How to make product project team to communicate effectively

Now we are communicating with people every day in various ways, but are all these communications really effective? Are not we always unwittingly being obstructed by communication barriers that keep us from moving forward? As a result Immersed in negative working emotions but do not know it?

Here are some of the communications I got at work, to share with you.

Common ways of communicating in projects:

Communicate through documents:

Advantages: The document communication is not limited by the number of characters, and the content is specific; it is convenient for checking archives and unified management in the future; suitable for describing multi-functional and complicated projects; suitable for cross-departmental cooperation projects;

Disadvantages: not easy to establish a unified standard; for different roles, reading is not easy to find the focus; time-consuming; understanding of high cost, low communication efficiency

Communicate by mail:

Advantages: Breaking time and space constraints; Easy to access records; Convenient to send attachments for multiple people; More formal, suitable for reporting progress or notifying project status etc.

Disadvantages: the text is not suitable too long; not instantaneous information transmission (sometimes easily overlooked or lost); sometimes do not know the language environment is easy to misread; not conducive to dealing with controversial or sensitive issues

Communicate via IM:

Advantages: easy to communicate; easy to eliminate tension; screenshots, send files easily; can be more conversations; suitable for communication between colleagues, speak their minds; suitable for solving controversial issues,

Disadvantages: easily overlooked; some complex problems are difficult to describe clearly; easy to misunderstand; query record is not very convenient (which may be mixed with a lot of irrelevant content); is not conducive to resolving disputes; too casual, not suitable for important and urgent problem

Communicate over the phone:

Advantages: instant, effective, high communication efficiency; suitable for solving urgent but not important issues

Disadvantages: not conducive to convey subtle emotions; particularly complex issues are still not easy to say clearly, may cause misunderstanding; inconvenient to view pictures (with IM); inconvenient to find records

Face to face communication:

Advantages: real, closer (many misunderstandings can be solved); easy to explain complex issues; high communication efficiency

Disadvantages: no record; slightly higher cost of communication; the efficiency of multi-person communication may be lower; once the deadlock less room for maneuver (face to face communication mentality must be calm to solve the problem for the purpose)

Conference communication:

Advantages: brainstorming, to develop ideas, more perspectives to understand the views of others; for cross-sectoral, collaborative problem solving, brainstorming, etc.

Disadvantages: If the method is not allowed to lead to inefficient (if you need to make a decision at the meeting, it is best to communicate one by one in advance, prepared)

Features comparison (World of no absolute, for reference only):

For the environment (the world is not absolute, for reference only):

Anyone who understands time management understands that it is important to first focus on important but not urgent things, and secondly to try to handle matters of both importance and urgency. Therefore, in communication, full attention should be paid to documents, multi-person meetings, face-to-face communication, e-mail and other means of communication. For a grass-roots employees, pay special attention to master face-to-face communication and mail communication methods.

Summary: Each communication has its own characteristics, it is difficult to completely abandon any of them, in the work should be based on the situation to choose the appropriate mode of communication.

For example: Before the start of the project, you can brainstorm your opinions through the multi-person conference; write the required documents in the planning; face-to-face talk to other project staff about the ideas later, and then cooperate with IM, telephone, etc. Solve the follow-up questions; the process of making the prototype please feel free to comment on IM; regular monitoring of project progress and problems through mail; found that project members have negative emotions, and quickly face-to-face communication, ...

Common communication problems in the project:

Chinese people's character is more subtle, afraid of hurting. Not good at taking the initiative to ask questions, not good at expressing inner thoughts. So often encountered in the project such a situation:

1. Use documents instead of normal communication.

Few PM finished the document, will quickly ran to tell you his thoughts again. It is also human nature, people do not ask, why they ran to say it. However, the benefit of having a document is that other people will not understand where to ask.

