Managing Communication
Communication is a very important tool when it comes to project management. Over the timeline of a project communication can change drastically and can affect how well the project can run. There are many different types of communication depending on the project. Communication is used in the way we present information, it can be a way we need to update stakeholders on the project, it can be a way to share updates on a project, and it can also be a way to discuss issues that can be going on. When we think about communication we usually think about communication that can be face to face or a conversation with someone, but in the realm of project management it takes many different forms. Communication in the end is sharing or conveying information/details with someone to either help them understand something and must take in a lot of thought when working with a team. Communication can be in the terms of visual, verbal, written, and many more. Each one has its own strengths and plays a role whether it is something quick and needs to be conveyed to a person or a large scale decision that needs to be discussed with someone. When communication is messed up it can cause major problems, information can be lost, misunderstood, and completely taken the wrong way. Think back to the game Gossip we played as kids. The game was so effective and fun because it took in the problem when you communicate in the wrong, not effective way. When you have many people whispering in each other's ears in a circle with many middle-people communicating the information it can be lost and whispering in someone's ear was hard to hear and some people were just bad at whispering. Now let's fix and ruin the game using information we will learn today, if we played the game in terms of an email list or someone running a board meeting saying the word, everyone will know that word, making it a much better method to use to convey information. Managing communication is key in the agile methodology.
Verbal Communication
Verbal communication is a useful tool when trying to discuss key ideas, changes, and major ideas to a group. When brainstorming in a meeting can be the most effective way to come up with a good idea. Communicating this with email would be confusing and annoying because there would be too many separate messages and things could easily get lost. Even the rejection process would be hard because you would have to make sure to reject every bad idea and you could not easily discuss if something might be applicable towards a project. With having a verbal meeting you are able to discuss quick ideas making the process easier. Daily meetings are a great way to keep everyone up to date and release new information allowing you to be able to talk to people who have questions. With stakeholders also allowing verbal communication to happen can allow stakeholders to be open about how they feel about development and let them give input if they want any changes. Email can be hard with this because a stakeholder would want answers fast and having trouble discussing information can make things hard due to the fact that you cannot see physical communication if an idea makes them upset or confused. Verbal communication is a great tool to discuss information that can lead to feedback and a project that needs to be discussed. It allows for the communication of important topics and being able to help control the mood of major changes within a project.
Written Communication
Written communications have lots of forms within it. Written communication can encompass text message, email, visual ideas, and anything that can be put on a piece of paper that can communicate ideas and knowledge. Written communication can be very helpful to give short updates and to share ideas on how to make development more efficient and easier in the end. Written communication also helps people to let the teammates know they need help or to allow people to discuss problems or ideas that are not needed at the moment and over time. Written communication would not be a good idea when it comes to important changes in development or things that need to be thought through actively. People will always be confused and written communication does not allow ideas to flow freely through a discussion online. Written communication can also take form in something visual. For example, like a Kanban board. Like a kanban board, it allows you to communicate to your team where you are at in your development and if you are bottleneck the process. They are amazing because it is an easy way for your team to know where you are without having a meeting or telling everyone personally where you are at with the process. It can be important to have a conversation in meetings about a kanban board but for the most part this written communication can be helpful to express and let everyone know how you are doing.
Managing Communication is Important to the Agile Methodology
Communication is one of the most important things to the agile process and communication is only effective when it is used the right way. Agile builds itself on being able to respond to change within a project and allowing people to be able to interact over the process of a project development life cycle. Communication is key for these two ideologies. When there is change within a project communication will be at the center to let people within the project know what is going on. If people are not communicated correctly on what needs to be done you will have a group of very confused people and possibly have a project run into the ground. Information needs to be correct and in a timely manner when there is change within a project so it can keep running smoothly. When you manage communication correctly you will have a project that runs very smoothly.