group work

Planning Project Communications and Analysis 

In order to navigate communications successfully throughout a project’s lifecycle, a cohesive communication plan must be instituted from the beginning of the project. A project’s leadership team must develop and maintain understanding of what the information needs are. Communications requirements analysis is the first step in defining a communication plan and it is important to define the types of information to deliver, who receives the information, the format for communicating information, and the timing of the information’s release and distribution (Communication Systems, 2007, Watt, 2014). The Boeing project was a highly complex project with several moving parts. Crucial information in complex projects can be lost or delayed if the communications plan is not functioning correctly (Darnell and Preston, 2016). Because this project was highly complex, it would have required a heavily detailed communication plan from Boeing which would ensure that the information needed by the project team and stakeholders was generated to support the project’s schedule and decisions. Utilizing a communications system would have alleviated some of the difficulties Boeing and its project members faced. It is unknown if Boeing had such systems in place. 

During this project, Boeing introduced a new risk and revenue sharing contract with its suppliers, called the “build-to-performance” model, and introduced a new assembly method where subcontractors were required to integrate their own subsystems. According to this case, many subcontractors were not able to meet delivery schedules due to lack of experience in the subsystem design and integration and noted a lack of guidelines and training. Not communicating or understanding the lack of training upfront proved to be a misstep that caused significant schedule delays and inappropriate documentation for final delivery. Many of these same subcontractor’s organizations were located overseas. It is unclear, and would have been important, if Boeing noted the differences in time zones and calculated any differences to ensure important meetings or deadlines were not missed (Darnell & Preston, 2016).  

Communication, or the lack of it, has an impact on a project’s success and thus, project owners should ensure consistent and open communication (Rajkumar, 2010). Partially through the Boeing project there was a change in leadership which could have caused disruptions to business relationships and communication channels to the project’s team and stakeholders. It is important to implement communication systems to ensure complete understanding of messages and eliminate obstacles which prevent effective communication to all identified project members and stakeholders.