Effective communication strategy is essential to achieving effective project integration management. Any time the goal is to integrate numerous concurrently operating activities, the role of communication becomes central. This is because independently operating activities all come with their own unique obstacles and challenges. Some of the obstacles and challenges are interrelated, and they may depend on what is happening at another level of the project. Without an effective communication strategy, design team members seeking to overcome these obstacles and challenges may engage in activities that are not cost- or time-effective. Consider your own organization: How do project status, issues, and accomplishment information get shared? What types of information are shared through documents? Through meetings? Through informal communications? How has e-mail affected the efficiency andeffectiveness of project communications? How has social networking affected the efficiency and effectiveness of project communications?

Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas:

• What role do the Stakeholder Management processes play in determining stakeholder communication needs and developing an effective communication strategy?
• How do project status, issues, and accomplishment information get shared?
• What types of information are shared through documents?
• How has e-mail affected the efficiency andeffectiveness of project communications?
• How has social networking affected the efficiency andeffectiveness of project communications?