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Project managers often speak a language all their own. That language has been reflected in a special class of software since shortly after the advent of computers. Project management software was developed to track activities and tasks, to facilitate understanding of the project, and to find a way to communicate that understanding to others. Project management software packages (e.g., Microsoft Project, Sciforma Project Schedule, Niku Workbench, Planview, Primavera, Artemis Prestige, and so on) have the ability to produce project reports. Although those reports take on wildly different appearances, they share common data sets regarding project work, resource allocation, precedence relationships, and cost and tracking information. They share the ability to present information in a spreadsheet format or in a series of reports. They share the capacity to modify the presentation (to varying degrees) to facilitate understanding.

The tools are not, however, common desktop applications outside the project management community. Also, although most project managers have a copy of one project management program or another on their desktop, they cannot expect their peers who are not project managers to have the same tools. Thus, from a communications perspective, the information from project management software needs to be transferable to other tools and applications, including spreadsheet and word processing programs. For many project managers, the most critical component of a project management software package is not the robustness of its algorithms, but the tool’s capacity to have outputs copied into a spreadsheet.
In selecting project management software, the project manager should take the tool’s exporting ability into account as a mission-critical capability. Tools that severely limit what information can be transferred out and how that information can be transferred will limit the ability to communicate.

E-Mail

One place where project information must often ultimately be transferred is into an e-mail. E-mail is another vital application for project managers, because it allows for the asynchronous transfer of information from the project team to others inside or outside the team, either en masse or singly. The ubiquity of e-mail and its widespread acceptance places it among (if not the) dominant media for project communications. E-mail is a powerful medium, but it is not without problems, the least of which is the virtual sea of detritus downloaded in the form of mass advertising, which can sometimes drown out the important messages.

E-mail protocols should be carefully outlined in the project communications plan to ensure that project messages are elevated to visibility and to ensure that project team members have a consistent vision as to what information is appropriately transferred (and, as a result, maintained) by this medium and what information is not. Considerations that should be outlined in the project communications plan relating to e-mail include the following:

• Appropriate/inappropriate language and/or areas of discussion; • Subject line protocols and practices;

• Carbon-copy and “blind” carbon-copy practices (for both the initial “send” as well as the reply);

• Document retention procedures.

If not effectively controlled, e-mail can become a weak communications medium, not because of a lack of use, but because of misuse and misunderstanding of the tool.

Project Web Sites

Most organizations of any size already have an Internet-based Web site. And even for the handful that do not, the investment in a project Web site is sufficiently nominal that it is within the financial reach of most projects. Project Web sites may range in style, use, and application from a graphics-intensive bulletin board rich with project information to a simple “closet” housing project data. In either instance, some commonalities will afford effective use of the Internet as a project tool.

The first challenge with project Web sites is accessibility with security. If a project Web site is left open to the public, team members are guaranteed the ability to tap into the site and its information at will. If a project Web site is left open to the public, however, almost anyone will be able to find their way to the information and apply it for their own purposes. Data security becomes a major issue. Even Web sites with password access and higher levels of security can be hacked, which limits the willingness of some organizations to post information in such a public forum. Multiple levels of security (Web site access passwords and individual document passwords) can improve the sense of confidence, but are still not infallible in their ability to protect an organization’s secrets. Many organizations’ “secrets,” however, are not really of interest to outside organizations and may be posted, preserved, and shared on the Internet with reasonable impunity.

Because some security measures will almost invariably be used, the project manager’s responsibility for a project Web site is to ensure that team members are updated on how to access the site and on what information they may expect to find there. A Web site with excessive security is a library with a locked door. The information is there, but no one can have access to it, and team members will only try the “door” a limited number of times before finding alternative means to access the information they desire or require.

The other critical notion with any project Web site is the currency of information. Information maintained on a project Web site must actually be kept up to date. If the Internet site becomes a repository for outdated information without being refreshed, the site will rapidly fall into disuse. The project manager and his or her archivist should establish protocols for information shared on the Web site, including when it will be updated, formats that will be used, how frequently security access will be modified, and how team members working to reach the site can get outside assistance. Because help desk support for internal Web sites is generally limited, the support and assistance is normally established within the team.

Web-Based Communications

A project Web site is not the only Web application used in project management. Instant messaging and real-time chat room capabilities have changed the way in which meetings are held. In some organizations, employees are required to have their desktops enabled with one of the popular instant messaging systems (e.g., AOL Instant Messenger and Windows Messenger) so that even if the team is distributed around the globe, team members can instantly “stop down the hall” to share information any time a team member is at her terminal. Such Web-based chat capabilities are common in nonbusiness applications, but their use in corporate communication is becoming progressively more common.

The only hurdle to true corporate ubiquity is the concern over the potential for security breaches caused by instant messaging systems. This has prompted some organizations to create their own internal messaging systems, which have the advantage of high levels of security, but lack the capacity to share information outside the organization.

Although the use of such information exchanges can greatly enhance communications speed, they can also cause information overload. Some users cannot manage the onslaught of information associated with multiple messages arriving from multiple users on their computer desktop while they are trying to work on something else. As with the other types of Internet communication, the protocols to determine how on-line messaging should be used need to be incorporated within the communications plan.

Personal Digital Assistants

Many project managers now carry personal digital assistants (PDAs) to monitor and track their day-to-day activities. Many of these PDAs now have embedded wireless communications technology, which means that they wed some of the most advantageous aspects of both synchronous and asynchronous communications. PDAs provide the advantage of having a computer connection with the office when the project manager is in the field, without the bulk of a laptop.

In using the PDA for inbound communication, the project manager should make clear to team members and those with direct access to the PDA connection that large attachments and significant graphics should be kept to a minimum. It is sometimes easy for the sender to believe that the PDA is nothing more than a computer in miniature, but PDAs generally do have some significant limitations in terms of large-scale memory and video display capability.

For outbound communication, the greatest limitation of PDAs as a communications technology is frequently that there is no simple user interface to input data into the tool. Although stylized alphabets have been created to expedite stylus writing on PDA pads, the ability to input is generally much slower than is available through touch typing. And while some PDAs have keyboard attachments, those attachments are sometimes unwieldy for day-to-day, in-the-field applications. This limitation makes large documents difficult to generate and may also inhibit the user’s ability to format the information being sent (particularly in spreadsheet or word processing applications).