Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Actions Speak Louder than Verbs (Part 2)
Ian Whittingham, PMP is director of Calixo Consulting, providing project and program management expertise from initiation through to implementation, covering business transformation, workflow process re-engineering, and enterprise data integration. He is a regular contributor to ProjectManagement.com. You may contact Ian directly at [email protected].
“But what, exactly, is it that you do all day?” You know it’s a set-up question, and you know where it’s leading, but you still go over your list for the questioner’s benefit. Well, it starts with a 6 a.m. videoconference with team members in New York, London and Bangalore, followed by a 9 a.m. conference call with stakeholders, negotiating (yet, again) for resources.
And then at 11 a.m., there’s a meeting with the lead developer to review the software delivery schedule. And in between, there’s a fluctuating flurry of e-mails punctuated by ad hoc instant message conversations with the project sponsor (“Do you have a minute?”). If the product of your labor (a conversation) is so much hot air (words), are you really doing anything? And if you are, does it count as real work?
In Part 1, we saw how communication between project participants can sometimes quickly burn up in the hot air of misunderstanding and misdirection, and become muted by the messy conflux of people, technology and events. Words can be a slippery and uncertain medium with which to communicate our project needs, wants and desires. But ultimately, they are all that we’ve got, so we had better understand how best to use them.
Disclaimer
This article will not provide you with any magic words or phrases that you can use in your …
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