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How to Create an Effective Project Communication Plan (Free Template Included)

Contributing Author

10 min read

Nov 20, 2023

What is the secret to a successful project? If I had to name one element, it’s following a clear project management communication plan! Not only does it ensure that everyone is up-to-date with work, but also that they are working towards the same goals.

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What is a communication plan?

A communication plan is a framework that outlines how, where, and when you should communicate with all the stakeholders on your project (both team members and external parties, including contractors and clients). Among others, it specifies how often each team member needs to interact with others and

• which meetings are compulsory for whom,

• where to find key project information,

• and which communication channels to use, depending on the stakeholder and/or situation.

By creating and following a project management communication plan, you also define topic owners – for instance, who’s responsible for updating your design system documentation. 

Why do you need a project communication plan?

Creating a project communication plan helps you expect the unexpected. It foresees various scenarios you can encounter as a team and specifies a clear code of conduct for all of them. It also informs your team members and external stakeholders when they’ll have the next opportunity to meet and discuss project updates. 

The benefits of a project management communication plan

• Ensuring that everyone is on the same page – A communication plan allows you to specify project goals and objectives. It also defines the stakeholders responsible for them, along with any milestones and deadlines. As a result, everyone on the team knows what their role is and what goals they’re working towards.  

• Time savings – By looking at your project management communication plan, the team knows where to find all key project information. For example, let’s assume you have a new front-end developer who has a question about the font you’re using on your website. The plan might first direct them to the knowledge base – perhaps, they’ll find the answer there. And if they don’t, they’ll know to speak to the brand manager and/or web designer. As you can see, a communication document will help avoid unnecessary calls or having your team scratch their head, wondering who knows what.

• Less communication and collaboration tools – Another perk of maintaining a communication plan? It outlines which type of work happens in which space. So, for instance, your team members know that you use Slack for day-to-day interactions, written communication within the team, and Zoom for daily standups and weekly team meetings. The same goes for external stakeholders. They might not be on Slack, and can only be reached via email.  Your team will know that they’ve properly reached out to each project member and can expect their reply shortly. 

• Avoiding duplicate work – Thanks to a communication plan, team members will know to research resources before they decide to develop solutions to problems on their own. As a result, they’ll avoid re-inventing the wheel and use a tried-and-tested approach.

What to include in a project management communication plan

What you’ll include in your project communication plan will depend on your needs. Here are a few elements worth considering: 

• A process – Having a clear process in place will improve your chances of project success. Listing all tasks and activities that have to be performed will help you avoid chaos and make sure that the project is delivered on time. This is especially handy now that most businesses operate remotely, and verifying what everyone is up to is harder. Setting up a process will not only help you hold people accountable for what they agreed to deliver. It will also show them how the project should progress from one stage to the next. 

• Objectives – There is no point in undertaking any project without knowing why you’re doing it and what the ultimate goal is. Agreeing on objectives will help you keep your project on track, make sure that everyone is working towards the same aim, and act accordingly if you notice that some of the objectives are not being met. For example, you can set boosting website conversion as the final goal. This will dictate the actions you’ll have to take to achieve it, such as changing the copy or modifying the design. This will help you decide who to involve in the project to achieve your objectives. If you know that you have to work on the new copy and design, then you’ll need a copywriter, UI/UX designer, and a graphic designer.  

• Strategy – This document will specify how you will deliver on the above-mentioned objectives. It will act as your GPS. If you decided that you want to increase your website conversation from 5 to 10%, then you need to figure out exactly how you will do it. The strategy will act as guidance for everyone involved in your project. 

• Main challenges – When you start a new project, there will always be challenges ahead. Try to list them and come up with ways of tackling them. One of the problems you might have to face is your designer leaving the organization. Do you know anyone who could take over their responsibilities to ensure the project is delivered on time? Thinking of all the issues that might arise and creating solutions will improve your chances of successfully meeting the objectives. 

• Metrics – What’s your definition of success? To check if you're going in the right direction, you’ll have to decide on your success metrics. Whichever metrics you choose, make sure they’re based on your objectives. For example, if your main goal is to boost website conversion, then here are a few metrics you should track: 

  --> New visitor and returning visitor conversion rate

  --> Total number of visitors

  --> Interactions per visit

  --> Bounce rate, and many others!

