Role

Manage Communication

1

Project Manager, Team Members, Client

Schedule and attend status meetings

The team should attend status meetings on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. If the project manager prefers, there could be a status meetings for the project team and a separate meeting with the client. There should be a standard agenda for the meetings and the meeting should be kept to no more than one hour. In general, the purpose of the meetings is to communicate status, not solve problems. (An agenda for the meeting is included in the deliverable section.)

2

Project Manager

Create sponsor and stakeholder status reports

It is important for the project manager to use Status Reports and other communication methods to manage expectations. See 3.2.3.1P for more information on managing stakeholder expectations. The project manager should send Status Reports to all stakeholders on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. Depending on the financial reporting cycle, the monthly Status Report should include a financial status as well.

3

Team Members

Create team status reports for the project manager

The project team members should send a weekly or bi-weekly Status Report to the project manager detailing their progress during the reporting period. This information is used by the project manager to update each assigned activity in the schedule. This report is in addition to the status meeting. If the project manager understands the current detailed status for each team member, the Status Report may not be required. This may be the case if the project manager is also working on the detailed deliverables of the project.

A typical sequencing of Status Reports and status meetings is for the project team to report status to the project manager by the end of the last day of the week. The project manager updates the schedule and budget on the morning of the first day of the week and issues a status update to the sponsor and other stakeholders. The project manager and project team hold a status meeting on the second day of the week to discuss project status and assign work. This process ensures that the project manager is up-to-date on all project activities at the end of the week and is prepared for a productive status meeting with the project team and the client at the beginning of the following week.