Project Management
June 30, 2023
Add more communication to your Waterfall project
Better, more frequent communication with users results in a better project.
This isn’t a bold statement to make - it’s pretty well accepted that clear communication with your users is an essential part of defining the scope of a project. In Agile development, time for these communications is part of the iterative structure - the process calls for coordination in the planning of each sprint as well as review and retrospective afterwards. In a project consisting of multiple sprints, this results in ongoing communication with users, who can contribute feedback throughout the process and see the progress being made on a regular basis.
But Agile isn’t always the best method for a project. If you’re working with a Waterfall project, you may find that there’s a long period between the planning and testing phases where the framework doesn’t require regular communication with your end users. And this can cause problems - you may find there are questions that need answers in order to proceed, or your users may become anxious during the interim or decide they’ve changed their minds about some elements of the project.
In his article Remember: Users Are Real People, project consultant Andy Jordan asserts that borrowing the ongoing communication aspect of Agile for use in your Waterfall projects can yield huge benefits in your final product. “Being more proactive and engaging with users,” he says, “...during the development process can help to identify potential problems earlier—when they are easier, quicker and cheaper to address.”
Proactive scheduled communication with users adds significant benefits to a project:
Your users stay informed. Feeling “out of the loop” can cause problems in any team environment. If you’ve involved users extensively in the initial scoping phase of a project, they may feel excluded or cut off as the project team moves into the planning and execution phases. By maintaining clear communication with them about each phase of a project, you build trust and keep them on board for any upcoming changes.
Developers have more opportunities to ask questions. No matter how thorough your scope, it’s inevitable that questions will arise during development that you just couldn’t have planned for. Having open lines of communication will enable your team to get clarification in a timely manner.
Structured communication = clear boundaries. When users feel left out or uninformed, they want answers. And while they’re entitled to them, this can result in cluttered inboxes or phone calls to return even when it may interrupt the project itself. By making clear your expectations for the frequency and style of your communication, you’re keeping them up to date and (ideally) cutting back on the number of message you need to return.
No matter what PM style you prefer, adopting an effective communication strategy can improve the quality and timeliness of your projects.
