Module 6 of 12 · Async + Virtual · 15 min + tool
Communication Planning
Design how the team, the consultants, and the client stay aligned, and carry the plan into the kickoff.
Module 6 throughline: A work plan says what happens. A communication plan says how the team stays aligned while it happens. Design it before the kickoff.Module Videos
The recorded walkthrough that teaches the module. Watch it first.
In productionModule Overview
The full illustrated walkthrough: why communication is designed, the three audiences, and the plan that feeds kickoff.
Available Open →Quick Reference Guides
The seven step build, the three triggers, the decide by calculation, and the one page Communication Plan template.
Available Open →Communication Load Curve
Interactive model: tests a cadence against the shape of the work and against the number of interfaces the team actually holds. Start here.
Available Open →Communication Planner
Interactive builder: turns the tested cadence into an audience by audience communication plan, carrying the Oakhaven project forward.
Available Open →Additional Materials
Templates, worksheets, and source documents that support the module.
In productionWhat you will be able to do
- ✓Treat communication as a designed system: structured, recorded, on a set cadence, and producing decisions.
- ✓Segment communication for three audiences: the internal team, the consultant team, and the client.
- ✓Set cadence, channel, decision-rights, and records for each audience.
- ✓Define an escalation path and produce a one-page Communication Plan that feeds the kickoff.
Tools & resources
Tools & resources you will use
- Communication Plan Template
- Project Pulse & Meeting Cadence Guide
- Stakeholder & Escalation Map
Listed items are the governance and operational tools tied to this section. Items marked “Participant generated” are built during the work.
The Archetype Lens
Before kickoff, the communication plan is where two archetypes fall short.
Planning how the team, consultants, and client will talk is exactly the discipline the People Pleaser over-promises on and the Coordinator drowns in noise.
Competent Coordinator
Floods every channel and CCs everyone, mistaking message volume for alignment, so the important information is lost.
Obsessed Designer
Stops communicating during the work, assumes silence is fine, and lets consultants design to stale assumptions.
People Pleaser
Over-communicates comfort to the client, softens bad news, and buries the decision the client actually needs to make.
Accountable Owner
Designs the cadence up front: the right message, to the right audience, on a set rhythm, with decisions on record.
A consultant needs a design decision to proceed.
Assumes they will ask if they are stuck. No cadence, no check-in.
Sets a standing consultant coordination pulse so the decision surfaces on schedule, before the deadline slips.
The client will be surprised by a schedule shift.
Waits for the client to notice, then softens it, or stays quiet.
Plans a client update cadence and decision-rights up front, so surprises become scheduled conversations.
Meet the four archetypes in depth →