Best Practices for a Culture of Communication

In a recent blog post I outlined the four main pillars of Project Intelligence, a new approach which seeks to improve government project execution by providing project managers with more information to make better decisions. In the era of budget cuts and limited resources, finding new ways to keep projects on time and in scope will be essential.

According to the Oracle white paper, The Rise of Project Intelligence: When Project Management is Just Not Enough, Project Intelligence is built off four main pillars (click here for full descriptions of each pillar):

1. Actively use historical data to forecast project cycles
2. Understand the intricacies of complex projects
3. Enhance social and emotional intelligence in projects
4. Actively use Business intelligence tools

As the white paper notes, for government projects to be successful, you need three elements: people, processes and tools. These intangible fundamentals lead to more collaboration and agile and engaged employees. PMOs should integrate a Business Intelligence tool and combine it with the right individuals. However, these are not the only two pieces to the complex puzzle that is government projects. A culture of communication is necessary to implement the two other pieces effectively and keep projects on time and within scope.

We all know communication is important, and can almost always be improved, but how do you actually do this? The white paper highlighted a few best practices including creating a regular forum where lessons learned are shared to everyone in an organization. Having an open dialogue that is easily accessible helps organizations think about projects after completion and work to leverage lessons learned in one project across an organization. Another best practice is to conduct monthly project management meetings to share program management tools, metrics etc. This ensures everyone is up to date on the latest technology. A final best practice for agencies to follow is regular “brown bag lunch” sessions. These sessions should focus on education and collaboration. By bringing people together in a relaxed format, people will begin talking, thinking outside the box and collaborating to improve projects.

As agencies attempt to do more with less, Project Intelligence will be key for projects managers, as well as everyone involved in an organization. PI helps forecast future projects so government can be proactive rather than reactive. Furthermore, it helps share information in real time to everyone involved in a project so evaluation can be performed in a regular basis. Finally, it helps keep projects on track and helps agencies deal with increasingly complex projects.

I encourage you to download the new white paper, “The Rise of Project Intelligence: When Project Management is Just Not Enough,” to learn more about Oracle Primavera’s PI solution and how it can help your agency.

We want to hear from you. What are some other best practices agencies should follow to improve communication and engage stakeholders?

Oracle’s Primavera provides enterprise investment management technology that allows government agencies to propose, plan, and control investments that present the greatest value to both the agencies and the public they serve. With Primavera enterprise project portfolio management solutions, national and local governments can effectively manage time, costs, resources, contracts, and changes to all types of projects or programs—including management of IT investments, grants, military systems, capital facility projects, maintenance and improvement programs, and more. Learn more here.