I readily admit I get a guilty pleasure from reading Joel Stein’s column in Time Magazine each week.  His recent (Dec 10th) essay How I Replaced Shakespeare (and why our kids may never read a poem as lovely as a tree) was no exception.  And not just because he uses words like “Anastrophe“, either.

I certainly hope Shakespeare and other literary giants are not in danger – but I think kids could do a lot worse than learning to read, comprehend and maybe, someday, compose and communicate as well as Mr. Stein.

How does this relate to construction project management, you might ponder?   Quite simply: effective communication.   How often do you have to go back to an outside party and seek clarification of ambiguous or incomplete responses?   Does your PM system allow you to track these incidents, or does it all get lost in a long string of loose email?