Restoration Project Management - Project Planning and Management for Ecological Restoration - page 27

• Description of the change
• Statement of the change's impact on the project
• Listing of tasks and staff affected by the change
• Estimate of the cost of the change
• Signature of the individual making the change request, indicating awareness of the
change's impact to the scope, cost, or schedule
• Evidence of stakeholder approval of the change (have stakeholders sign off on the change
request)
COMMUNICATING CLEARLY AND THOROUGHLY
Frequent, understandable, and concise communications are essential to move toward successful
completion of the project. It can be very useful to create a communications plan for each project.
This plan should include details of the information to be distributed (e.g., format, content, level
of detail), what kind of information it is (e.g., status reports, data, schedule, technical documenta-
tion), what methods will be used (e.g., meetings, written reports), and a schedule for production
and distribution of the information.
The most common forms of communications include meetings, telephone and conference
calls, formal letters and memos, fax transmittals, e-mail, and Internet. E-mail is a very fast, inex-
pensive, and efficient way of distributing information. A website can also be used to send e-mail to
organizations outside the project team, sponsor news articles on the project, disseminate informa-
tion on the project, and provide links to local interest groups participating in the project.
The obvious purpose of team meetings is to communicate information. A less obvious func-
tion is to establish a concrete team identity and build relationships. During the meeting, team
members get to see that they are not working alone; rather, they are part of a larger group, and the
success of the group undertaking depends on the efforts of team members doing their individual
parts. Typical types of project meetings include the following:
• Kickoff meeting—a meeting that sets the stage for the project team's roles and
responsibilities
• Status meeting—a periodic meeting held to examine project performance and to discuss
issues
• Lessons learned meeting—a meeting held usually during the closeout phase to discuss
what went well and what needs improvement
The lessons learned meeting is commonly overlooked in this process. After the team has com-
pleted its work, getting the team members together to discuss the project can be challenging.
However, if you or your organization plans to continue conducting restoration activities, it is
strongly recommended that this meeting be conducted. Restoration work can be challenging
enough; when mistakes are made or unplanned events happen, the team's response and feedback
can be valuable information. If the unexpected occurrences and the responses to them are not
documented, it is possible—whether because of changing personnel and simply the passage of
time—that important actions can be forgotten.