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Become a Member A Communications Plan is an easy way to drive alignment on who you’ll be sending updates to, when, how, and why. Use this action-ready template and sample to make your project communications clear, intentional, and understood.
Communications Plan Overview
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Communications Plan Guide
Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating and using Communications Plan effectively:
- Define your project communication goals. This is “the why” when explaining to stakeholders what your updates are all about and how they play an important role in the project’s success.
- Make a list of all the stakeholders you’ll be communicating with throughout the project. This is a living document, so you can add and change stakeholders at any time.
- For each stakeholder, list their contact information, the expected frequency of communication, their preferred format and channel for those communications, and any additional notes about the types of communications they should receive or their communication preferences.
- Then document your communications cadence. For example, will you be sharing weekly status updates, hosting weekly check-in meetings or milestone meetings? List them out so stakeholders see the whole picture.
- For each communication type, add descriptions or details about the process that would be helpful for stakeholders (including your team!).
- Share the plan with every stakeholder you’ll be communicating with and build consensus around your project communications.
- Then, whenever you or your team is communicating to project stakeholders, have them refer to this document to make sure the agreements and preferences are being respected.
- And if your project stakeholders have questions about project communications, point them to this document first. If a change in communication styles is required, update the document to reflect the new agreement.
