The risk of derailing project delivery through ineffective email management is a business-critical one. Mail Manager, the email management solution by Arup, discusses avoiding delays, reworks and reducing project risk
How often have you faced costly, contentious project reworks because of siloed or ineffective communication? You’re not alone… According to Geneca, 80% of project professionals spend at least half their time on rework, whilst poor communication costs companies on average $62 million per year! And, in the new world of remote and hybrid working, the risk becomes even greater.
A staggering 319.6 billion emails are sent and received globally every day, and email is still the most used tool for collaborating on projects. But everyone manages their inbox differently. The risk of derailing project delivery through ineffective email management is a truly business-critical one.
Reworks don’t just cost time and money. Poor communication leads to stakeholder confusion, delayed decision making, PMO frustration, and an increasing communication chasm between PMOs, project sponsors and executive teams.
Avoiding project nightmares and reducing rework
Project nightmares plague companies regardless of the industry they operate in. Additional costs caused by rework have a huge impact on a project’s performance and value, but by reducing rework, teams can quickly increase their productivity and reduce project delivery costs.
As you’ve probably already seen in your own companies over the last 18-months, technology is having a massive impact on the way we work, and how projects are managed. Keeping track of commercially sensitive information has never been easier, and being able to effectively capture and manage all correspondence, and ensuring that information is discoverable and accessible is vital.
The project management communication chasm
There’s a growing communication chasm plaguing project professionals and their senior executive teams. Directors, stakeholders and execs are continually frustrated when they’re not kept in the loop on a project’s status, and more often than not, this frustration surrounds their want for finding the information they need, when they need it. Most of this information is buried in emails, or document management systems in large reporting packs, and because of inconsistent filing, the information they’re looking for is often incomplete.
This continued failure to provide execs with what they want, how they want it, is hindering their ability to add value to the business, and more concerningly, it is negatively impacting execs’ perception of value generated from the PMO and project management community. This is creating huge project disengagement, with 78% of respondents from Geneca’s study indicating they feel the business is usually or always out of sync with project requirements and business stakeholders need to be more involved and engaged in the requirements process.
Amy Hatton, associate editor at PM Today and the host of our most recent webinar commented: “One of the riskiest areas in the communication chasm is decision making. A recent survey by Scrum Incorporated found that, especially in the Agile environment, decisions that take longer than one hour to make, reduce the chances of successful project delivery by 40%!”
Amy continued: “I have certainly experienced the effects of the communication myself from both sides of the table. From the exec perspective, it’s frustrating to have siloed information and prevents you from making informed decisions. And from the PMO’s point of view, a lack of sound decisions and direction makes moving forward almost impossible.”
Project information management in 2021
All of this begs the question, ‘how can the PMO community better manage their commercially sensitive information that’s spread across inboxes?’
Being able to efficiently capture and manage all correspondence, and making that information accessible to all so that no one is left out of the communication loop is vital to avoid delays, reworks and reduce project risk. When project information management is done well and excels, there are plenty of benefits, including:
- Productivity gains
- Money saved in disputes
- Improved client service
- Reduced admin costs
- Information accessibility
- Increased fees
- Reduced data storage costs
- Stronger compliance
- Holistic document and records management.
Email is often the missing piece of the project information puzzle. Documents are typically managed effectively by most businesses, but critical, formal correspondence which is done via email is usually forgotten. While some project teams are diligent in filing their important emails, others don’t file any. How are you managing your biggest communication tool?
It’s time to avoid your usual email headaches. To find out how you can reduce risk and increase collaboration on projects, download our guide ‘Transform your project information management by embracing Sharepoint‘.
