How long of a read?	<5 minutes
What level of expertise?	All levels
What is the article about?	How a Glossary of Terms will help your project.

Communication is Challenging

Communication challenges abound in project/program management. Often teams are pulled together that have not worked together before and come from very different walks of life and backgrounds. International teams often have cross cultural issues and technology challenges that make collaboration difficult. It is imperative as a project/program manager that understanding occurs throughout the entire lifecycle of your project/program for efficiency and accuracy. Misunderstandings can be disastrous to the success of your effort as the team could potentially build something that is not what the customer envisioned. This will invariably lead to the need for rework, cost overruns, delays and in some cases the entire project being cancelled.

Creating a Glossary of terms can help communications

One practical way that you can address this communication challenge is to create and publish a glossary of terms that are relevant to your project/program. At a minimum it will be valuable to you as a reference guide, or to someone who needs to cover for you while you are out on vacation, or to someone who is new to the team and needs to be quickly onboarded.  Where a glossary of terms is extremely helpful is in setting the project/program success measures and mandatory requirements. Without this firm foundation to build upon the entire program/project would be in jeopardy.

How to start

Depending upon where you are in a project/program lifecycle – first see if you can get a hold of an existing glossary of terms. No need to reinvent something if it already has been created. Often companies and teams have existing glossaries and reference guides that you can start assembling together. Whenever you run into a term that either you don’t understand or acronym write it down and find out what it means via the web, internal corporate network, or from other team members. Then document it and publish it for the team.

Keep it up to date

What you will find over time is that people will give you feedback on your glossary, in particular if they disagree with a term in it. This will be a great learning experience as you will then work with that person to get a common understanding of the term. In a project/program context it is often good in a kick off/initiation meeting for a project to go over key terms that are very important for the team to understand so that everyone is on the same page.

LEADERS THOUGHTS

Glenn – Do not be afraid to ask if you do not understand something. Often people are afraid to ask as they think that they will appear unintelligent. Ask once, then write it down, publish it for the team, and now everyone is literally on the same page.

Lauren– Success of a project/program can be challenging when the project/program manager is focused solely on the tasks or milestones being checked off a list.  Good leadership and communication skills are a benefit in any and all projects. Project Managers that know how to inspire their team to do quality work and give a judgement free space to discuss challenges or concerns is an added value to all project environments. 

Joy – Communication is key to project success.  It’s best to make sure your team is not only speaking the same lingo but have a clear understanding of the terms in order for smooth execution of your project!  Don’t forget – communication encompasses not only words spoken but documentation as well!