• Positioning statements – Finally, your plan should also explain how you position your brand to everyone on the project. These statements should answer the following questions: 

  --> What makes you different from your competitors?

  --> Who are your customers?

  --> What value do you bring into their lives?
  

Adding them will help keep everyone aligned in your vision, from project managers and developers to support team members. It will also maintain consistency in your interactions with clients.

How to write a communication plan

After figuring out the above, you can start writing your project management communication plan. Here are a few tips to make it a little easier:

Decide which format to use

Since there will be a few people involved in your project, you have to make sure that your communication plan is easily accessible to others. Who’s on your team? Are they more visual, or do they prefer text? Depending on your audience, you can present your communication plan in a more visual, creative format or go with a simple doc. Irrespective of your chosen format, make sure it’s easy for you to collect feedback from all stakeholders. 

Identify all stakeholders 

Do you know who you need to onboard to deliver the project successfully? List all stakeholders, assign them a role, and tell them ASAP that you’d like them to get involved. Informing people in advance that they’ll have to participate in another project will help them better organize their work. There might be situations where someone won’t be able to take on additional work as they already have enough on their plate. If you plan in advance, you’ll have enough time to find a substitute. 

Select the channel for each communication type

Your project management communication plan should specify when and where each meeting takes place. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, I’m afraid, so you’ll have to look at the list of all stakeholders. Which channel will be the most convenient for each internal and external meeting? For daily standups, the software team might jump on a quick call on their Slack channel, but for meetings with the design team, they might need to turn to Google Meet. Plus, if you’re a distributed company, you might want to consider a tool that performs well regardless of Internet connection. 

The same instructions go for written communication – decide if you’d like to add each stakeholder to the same channel/app or communicate with a specific group, like investors, solely via email. 

The bottom line is you need to have all these channels clearly outlined in your communication plan.

Establish how frequently each communication event takes place

Let’s imagine you have to schedule internal team meetings, calls with investors, and catch-ups with your contractors. How often do you need to communicate with each group?

If you follow an Agile methodology, you’ll certainly be looking at daily standups, 1-on-1 meetings, and weekly/bi-weekly team calls. As for investors, if they haven’t expressed interest in monitoring ongoing work, you could potentially agree that you’ll only schedule calls when needed. And with contractors, a quick catch-up every month might be enough.  

Make it clear who needs to participate in each meeting

Since everyone on your team will likely have a busy schedule, they must know which meeting is compulsory and which doesn’t concern them (or they can participate optionally). For instance, in your communication plan template, you can add an “all stakeholders needed” tag, as well as separate “design team”, “software development team”, and “QA team” tags. This will make it easy for the team to scan or filter the meetings and allow them to arrange their work to be most productive at each event.

Plus, if a team member knows that a meeting will include investors, they’ll know which data to prepare for the event.

Update your communication plan 

Bear in mind that your communication plan shouldn’t be set in stone. If you fail to meet your objectives, try to modify your plan to improve the results. All changes during a project should be reflected in your project communication plan. 

For example, you might discover that your main objective is overly ambitious, which demotivates the team, and it’s necessary to change it. If it happens and you decide to modify it, then you should immediately reflect it in your project communication plan. 

An example of a good communication plan

Let's imagine that you’re a Project Manager at a software consultancy who also acts as the scrum master. You manage a team of developers, designers, and quality assurance specialists. You’re just about to start working on a project for a client who wants to launch an ecommerce app. However, before starting your collaboration, you must create a project communication plan. 

Here is an example of a communication plan which you could use:

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A project communication plan is the key to keeping everything under control

Having a communication plan in place is essential to keeping your project on track. It aligns all stakeholders – from team members and contractors to investors – around the same vision. To ensure your plan is effective, it should address the following:

• Who is the topic owner? 

• Who needs to participate in each event type?

• What are the main challenges?

• What metrics are used to measure success?
  

Also, remember to update your communication plan to reflect the newest changes and circumstances.

Good luck!

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