As I was preparing to present a webinar for Mindjet last week on "Considering the Human Factor for Project Success," it struck me how many mindmaps I'd created over the years and how helpful they have been in communicating with other people on my projects.

The theme of the webinar was:  Process, scope, and resource planning are key requirements for successful project management.  But there is one more that supersedes everything else-the human factor.  Coordination and consensus of all stakeholders can make or break a project.  But getting and maintaining executive sponsorship, stakeholder buy-in, and clarity among the team is a significant challenge.  My objective was to show how to apply MindManager in order to streamline project management processes and simultaneously keep the entire team current and on board with plans.

For those of us who are visual people, mindmaps are an essential tool.  Both in the webinar and at a recent course I taught at UCSC Extension on “Project Management Negotiation Principles and Techniques,” I used presentation mode to demonstrate the “Ten Rules of Negotiating.”  I also printed a poster and handout copies, much to the delight of all participants.  Here on one sheet is a quick reference to all key points.  Another map I’d developed covers “Speaking Truth to Power” which appears in a ProjectConnections.com article.  With that one map, I can tell the whole story about how Toni prepared for and achieved upper management commitment on an important cross-organizational project.

In a presentation at a checkpoint meeting for the PMI NorCal Symposium 2008 project team, I presented a mindmap of guiding principles for the content and design of the Symposium.  This design was quite different from previous projects and required extensive communication to get everybody in agreement.  The mindmap included results from extensive customer interviews as well as values driving the overall program approach.  Clear visibility of all aspects enabled team members to understand and get excited about the whole program.  The process also enabled me to clarify my thinking about the project which is always an important aspect before convincing others to buy into the concept.

Preparing a mindmap from brainstorming with colleague Alfonso Bucero was a crucial step in getting a contract with the publisher for our book on Project Sponsorship.  What started as a casual conversation at the Wiley booth at a conference stimulated us to craft a proposal and then execute the project, essentially following the approved outline.  Creating the Project Office was also constructed using a mindmap of what goes into each chapter and who would complete specific tasks.  A proposal to update a course for the Stanford Advanced Project Management certificate program came from brainstorming tasks, outlining key areas, and assigning durations.  All these projects, and more, were formed and executed using mindmapping as a communications tool.

A few key points that I learned from my experiences in order to communicate successfully with others are:

• First be clear in my own thinking and what I want.
• Document a complete picture about the proposed project or concept.
• Use effective visual tools to convey the message.
• Check for understanding and achieve commitment to the proposal.
• Follow through by using a mindmap as a checklist of tasks.
• Display the outcome using many visual tools, including icons and pictures, to help others truly understand what was accomplished.

Randy Englund, Englund Project Management Consultancy

www.englundpmc.com

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