Hello Reader, I believe that some of the old comms tools aren't good enough any more. Take the communication matrix. It's a classic tool where you list out the stakeholder group, what information they need, what format you are going to provide it in, the frequency of update and the owner. Nothing is inherently wrong with it, but it describes the production and distribution of communication, not communication effectiveness. Shouldn't we be asking instead: What does the audience need to...

Hello Reader, What's the point of a gate review? It's easy to let one blur into just another status meeting on the calendar. A gate review is a control point: a go or no-go decision on whether the project should continue. It's a formal governance step, not a progress update. At a normal status meeting, you're reporting how things are going. At a gate review, the reviewers should be working from agreed criteria and evidence, and actually deciding whether the project carries on, pauses or...

Hello Reader, There are problems you can solve with a framework, a course, or a meeting. And then there are the problems where you have a pretty good idea of the lay of the land, you just need someone to think it through with you. Not because you don't know anything about it, but because you've got too much context and you're too close to it to think clearly. You know what the textbook says. You know what you'd probably advise someone else to do. But when it's your project, your stakeholder,...