Who this is for
- Business Analysts who coordinate multiple stakeholders (business, product, engineering, compliance, operations).
- New BAs who need a reliable rhythm of updates, decisions, and escalations.
- Experienced BAs who want a lightweight, reusable communication template.
Prerequisites
- Basic understanding of your project scope, timeline, and stakeholders.
- Ability to summarize progress, risks, and decisions in simple language.
- Comfort with common channels: email, chat, meetings, dashboards.
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Why this matters
A strong communication plan keeps people aligned and prevents rework. As a Business Analyst, you will routinely:
- Send weekly status updates to sponsors and teams.
- Run decision meetings and follow up with clear outcomes.
- Escalate risks/issues with the right urgency and audience.
- Share release notes and UAT instructions to impacted users.
- Maintain visibility via dashboards or summaries.
Without a plan, updates drift, decisions stall, and surprises multiply. With a plan, you set expectations, reduce confusion, and move the project forward smoothly.
Concept explained simply
A communication plan is a short, shared agreement on:
- Who needs to know
- What they need to know
- When they need to know it (cadence, triggers)
- How you will deliver it (channel, format)
- Why it matters (purpose and decisions expected)
- Owner (who sends it and tracks responses)
- Feedback loop (how stakeholders respond or escalate)
Mental model: MAPIT-RO
- Message: the core insight (status, risk, decision, change).
- Audience: specific people or roles, not vague groups.
- Purpose: inform, align, request a decision, or escalate.
- Interval: cadence or trigger (weekly, after incidents, before release).
- Tool: channel + format (email, chat, meeting, dashboard).
- Responsible owner: who prepares and sends.
- Outcome: action expected and by when.
Core components checklist
- Stakeholder list grouped by role and influence
- Cadences defined (weekly status, monthly steering, ad-hoc escalations)
- Channels chosen (email, chat, meeting, dashboard) with rationale
- Templates for status, decisions, and escalations
- Named owner(s) for each communication stream
- SLAs/expectations (response time, RSVP rules, escalation path)
- Feedback mechanism (survey pulse, reply-to, Q&A time)
Worked examples
Example 1 — Weekly Status Update (email)
- Audience: Product Owner, Sponsor, Tech Lead, QA Lead, Ops
- Purpose: Inform + flag risks + request decisions
- Cadence: Every Thursday 3 pm
- Channel: Email; dashboard link mentioned if used
- Owner: BA
- Format:
Subject: Project Atlas — Week 12 Status (On Track, 1 Risk, 1 Decision Needed) 1) Status: Scope 100% defined; Dev 60%; UAT starts Apr 10 2) Risks: API rate limit may impact peak usage (owner: Tech Lead; mitigation due Apr 5) 3) Decisions Needed by Apr 3: Finalize MVP scope for Phase 1 (options A/B) 4) Changes: Updated onboarding copy per Legal 5) Next Milestones: UAT readiness review Apr 8; Release train Apr 20
Example 2 — Steering Committee Update (meeting + pre-read)
- Audience: Sponsor, Business Heads, Program Manager
- Purpose: Decision-making + unblock funding/scope
- Cadence: Monthly, 45 minutes
- Channel: Meeting; pre-read sent 48 hours before
- Owner: BA (content) + PM (moderation)
- Format (pre-read outline):
1) Executive Summary: RAG, key wins, top 3 risks 2) Decisions Required: Scope trade-offs with clear options and impacts 3) Financials/Benefits: Variance vs plan 4) Timeline: Milestones, dependencies, critical path 5) Actions Log: Owners, due dates, status
Example 3 — Incident Escalation (chat + follow-up email)
- Trigger: Production login failures exceed threshold
- Audience: Incident Channel (Eng On-call, Ops, Product)
- Purpose: Rapid resolution + single source of truth
- Channel: Chat for live coordination; email summary within 24 hours
- Owner: Incident Commander (IC) + BA for impact assessment
- Format (chat kickoff):
"Alert: Login failures 8% (threshold 2%). Impact: 20% of iOS users. IC: Alex; Comms: Priya. Next update: every 15 min until resolved. Status doc: link to shared doc (internal)."
