How long does it take a consultant to realize there are communication problems on a project?
Copying a previously viewed presentation and relying on ChatGPT, it indicated that on average it takes 80 hours to reach the conclusion on the title. For those who manage projects and resources, perhaps, when reading the previous sentence, you replaced the word hours with seconds.
Since communication is the core business, the project manager’s most crucial premise is to achieve resource engagement with a clear understanding of the project till the deadline. Therefore, we will share a story that illustrates organizational efficiency, which brings the benefits of the project, in addition to promoting a practice of ownership, whether for internal or external customers.
Without getting deeper into project management, the Scrum framework presents two very important “boxes” that will be our base:
- Daily Scrum: Periodic meetings with team members
- Product/Sprint Backlog: Tasks we need to perform
In the example we are discussing, the project involves field-testing, certification, Dog Fooders, AI, Product Tests, Modem and Network teams. There are many teams, and they all collaborate on various activities, some sequentially and others simultaneously.
At this point, “Daily Scrum” needs to materialize. In this case, given the characteristics of the project and tasks, ‘daily’ became ‘weekly’, calling all stakeholders to the meeting that has remote or local access.
Would only this meeting reach the goal of our business?
If only participating in meetings guaranteed the good execution of projects, we would live in meetings. However, we know that unproductive and unfocused conferences only contribute to wasting time and dispersing what is important.
In this way, we made use of the Kanban Board, which, in our case, is integrated with the Jira tool:
All activities are created as tasks in Jira and then imported into the Kanban board, exactly as shown in the previous image.
The advantage of creating tasks in a Jira project is the possibility of linking the person responsible for each task, making comments and monitoring so that you have the entire record in one place available to consult at any time, attach documents/images, manage due dates and task status.
With the Kanban Board, we gained visibility, in terms of fun. We forgot the PowerPoint Slides and the Excel spreadsheets. With the current tasks, delayed items and upcoming activities organization progress, all in one framework, gives the project a reality check and easily directs actions to those responsible.
Furthermore, to better exploit the meeting, it is essential to have the invitation sent in advance, the list of topics to ensure the spotlight to be discussed and meeting minutes. Moreover, the icing on the cake? We can rely on a data analysis tool, such as Power BI or Google Analytics.
The objective of these tools, used for management reports, is to focus on proficient information, converting extensive texts into graphs and tables that are accessible and practical to read, concise and visually attractive.
Using the tools above, a compilation of good management practices, it is possible to:
1 – Obtain effective results in communication between teams, resolving issues during the meeting and avoiding endless email exchanges.
2 – Increase resource involvement, highlighting the importance of focusing on delivery. Frequently, it is necessary to go beyond conventional roles to achieve this goal. It is important to note that this type of attitude helps the resource stand out both in the institution and in the project.
3 – Standardize performance between projects from the same client to have consistency in deliveries.
4 – In cases where there is a project leader and the PM (Project Manager) responds to him, the application of this methodology will allow this leader to be called in case of any need for escalation and not for secondary issues that the PM can resolve.
5 – Provide management quality visibility through reports and task details on the Kanban board.
By adopting this process, we will be able to optimize time, improve communication and reinforce the Project Manager’s commitment to the client, whether internal or external.
