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Better Communication with Non-Technical People?
tinpan asks: "I've got a communication problem. When non-technical managers ask me to explain technical choices, they often make choices I recommend against and they later regret. I can tell that they do not understand their choice because of how they are explaining things to each other, but they usually refuse further explanation. So, it's time for some education. I want to get better at communicating technical subjects to non-technical people. More accurately, I want to get better at helping non-technical people make better technical decisions and I'm willing to accept it may include some understanding of 'selling your idea.' What advice do my fellow readers have in accomplishing this? What books, online courses and/or seminars do you recommend and why?"
Give your manager 3 choices. The first choice won't quite solve the problem. The second choice costs way too much. The third choice is the one you want him to pick.
For talking to a non-technical minded person, the easiest way I've found to communicate with them is to put it in terms that they understand.
However, you'll need to make sure that you have a good understanding of what you're trying to express and a fair understanding of the terms you're trying to express it with. Otherwise, everything will be like a series of tubes...
I have been in the same situation before and many times I've found the best way to get your ideas across is the be authoritative and not back down when you think they are making the wrong choice. That obviously depends on the type of environment you're in, but for me I find that sometimes it just takes standing up for your ideas to convince those in charge they are worth looking into.
Work in a retail environment, preferably on commission. In about 6 months you'll either learn how to sell ice to eskimos, or starve.
Seriously, this was the best exposure I had to the non-technical user, and I've utilized the learned salesmanship in later interviews and technical presentations. I recommend spending some time selling something to everyone.
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$tar -xvf
Absolutely. Typically, when someone is non-technical and asks me a technical question, I ask them why they want to know. When they tell me the problem, I tell them how to solve it. When they ask if there is another way to solve it, I say I wouldn't recommend any other way. Even if I have a few alternatives up my sleeve, I don't offer them.. it only confuses the non-technical person.
The worst is when the non-technical person asks a room full of technical people for a solution to a problem. You usually get a whole lot of really poorly thought out solutions. Sometimes, however, you will get one good solution.. and the non-technical person will ask a lot of questions about how this is going to effect business needs of some description. This is bad. If this is your solution, you should immediately suggest that you will follow up with the non-technical person at a later time.. or immediately take them out of the room.
Because you know what's coming? An alternative. Typically a worse alternative. This happens all the time. Technical people love to bring up poor solutions to problems and contrast them against the better solution. They think the non-technical person is going to see why the best solution is better if they can see the reasoning behind why the worse solutions are worse. They want to elevate the conversation out of talking about business needs and back into the technical realm. This is guarenteed to confuse the non-technical person.
The result of which will be the wrong decision. And who gets to clean up the mess? Yeah, we do.
How we know is more important than what we know.
And then, the questions:
So, you've begun with:
and:
It's a start, but it's not really answering his question. Any other ideas?
Cialdini's Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion might be what you're looking for.
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
www.teslabox.com
Non-technical people (read: bean counters) like to have slow, soothing explanations, not a lot of jargon laden speechifying. Sometimes, it takes some leveling of your personal technical hubris to ratchet it down a notch, but if you want your IT life to be simple, you have to explain things in terms they'll understand.
None of this requires a book, a seminar or a conference. It's internal, and if you don't learn it intuitively, you won't use it properly.
-jim
Without trying to vitriolic, I did say start reading CIO magazine or whatever it takes. Managers read magazines, talk to their peers, or watch the news etc. to find out what is happening in the world, and they are more often motivated by the CIO (due to SarbOx rules) than anything else lately. If you don't EDUCATE yourself in order to communicate on their levels you will never get through to them no matter how elegant or cost efficient your proposal is.
I'm not going to tell you to trust me on this, but I will say that if you don't learn to communicate effectively with the audience that you are trying to appeal to, you will never get anywhere no matter what your message is. This is why we see so much political posturing during elections; they are trying to appeal to the voters - their audience.
