The Project Business Foundation (Sisseln, Switzerland) has published its new glossary for project business management to help parties in cross-corporate projects achieve a common understanding of the terminology being used, and harmful misunderstandings are avoided.
Misunderstandings about the meaning of words are a frequent and often damaging cause of miscommunication and conflict between organizations, particularly when they have a different ‘home culture’ and language base. The new Project Business Glossary published by the Project Business Foundation addresses this issue by helping parties under contract agree on a common use of terminology.
“The Project Business Glossary is intended to bring very practical benefits,“ explains Oliver F. Lehmann, President of the Project Business Foundation, adding that “it can be simply added to the appendix of a contract ensuring the parties’ common understanding of the language used and as a jointly accepted dictionary, when different interpretations on terminology could lead to disputes. Even if parties decide to use a different definition for a specific term, the glossary is helpful as a baseline against which the deviation is expressed.”
50% of the authors who developed the Project Business Glossary were from Anglo-American Common Law jurisdictions, the other half came from Civil Law countries. As one of the authors, Sarah Schütte from the United Kingdom, put it: “The Glossary is drafted to be ‘jurisdiction-blind’, i.e. anyone anywhere can use it.” The Project Business Glossary can be freely accessed and used. It can be accessed online and downloaded as a PDF file from https://www.project-business.org/programs/project-business-glossary and has been included as a valuable addition to Mosaic’s list of glossaries at: https://mosaicprojects.com.au/PMKI-XTR-040.php
Pat Weaver
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