One of the things a project manager should do for her team is to tell them about the weather. Is it sunny (we’re running to schedule with a happy client and a good product being produced), cloudy (a bit behind schedule with a happy client and acceptable product), stormy (behind schedule, unhappy client) or has an asteriod just hit?
A quick run-down from the PM each week is all that’s needed to keep everyone in touch. Without this information the team can’t make decisions in the right context and the project will inevitably suffer. This is more than just news. It needs to be analysis of the news, information.
An added bonus is that the team members, who know more about their own “neck-of-the-project” than everyone else, might be prompted to tell the PM something she doesn’t know, which will help the project.
P.S. I’ve never actually tried reporting to a team about the state of a project using a weather-based scale. People don’t tend to like analogies as much as I do (I love them) and so I’ve always feared their reaction (I’m thinking of you here Evil Sam). Instead I use normal, boring words.