Managing information involves gathering and distributing necessary information and assimilating them on the project management activities and processes. The information gathering techniques are repeated processes that are used to create and organize data across different kinds of sources. There are four types of information gathering techniques as follows:
- Brainstorming: This method is used to get a list of all project lists. All ideas are generated with the help of a facilitator through an open discussion and mass interviewing techniques. Commonly, the brainstorming technique can be done during a scheduled meeting with peers, individual brainstorming, or even at an informal meeting.
- Delphi technique: This technique in project management requires the presence of a facilitator that gives out questionnaires to solicit different ideas. The responses are summarized and recirculated to the participants.
- Root cause analysis: One of the information gathering techniques is the root cause analysis. It is used in identifying problems and its underlying causes thus developing a preventive action.
- Interviewing: Stakeholders, participants, and experts are interviewed to identify risks.
This term is defined in the 5th edition of the PMBOK.