Follow-up email summary includes incident timeline, root cause, user impact, fixes, and prevention actions.
Build your communication plan in 30 minutes
Step 1 — List stakeholders (5 min)
Group by role and influence. Note preferred channels and time zones if relevant.
Example groups: Sponsor, Steering, Product/Design, Engineering, QA, Ops/Support, Compliance, Impacted Users
Step 2 — Define cadences and triggers (5 min)
Weekly Status: Thu 3 pm (email) Steering: 1st Tue monthly (meeting) Releases: 24h before + on release day (email/chat) Incidents: Real-time (chat) + 24h postmortem (email)
Step 3 — Choose channels and owners (5 min)
Email: BA Chat Incident Room: IC Dashboards: Analyst/BA updates weekly Meeting notes: PM/BA
Step 4 — Set templates (8 min)
Status: RAG, wins, risks, decisions, next milestones Decision: Context, options, impact, recommendation, deadline Escalation: Symptom, impact, urgency, ask, time-box, owner
Step 5 — Expectations and SLAs (5 min)
Responses to decision requests within 48h. Meeting pre-reads sent 48h prior; assumed read. Escalation path: BA → PM → Sponsor. Fallback channel if no response: chat + phone.
Step 6 — Publish and confirm (2 min)
Share with core team; get thumbs-up. Adjust if any key person is missing or cadence conflicts.
Common mistakes and how to self-check
- Mistake: Vague audiences like “All”. Fix: Name roles/people; clarify who must act.
- Mistake: Sending everything by email. Fix: Match message to channel (urgent→chat/phone; complex decisions→meeting+pre-read).
- Mistake: No decision deadlines. Fix: Include date/time and fallback plan.
- Mistake: Oversharing metrics. Fix: Use executive summaries; link deeper detail internally if needed.
- Mistake: No owner. Fix: Assign a named sender for each stream.
Self-check:
- Can every stakeholder see what they need in under 2 minutes?
- Are decisions clearly labeled with owners and deadlines?
- Do urgent items use real-time channels?
- Is there a feedback path (reply-to, Q&A, survey)?
Practical projects
- Create a 1-page communication plan for a 12-week feature delivery. Pilot it with a peer and iterate.
- Run one steering meeting using a pre-read. Measure decision turnaround time before/after.
- Set up an incident comms template and conduct a 30-minute tabletop drill.
Exercises
Complete the exercise below. You can compare your result with the provided solution. If you sign in, your progress will be saved; otherwise, you can still complete everything for free.
Exercise 1 (matches the graded exercise)
Draft a 1-page communication plan for a mobile onboarding project (banking app). Include stakeholders, cadences, channels, owners, templates, and SLAs. See the Exercises section on this page for full details.
Mini challenge
Scenario: Legal requests last-minute copy changes 24 hours before release. The Product Owner is traveling and often misses email.
- Pick a channel: chat with PO + quick call; email the wider team after confirmation.
- State the purpose: decision by 5 pm today on copy option A/B.
- Add fallback: escalate to Sponsor by 3 pm if no response.
Show sample message
"Time-sensitive: Legal requests copy update for Release R12. Need decision on Option A/B by 5 pm today. PO pinged in chat; will call in 10 mins. If no response by 3 pm, will escalate to Sponsor. Impact: low risk to timeline if decided by 5 pm; otherwise defer to hotfix."
Learning path
- Before this: Stakeholder mapping, RACI basics, risk management fundamentals.
- Now: Build and run your communication plan for at least one full sprint.
- Next: Facilitation techniques, decision framing, and conflict management.
Next steps
- Adopt the templates above for your next update.
- Time-box a 15-minute weekly review to keep comms lean.
- Take the Quick Test below to validate understanding.
Quick Test
Answer the questions. Pass mark: 70%. Available to everyone; sign in to save progress.