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11

W

hile managing Project Apex, Brad has been constantly

communicating with others in and around his project. This

is not uncommon. In fact, according to some estimates, you

can expect to spend more than 80% of your time communicat-

ing in some way. You’d better know how to do it well!

There are many approaches you can take in communicating

and many media to choose from. No matter what approach or

media you choose, communicating effectively requires signifi-

cant skill. We’ll explore these and other aspects of communica-

tion in this chapter.

We’ll also take a look at documentation, which many project

managers dislike immensely and consider an administrative

burden. Admittedly, it can require substantial effort, but if done

properly documentation can be much more of a friend than foe.

One of the keys to managing documentation effectively is to

avoid excess—to do only what makes sense and adds value. So

in this chapter, we’ll limit our examination to the documents

viewed as most critical to successful project management.

Project

Communication

and Documentation

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