IT.
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