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WHY WE COMMUNICATE 345

If we review the reasons why we communicate, we should easily see its
importance.

Why We Communicate

Discuss Objectives and Strategies

Perhaps this is the most important communication of them all. This is where we
collect ideas as to the best ways to achieve the project objectives and to avoid pit-
falls. Here is where we start to build project consensus and develop buy-in by the
project stakeholders.

Disseminate Project Guidelines

Once the project objectives, constraints, and strategies have been defined, it is im-
portant that the project participants all get on the same track. This requires leader-
ship and guidance. It requires that these key data be broadcast to the project
participants and that it be made clear that these guidelines are be followed by all.

This can be accomplished by the issuance of a Project Charter. The practice of
having Project Charters as the defining guideline is a key factor in achieving suc-
cessful projects. The Project Charter will have signature approvals by senior man-
agers, as a sign of authorization to proceed and demand for support.

Collect Project Plan Inputs

The Project Charter becomes the basis for building a Project Plan. It is a commu-
nication vehicle to collect plan inputs from all the project contributors. Very early
in this planning stage, the team should create a Project Milestone Schedule
(PMS) and a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

The PMS serves as a guideline for building a schedule. It contains the project
start and end dates and key interim dates. It notes important milestones, contract
commitments, and constraints. It communicates the preferred (or required) peri-
ods for each project phase. Ordinarily, if the project contributors can commit
their support for work within the defined periods on the PMS, it minimizes the
necessity to micromanage the schedule.

The WBS serves as a guideline for defining and organizing the workscope. It
provides a checklist for selecting the work items that make up the project. It pro-
vides a structure for assigning responsibilities, and its hierarchical form facilitates
summarization, selection (filtering), and sorting of the project work items for re-
porting. The WBS is also used for earned value and performance analysis.