As project managers, we ask a lot of questions.  But we need to ask ourselves if questions are the right form of communication.

When developing a communication management plan (PMBOK Guide, 4th Edition, Chapter 10) it’s helpful  to define how people like to communicate.  This encompasses both their preferred medium (email, phone, meetings) and the form your communications should take to be most effective.

It may seem harmless enough, but a question is not always the most effective way to communicate.

When soliciting work performance information we may ask about the status of an activity or deliverable. In the role of project leader or representing the voice of the customer we may ask about alternative solutions or push the edges of solutions/methods presented by team members.

But different people take questions differently.

• To some, a question is a direct request. What you mean as an exploration of a topic is taken as a demand or request to do something.

• To others, a question is a direct affront to their role.

• And questions about money, to non-money people, can raise uncertainty in your leadership and cause discomfort.

Like all communications, what matters is what listener takes away, regardless of your intent.

Pay attention to the effect questions have on various stakeholders and determine whether they are an effective form of communication with that person. Once you learn that, add it to your communication management plan to keep as a reference.

Use your questions wisely.

Projects don’t run themselves. Leadership takes active engagement with your team and stakeholders.

Anything else is usually rationalization or procrastination until you figure out a way to lead (or how to get off the project).

A corollary to “Planning is Easy.”

The difference between planning and executing a project is that the former can be done by one person.

The latter, doing the work, is done by a team. Each team member is an expert at their job and  may not see the need for anybody else’s input on their work.

That’s why communication is important.  If you want your planning to have value, a project manager needs to be a good communicator.

Without communication skills, planning is an illusion.

There are 20 management processes when planning a project and only 8 for doing the work (PMBOK Guide, 4th edition).  Yet, an overwhelming percentage of total resources and dollars are spent in doing the work.

That tells you how well defined planning can be and how messy it can get to do the work.

But everything important that happens for the customer, the whole reason for the project, is the work itself.  Get that right, and the project is a success.

Manage expectations better by entering issues into an issue log (like the one in Vertabase project management software).

This will keep them from falling through the cracks.

You’ll be reminded of open issues by due date and be able to find issues by client before your next call with them.

Clients will feel better knowing that you are on top of issues affecting their projects -particularly issues that they may have brought up.  You’ll know about them and be able to set expectations based on the latest status.

Even if the issues were mentioned verbally, in a meeting or in the hall, enter them into a centralized issue log.  Though an issue can lay low, remaining unmentioned for weeks,  it can come up and bite you sooner or later.

Scope is a function of meeting requirements.

A project manager’s job is to gather the requirements and develop a solution whose scope meets all the  requirements.  Often, this is an iterative process.

It’s a mistake to have the customer define the scope of the project (or to believe that once defined, they are set in stone; further clarification/iteration is always needed -it’s a function of the imperfect nature of communication).

As a project manager, you should be the expert in bridging business needs with a solution developed by a team of subject matter experts.  Anything less and you reduce your value to the customer.

There is one and only one communication path between you and another person.

There are multiple channels, multiple tools, different ways you can communicate with them: email, phone, text, Twitter, Yammer, Skype, video conference, etc.

But there is only one path.

It connects two people, them and you, together. No matter how many channels or media you use it is always going to be about that one and one. It is always about you and another person.

Don’t forget that there’s a person there. It’s a human relationship.

Vertabase and our team were recently recognized as Project Management Visionaries by the popular PaperCut Edge project management blog.

The article explains our vision  on project management and project management software.

Big thanks to Geoff for the recognition and kind words.

Google launched a new tool in labs called Google Correlate.  It allows you to track how well a time series of data correlates with specific search terms in Google.

For example, a marketer could run a time series of when their advertisement showed on TV , then see if it impacted the search volume for terms associated with their product. They could then correlate that against actual sales volume to see how much of the advertising was spent educating people vs driving sales.

It can also be used to create all sorts of nonsense.

For example, I ran a time series of the daily close of the S&P 500 stock index. The most tightly correlated search term was “Microsoft clip art.”   Correlation is definitely not causation.  I then ran it with a lag, groping for a theory on the relation between putting together PowerPoint presentations and bullish sentiment.  Alas, also nonsense (plus the minimum lag is one week, which is too large for daily closes).

To use the tool properly, you need a Theory of Search as it relates to whatever subject matter you’re studying.  The theory is what ties together the data.

Knowing that one side of the data set is always going to be search terms, as a general principle you could say that Google Correlate is best used for tracking the spread of ideas among people who use Google.

The data can be powerful or it can be more noise in an otherwise clear analysis.  It all depends on the theory, the framework, the context in which the data lives.

Bringing this around to daily work life, we create and receive a lot of information every day about the work we do and project’s in which we’re involved.  To be helpful, that information needs to live in a theory, in a framework, about work.

Without a theory, without a framework, all the data generated (in meetings, reports and project management tools) can fast become noise. The good news is that there is a theory of work -it is easily accessible and doesn’t require a Ph.D. to understand.

Project management is a Theory of Work.

Project management is a framework of how people work together on projects and expend resources to achieve a particular goal.  It explains what data to monitor and how to use that information to improve processes.

Use project management as a skeleton on which to hang your information and as a guide to determine what information you need. You can accelerate your understanding of how to get things done more efficiently (and maybe even cut out some unnecessary meetings).

Putting out fires is not risk management (it’s poor planning).

Before you kick-off your project, ask for the problems that could arise.

Don’t just think about them. Ask everyone involved on your project team. Ask your customer. Ask the project sponsor.  Ask experts who have done these kind of projects before.

Ask for the problems.  Make a list of them. Then figure out ways they can be solved when they happen. Put these solutions right next to the problems on the list.  Keep the list handy if/when problems arise.

Take a look at your project plan and see if there’s anything you can change that will reduce the chance of the problems happening. But keep in mind, that every change brings with it potential new problems.

This process is called Risk Management.   Contrary to popular belief, Risk Management is not about managing problems when they arise.  It’s about looking for them beforehand and being prepared for when they happen.

Like any part of a project, planning and preparing early on saves money, time, morale and headaches, as opposed to be surprised by problems and dealing with them on-the-fly.