Deck 12: Project Communication and Documentation

Question 1

An e-mail may be appropriate as a follow-up to a face-to-face conversation or a phone call confirming decisions or actions rather than relying on a person's memory.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Body language and tone (inflection and emotion of the voice) are unimportant elements that take away from verbal communication.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Memos and letters are ways to efficiently communicate with a group of people when it's impractical to have a meeting or when the information needs to be disseminated in a timely manner.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Formal project documents such as contracts and amendments, that require signatures, are usually sent in hardcopy.

Question 5

Verbal communication should be straightforward and unambiguous.

Question 6

When communicating verbally, a person must be careful not to use remarks, words, or phrases that can be construed to be sexist, racist, prejudicial, or offensive.

Question 7

Written communication should be used only when necessary.

Question 8

Body language can be used not only by the person talking, but also by the listener, as a way of providing feedback to the person talking.

Question 9

Collocation of the project team is helpful to facilitate verbal communication.

Question 10

Project participants are usually have time to read trivial messages or irrelevant documents containing information that could have been communicated verbally at the next project meeting.

Question 11

Project team members need to be reactive in providing communication with other team members and the project manager to get and give information after something has happened in the project.

Question 12

Personal written communication is generally carried out through internal correspondence to or among the project team and external correspondence to the customer or others external to the firm, such as subcontractors.

Question 13

Verbal correspondence is normally transmitted through e-mail or can be sent hardcopy.

Question 14

The timing of verbal communication is also very important.

Question 15

Personal verbal communication can take place face-to-face, via telephone, voicemail, or videoconferencing.

Question 16

When communicating with individuals from other cultures or countries, their customs regarding greetings, gestures, eye contact, and protocol are not important.

Question 17

Verbal communication provides a forum for discussion, clarification, understanding, and immediate feedback.

Question 18

A high degree of face-to-face communication is especially important early in a project to foster team building, develop good working relationships, and establish mutual expectations.

Question 19

Videoconferencing is helpful for virtual project teams.

Question 20

In many cases it is a good idea to ask when it would be a good time to get together and how long you need to talk.

Question 21

Find a meeting room and select visual aids as the meeting is about to start.

Question 22

At the end of the meeting, the meeting attendees should evaluate the meeting process.

Question 23

At the start of the meeting, review the purpose of the meeting and the agenda.

Question 24

Emoticons are considered professional, and all recipients will understand the abbreviations.

Question 25

It is important to wait for all the meeting attendees instead of starting the meeting on time.

Question 26

A meeting can be a vehicle for fostering team building and reinforcing team members' expectations, roles, and commitment to the project objective.

Question 27

If everything is not covered then the meeting should overrun the scheduled meeting time.

Question 28

Lengthy dissertations or voluminous extraneous attachments may be perception of being flooded with emails or electronic messages and be more of a hindrance than a help.

Question 29

Written communication should be used mostly to inform, confirm, and request.

Question 30

Distribute an agenda well in advance of the project meeting.

Question 31

Designating a note-taker helps to have meeting minutes to share.

Question 32

The project manager should summarize the meeting results at the end of the meeting.

Question 33

Work related e-mail should include emoticons or text message abbreviations.

Question 34

Often the project manager or members of the project team are called on to give a formal presentation.

Question 35

Ask all participants to leave their cell phones, iPods, and other electronic communication devices on because they are not a distraction.

Question 36

Memos and letters should be clear and concise and should not include lengthy dissertations or voluminous extraneous attachments.

Question 37

The project manager should dominate rather than facilitate the meeting.

Question 38

Good listening skills are important if project team members are to be effective in communicating with one another and with the customer.

Question 39

Prepare visual aids or handouts prior to the project team meeting.

Question 40

The summary document should be concise and kept to one page if possible and it should confirm decisions that were made and list the action items, including who is responsible, the estimated completion date, and expected deliverables.

Question 41

Knowledge of the audience doesn't matter and neither does their level of knowledge or familiarity with the subject.

Question 42

Know the first two or three sentences of your presentation.

Question 43

The project manager should practice, practice, practice.

Question 44

Expect a bit of nervousness; all speakers experience it.

Question 45

The audience may be representatives of the customer's organization, the project organization's upper management, or the project team itself.

Question 46

Request the audiovisual equipment well in advance.

Question 47

The project manager should turn off his or her cell phone and other distractions.

Question 48

Use grand and improper gestures to help make a point.

Question 49

Go into the meeting room when it's empty or not in use and get a feel for the surroundings.

Question 50

The project manager should prepare visual aids and test them.

Question 51

Speak clearly and confidently.

Question 52

Talk to the audience, not at it.

Question 53

The project manager must determine the purpose of the presentation. Is it to inform or to persuade?

Question 54

Visual aids should be busy and not too simple.

Question 55

Making copies of handout materials is not needed and audience members will have their own materials to take notes.

Question 56

Making sure the visual aids are readable from the most front seat in the room where the presentation will be given because the most important people will sit in the front.

Question 57

Read the slides and elaborate on the ideas illustrated on the slide.

Question 58

Making an outline of the presentation is optional.

Question 59

The project manager should prepare notes or a final outline to use or refer to during the presentation.

Question 60

The project manager should use simple language that the audience will understand.

Question 61

Know your closing lines.

Question 62

Stand next to the image or in front of your visual aids.

Question 63

None of the information in the progress report should be a surprise to the readers.

Question 64

Just as important as keeping up to date with revision numbers and dates on documents is timely distribution of updated documents with a summary of revisions.

Question 65

The project final report is usually a summary of the project.

Question 66

Keep to the key points in your outline.

Question 67

Sum up your points on a particular item before moving on to the next item on your outline.

Question 68

When making key points, explain to the audience why they are important.

Question 69

Build interest in your presentation.

Question 70

Activity or busyness is the same as progress and accomplishment.

Question 71

Some changes are trivial; others are major, affecting the project work scope, cost, and schedule.

Question 72

Written reports, like verbal communication, leave an impression-positive or negative-with the audience.

Question 73

When responding to questions, be candid and arrogant.

Question 74

Revisions to project documents can result from changes initiated by the customer or by the project team.

Question 75

Progress reports usually cover a specified period, the reporting period that could be a week, a month, a quarter, or whatever best fits the project.

Question 76

It is important to keep in mind that reports must be written to address what is of interest to the readers, not what is of interest to the person writing the report.

Question 77

In addition to project reports, many other documents may be created by either the project team or the customer during the project.

Question 78

Project team members should agree to changes without knowing whether they will necessitate additional person-hours.

Question 79

Allow time for interaction with the audience, if appropriate.

Question 80

The project final report is an accumulation of the progress reports and a blow-by-blow story of what happened throughout the project.