Replace the document with normal communication

For large or complex projects, documentation is needed to explain the description, which is irreplaceable by any other means of communication. The lack of documentation is not conducive to a correct understanding of the project, nor conducive to the discovery of the problem. This result is difficult to find satisfactory.

3. Visual or front-end did not understand the meaning of interactive manuscript to express, or feel the existence of the problem, but did not mention it.

As an interactive designer, I will try my best to make the interactive drafts more elaborate with detailed explanations, but the final result is always not as good as expected.

4. There are many other problems that we did not find at first.

...

Faced with these issues, I also constantly thinking about solutions, the current thought of the following:

As a PM, or as far as possible to write the requirements document. First of all, the requirements document is very helpful to clarify the idea of ​​PM, through which you find out what else they did not consider; on the other hand, it is an important reference for the design, by simple communication can not traverse all the use cases And demand points; and third, the document can help other project members to ask questions in a targeted manner, rather than being confused and confused.

Someone may ask, if the interaction designer from the beginning to participate in the project, or even to determine the needs of the participants, but also to write the requirements document? The answer is yes. Requirements documents can regulate the needs of the orderly order, and improve the efficiency of the project is very helpful.

2. PM do not write the requirements document how to do?

Care for the heart, no one does not love their own responsible product. PM does not write the demand document, must have its own position and reason. As a member of the project team, you can summarize what you need to know and understand in the project, list a list, please PM reply. I believe every PM will not refuse to answer your questions for everyone. If you think the other party's answer is unclear, you can continue to refine the question until you have answered it clearly.

3 requirements document in the end what to write, is a problem. In the end what kind of requirements document can reasonably summarize the key content, so that follow-up work smoothly? I think this is a long process of exploration, the need for PM and interaction, development and other roles together to discuss, through long-term project practice gradually get the most suitable The current team, the project status document format.

The premise is: PM and each project members to recognize that everyone is a team work together, equality and mutual assistance, rather than the relationship between leadership and leadership.

4. PM not only provides the requirement document, but also should tell the main members of the team the whole idea again. Pre-communication mainly to convey ideas; medium-term communication to solve the problem of continuous discovery, iterative needs; late communication to confirm whether the problem is solved.

5. Other characters and so on.

If you do a lot of similar projects, in the process, will gradually form a standard mechanism, making the work behind the more relaxed.

Grasp subtle emotions through communication:

The communication process is not always rational, there are many emotional components.

We work together, but belong to different departments or groups, a long time, it will inevitably produce a variety of small friction. Correct communication, you can try to avoid these unpleasant, help us to work better, or happier work. In order to achieve good communication results, need to pay attention to the following points:

1. Peace of mind.

Do not care about gains and losses, the objective view of the problem, to maintain a good mood ...... These seem to understand everyone, but it is difficult to do very much, you need to constantly hone their work in the heart.

2. empathy

Have you ever been unhappy with someone? Coincidentally, this man has the same idea about you in all likelihood. Treat the same thing, each person's position is different, too insistent on their own ideas, it is easy to cause misunderstanding and contradictions. Difficult to say who is wrong, it is important to understand different objective positions, and finally seek a good solution. Pampering does not bring any benefit.

When you complain that PM is not doing well and communication is not in place, have you ever wondered if you are making the same mistakes? Did you seriously convey the design intent to the vision? Everyone has their own difficulties and tolerance Understanding, doing your own thing, but also helping others to do his thing, to promote better results.

Be proactive

Think more, ask more questions and express yourself more. Encounter unpleasant things Do not rush to conclusions, or more and more crooked, but to find out the cause and effect. In fact, things are never as optimistic as we think, nor pessimistic as we think.

4. Real understanding of the meaning of communication

Communication is equal, not one of them overpowers the other. This is an era of collaboration, not an era of personal heroism.

Conclusion: Communication is not to say that learning can learn the skills, but through the day after tomorrow to understand, to apply. My understanding of communication is still superficial, and I need to continue to understand the way of communication. I wish everyone can communicate effectively and happily.