Professional Correspondence: Part 1 "The Four Questions"

This is adapted from a presentation for BuiltWorlds Future Workplace Forum, which occurred on June 14, 2018. Slight modifications in the text have been made to fit this format.


For all of you in the building industry, you know that Architecture, Engineering, and Construction are about relationships. All projects in construction are projects of collaboration, and the success or failure of projects is largely determined by the success or failure of communication. And in most cases, the failure to communicate is rooted in speaking dissimilar languages and coming from different backgrounds. While architecture studio classes develop the skills for presenting one’s own work, they do not typically take into account how to communicate with the myriad other people involved in construction. Knowing this lack exists in architecture school, it’s no small leap to imagine it is also lacking in engineering and construction pedagogy. So how do you help your colleagues bridge this gap for a clear path to success?



Knowing the lack exists is the first step. The next step is to challenge the assumptions that your colleagues are making and the practices they have developed to address the lack they know exists, but perhaps have not had the training to bridge effectively and with confidence. Start with four questions: WHO, WHAT, HOW, and WHEN.

WHO refers to both the writers and the recipients - who is the person writing and where are they in the hierarchy of the project and the firm? What kind of authority and experience does this person command? Who is the recipient - a single person or a group? Within the firm or outside it? What is the relationship between the writer and the recipient? What kind of background and understanding does the recipient have? What are the goals and values of this person or group? What are the viewpoints of each party, and how might those viewpoints affect the message?

WHAT discusses the content and language of the message being sent - what is the information that needs to be transmitted between parties? What language choices is the writer making to ensure that the recipient receives the message clearly? What language choices is the writer making to lead the recipient to action? To solidify the writer’s expertise? What language choices can the writer make to avoid undermining themselves or introducing doubt?

HOW refers to the medium of the message - is this a formal contract document with notarization? Is it a casual text message? A conference call? An email? What are the risks and benefits of each of these media for professional correspondence? Are there legal obligations that prescribe the kind of correspondence that must occur? Are there legal ramifications that preclude a certain kind of correspondence?

WHEN discusses the timing and responsiveness for the message - is the message being sent during business hours, or outside of them? How quickly are replies sent - within minutes, hours, days, or weeks? What are the expectations that have been established for responsiveness in a given relationship? Are work boundaries being defended so those expectations do not become an “on-call” relationship?

Learn more about each question and get some answers and best practices in Part 2.