Adopt a common language for all project stakeholders

On the one hand, in most organizations, the primary challenge of communication around a project or within a project team is to ensure clear, unique and shared definitions of the main terms used throughout the project. This applies as much to the project's purpose and expected results, as to its organization and management.

On the other hand, the choice of a project-based organization makes it possible, in particular, to have people working simultaneously or at different times, together or in different groups, each bringing a specific know-how (skill or profession). However, each profession develops its own jargon, rich in neologisms and anglicisms not used elsewhere. There may also be overlaps: certain terms or expressions take on a particular meaning in a given professional universe. This meaning may be different in everyday language or in another profession. Conversely, the same notion may be named differently from one professional context to another.

If we are not attentive to this phenomenon, the project can become a "Tower of Babel", a source of ambiguity and confusion, resulting in wasted time, waste and errors that are all the more serious when they are discovered late.

This fact sheet draws your attention to the first level of human communication: language, starting with what's at stake in a project.