Imagine the early days of NASA. President Kennedy promises that the U.S. will land a man on the moon. Everyone looks at each other and says, “Now what do we do?” Communications management is a complex and integral part of project management. A movie that came out in 1998 titled Armageddonhad a scene where a group of astronauts were about to launch into space. As they were being strapped in, one character said, “Do you know we're sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon, and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts all built by the lowest bidder? Makes you feel good, doesn't it?”

Think of the amount of communication it took to create a machine like a space shuttle. From inception to fruition, the space-shuttle program contained thousands and thousands of smaller projects. The communication of what was needed when, where things were, and the ongoing status of the project was an enormous undertaking.

Imagine this: You are an off-site project manager and you receive a call from a client stating that one of your contractors just showed up for work, and they did not know that they were coming. You panic, because you scheduled the contractor but failed to communicate that to your client. What is the impact?

• Your client has to either scramble or send the contractor away.

• Your contractor loses a day, maybe two, due to the mistake.

• The relationship between you, your client, and your contractor can become strained.

You could have avoided the issue by simply notifying your client that the contractor was coming.

With the advent of communication technology, communication is supposed to be easier. In many cases, it is. However, there is still the human element that must be involved. Technology may give reach and range to your communications, but it can also create more places to hide.