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PMP lesson · Stakeholders & Communication · Stakeholders and communication · lesson 3 of 4 · about 7 minutes

Planning communication: who, what, how and when

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Goal: After this lesson you can build a simple communications plan and choose between interactive, push and pull communication.

1The situation

Too much and not enough

The robot cell team spends twelve hours a week in meetings, many repeating the same topics. At the same time, the customer's maintenance team keeps getting the shutdown dates wrong, and 200 operators on three shifts cannot find the current safety procedures.

The problem is not the amount of communication. It is that the right information is not reaching the right people in the right form.

A communications plan fixes this by answering five simple questions for each audience.

2Five questions

For each stakeholder or group, the communications management plan answers: who needs it, what information, how (method and format), when (frequency) and who is responsible.

Communication is planned from the receiver's needs, not the sender's convenience.

3Three communication methods

Interactive

Two-way, real time: meetings, calls, video. Best for discussion, conflict, decisions, bad news.

Push

Sent to specific people: emails, reports, memos. Best for notices and updates that must reach someone.

Pull

People access when they need it: portal, intranet, wiki. Best for large audiences and reference information.
Match the method to the purpose and the audience.

4How it looks on the exam

Exam-style question 1. The project must share procedures, drawings and training videos with more than 200 operators across three shifts. The material changes occasionally, and people consult it when they need it. Which method is MOST appropriate?
A. Push: email all documents after every update
B. Interactive: a meeting with every shift for each update
C. Pull: a controlled portal where staff access the current material, with notices of major changes
D. Printed copies posted in the canteen
Show the answer and the decode
Answer: C.
In simple English
Large audience, reference material, needed at different times.
What is the question really asking?
The best communication method.
Key words / trigger
“more than 200 … consult it when they need it”
PMP logic
Pull suits large audiences and reference information; notices highlight major changes.
Why the wrong answer looks attractive
Email feels proactive, but it overloads people and spreads outdated versions.

5Remember this

Your memory card

  • Plan per audience: who · what · how · when · who is responsible
  • Interactive = discuss/decide · Push = send · Pull = access when needed
  • Bad news and conflict → interactive, then confirm in writing
  • Plan from the receiver's needs; update the plan as needs change
The full lesson in the PMCLEAR app also has:
  • the rest of the lesson (Three methods, Formal vs informal, written vs verbal)
  • a worked example
  • the common traps (wrong vs right)
  • 2 exam-style questions with the decode
  • a 3-question quick check
Open the full lesson → Create a free account
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