Hey, Ashwin here! Welcome to edition #12 of the Tech Lead Compass newsletter!
In the last 2 posts on the Stakeholder management series, we talked about status reports and stakeholder mapping – which are essential ways for better engagement.
In this edition, we will discuss another important topic – stakeholder communication plan.
A well-thought-out communication plan, involving the right stakeholders and sharing relevant information is crucial. This ensures a balanced approach by communicating just right!
Why do you need a communication plan?
We communicate multiple times a day. Using various channels like emails, chats, calls, etc.
Why do we need a plan?
A study by Gartner shows that about 70% of corporate errors are due to poor communication and communication barriers cost over $37 billion per year in lost productivity.
So time spent in planning your communication has its returns.
How to start making a stakeholder communication plan?
In the last post on stakeholder maps, we talked about two dimensions in which stakeholder engagement can be viewed:
Influence – the degree to which a particular stakeholder can impact the execution or outcome of a project
Interest – how much a stakeholder is impacted by the project outcome
Good communication plan prioritizes key information to influencers at regular intervals while keeping the interested parties engaged more frequently.
Influencers are often interested in the overall progress and early alerts on any red flags. So communication with them must be:
Regular intervals (e.g., weekly)
Summarized information
Prominent call out of risks and issues
On the other hand, interested stakeholders need to be engaged much closer than the influencers.
Frequent updates (e.g., daily)
Increased participation (e.g., in daily standup meetings)
Balance of summarized information and finer details
Closer involvement in risk analysis and issue resolution
What does a good communication plan look like?
The first step is to have a good structure for your communication plan.
Here’s one that works.
By clearly calling out the purpose, audience, and frequency – a good communication plan will set clear expectations across stakeholders.
In summary, having structured and clear communication is essential for good stakeholder engagement and project success.
Now on to the must-read news from the past week…
5 “Must-Read” Tech News for the Week
Google I/O 2024 – Event recap (Techcrunch)
Unsurprisingly, it was all AI in Google I/O 2024. The breakthrough announcement is about Google Search getting an uplift with the power of AI.
OpenAI is introducing GPT-4o, their newest flagship AI model that provides GPT-4-level intelligence but is faster and has improved capabilities across text, voice, and vision compared to previous models
According to a report from The Information, Apple is planning a major redesign of the iPhone lineup with a new “iPhone 17 Slim” model expected to launch in 2025. This redesign would mark a departure from the iPhone X design that was introduced in 2017 with OLED displays and Face ID.
Adam Selipsky, CEO of AWS, will step down from his role next month and will be replaced by Matt Garman, who is currently the SVP for Sales and Marketing.
Xpeng AeroHT, an affiliate of Xpeng, will aim to deliver its flying car to customers in 2026 and said they are currently undergoing the certification process.
That’s it for now and I will be back next week. Goodbye, until then!
In case you missed the past articles, feel free to read them from here:
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