Communication Is The Key

When I think about the actual result of many popular, pervasive technologies I see communication as the common thread. Think about the devices that we personally own: telephones, cell phones, radios, televisions, and computers connected to the Internet. All of these technologies help us to communicate better, faster, and more often. The challenge for the present and future knowledge worker is to be the best one to leverage the power of these communication tools. Your ability to communicate will determine whether you succeed or fail. It’s interesting to note that Basecamp, the popular web-based project management software, focuses strictly on the communication even though there are nine knowledge areas of project management defined in the PMBOK: Scope Management, Time Management, Cost Management, Quality Management, Human Resources Management, Communications Management, Risk Management, Procurement Management, and Integration Management. This quote by Jason Fried, the President of Basecamp, sums it up: “We had an epiphany. We realized that projects don't fail from a lack of charts, graphs, tables, reports, and statistics -- they fail from a lack of communication. The fundamental problem: People don't talk to one another. So we set out to build an elegant tool that encouraged communication and rewarded participation.” The moral of my message in this post is that if you want to be a success in business, get your head out of quantitative analysis and figure out how to talk to people.

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