my name is bala

…another class at Boston University is about to come to an end, and I realized that I haven’t mentioned a peep to you of my graduate school experience at bu.edu, so what better way than to give you a peek into a paper i’ll be handing in shortly, on lessons learned in this class.

i leave you with this thought… there is nothing glamorous about grad school, it is hard freaking work!

Project Communications Management (AD 643) Research Project – Lessons Learned

The goal of the Team Project was build on the existing work of a team member. We were to add research and develop all the elements of a communication plan. We selected a team member’s project which involved the construction of a brand new high school. In this context, our job was to explore the Leadership and Team structure as outlined by the project plan, and also factor-in how communication and communication planning would be executed.

Interestingly, the virtual team consisted of people within geographic proximity of one another – north eastern United States – this would be the only thing we had in common. Similar to a real-world project team, we were diverse ethnically, and in our level of (academic) experience. However, we quickly realized – on the first conference call – that we were all very capable, intelligent, A-type personalities; an inevitable mixture in a management class. Fortunately, and to the credit of the material put forth in the course, we quickly defined our roles – as administrator (myself), subject-matter expert, and editor – in a manner which allowed each member’s skill and personality to be delightfully complimented by one another.

It was interesting to see our group go though some steps that we would eventually be recommending to the subject matter – i.e. the construction project. We clearly identified the deliverables, setup meeting intervals and venue (conference call), a project management and collaboration tool online (http://bu.dbala.com/ad643/), and we even came to a consensus on the tone/language of our group (paper).

This was the most pleasant group project experience I’ve ever had. Not only because it consisted of professionals, a clear goal and a solid deadline, but we had excellent resources to draw from (i.e. lecture materials, faculty, research tools, etc.). Any project with the same disposition is on track for success.

My lesson learned is simple yet profound. It is that project communications management includes the process of devising a communications plan with your team. Sometimes – even more important than the actual deliverable itself – the process of establishing the plan allows each member not only achieve buy-in, but also learn to speak the language of the team/project. This allows the communication originating from the team to be focused and unified – making the message clear, meaningful, and less prone to the effects of NOISE (PMBOK).

References

Project Management Institute. (2008). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide). Newtown Square, PA.

Stephen Fox.  (2009). Information and communication design for multi-disciplinary multi-national projects. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 2(4), 536-560.  Retrieved April 7, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1963643021).