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owner’s objectives. The client or sponsor wants to know how we are doing against
these objectives. It is not enough to say The project will be completed on 9/1/01,
or We’ve spent $120,000. Is this good or bad? If it is the latter, are actions being
taken to reverse the situation? Is there some action required of the owner?

Likewise, reporting that a technical objective is in jeopardy is not full commu-
nication. Again, the owner should be informed as to the prognosis and possible
remedies, as well as the diagnosis. And, again, the owner should be invited to par-
ticipate in the solution. There are at least two advantages to this philosophy. First,
the client/sponsor may actually be able to contribute to the remedy. Second, the
client/sponsor is less likely to dump the entire blame for the failures when he/she
is invited to participate (and when mutual trust is maintained).

All too often, the project team will wrestle with a problem, such as attempting
to achieve a requested technical objective. Finally, after exhausting large amounts
of effort and funds, the team communicates the problem to the sponsor, who re-
sponds, “That objective wasn’t really that important.” Think of what could have
been saved if the sponsor had known of the situation earlier.

Other Internal Operations

Most projects will require the support of several internal support functions. It
may be the Human Resources Department, or Training, Financial, Information
Systems, Graphics and Printing support, or any of the traditional internal support
groups. Here, too, there is a tendency to keep these groups in the dark, until we
need their services. Then, we hit them with a request for immediate support and
cry that they are not responsive when they won’t drop everything for your project.
The lack of advance communication on your part should not be justification for
bringing the internal graphics group in on a weekend to meet your needs.

If you are maintaining a project plan, there is no reason not to include these in-
ternal support groups in the distribution of selected information. The objective is
to identify parts of the project that will have an impact on these groups and to
maintain periodic communication of the status of these items.

Other External Operations

In some firms, some support functions may be external or outsourced. That
should not make a big difference. Similar communication is in order. A supplier
may require two weeks advance notice of the start of a contracted effort. Why not
provide an early estimate and update it regularly? The contractor will appreciate
it and provide better service. Again, a key is to design a customized view of the
appropriate data, for each stakeholder.