At every level of business, you have to be political. The absolutely largest part of politics is relating to your intended audience. If you need to take speaking classes, finance classes, whatever... do something so that you can relate to your audience in a way that is EASY for them to understand.
Is that a bit more clear?
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
Well, look, I already told you. I deal with the goddamn customers so the engineers don't have to!! I have people skills!! I am good at dealing with people!!! Can't you understand that?!? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!!!!!!!
http://www.toastmasters.org/
Find your local toastmasters club and practice. Since joining toastmasters, I have had many comments from people in both my work and personal life about how much my verbal communication has improved.
Each speech will give you supportive and constructive feedback from multiple people, from multiple experience levels, and from multiple walks of life. I now find myself re-thinking how I explain quite a few technical things to others and catch myself when I am talking to non-technical people and I start to use the jargon that is so automatic among technical folks. I still pause and think about how to appropriately re-phrase what I was about to say to make it more appropriate to the people that I am talking to, but at least I am catching myself now when I used to rattle on and lose them long before I realized that they weren't getting it.
Besides, the dues are about the same as a magazine subscription. It is quite inexpensive for what you get.
I've had a couple of bosses who were very ignorant of the technological aspects of the work the company did. They were CIO's and were hired primarily because the company owner thought that a good manager should be able to manage anything.
One had some promise. He understood that he was, to be kind, completely devoid of any real understanding of the technology. He relied heavily on the knowledge of the staff and focused on the client facing and staff management aspects of the job. All was well, until it turned out he was a paranoid nut who started playing a variety of political games instead of doing the job, but until then, he was able to do well. He'd demonstrated that a good manger really can manage something of which they have limited understanding.
Another manager was the flip side. He had no understanding of the technology, and was, to be kind, a hand wringing, spineless jellyfish. The thought of pushing for the cash for a major hardware upgrade was beyond his capabilities, and all of our insistence that the system was dying fell on deaf ears because "Well, it's working now, isn't it?"
And when I say "hand wringing" I mean it literally. He would walk around wringing his hands like he was washing them. Walt helps Locke out of the pit. Charlie drowns when Mikhail blows up the underwater station. Jack attempts to contact Kate in flash-forwards off the island. And whenever we discussed budgets or the need for new servers, our manager would get a terrified "Deer in the headlights" look in his eyes.
While he accomplished literally nothing and was, through his inaction, responsible for several major system crashes, he lasted a VERY long time, because he always told the owner what he wanted to hear, and blamed the IT staff when something went wrong, something the owner was apt to accept at face value.
I was born with awful communication skills, and found this sort of thing very difficult. After I was diagnosed with ADD, I read a lot of material about communication and related skills and learned some soft skills, and it was very useful (as well as very interesting in a geeky kind of way - if you think computers can be interesting, the way people work will blow your mind...).
:-)). It also works wonders on your personal relationships.
Everyone should learn how to communicate with people. Essentially, this means understanding different viewpoints, which means being able to understand how people are different. There are different communication styles even between people who are ostensibly similar, which can get in the way of clear communication. I find it very frustrating that techies cannot seem to abandon the idea that there is true and false and nothing else, from which logically follows that if you don't agree with me you are wrong. Of course, in most day-to-day situations things are way more complicated than that. Is it a fact that it is rude to ignore me for two minutes when I approach your desk to talk to you? Yes, of course, I have feelings and a hello costs nothing. No, of course not, I am only dumping the contents of my brain into my IDE so I can give you my full, undivided attention.
Understanding people's reasons for their actions and reactions, and seeing through their eyes, enables you to persuade people to do the right thing, which is good for both your employer and for you. It is not being Macheavellian, or turning into a sales weasel (as long as it is used for good
I would recommend Getting To Yes by Roger Fisher and William Ury, about win-win negociation; I'm OK, You're OK by Thomas A. Harris, Games People Play by Eric Berne, and TA Today by Ian Stewart and Vann Joines, about Transactional Analysis; and the works of Deborah Tannen, especially Talking From 9 to 5. Look into the Myers-Briggs Type Indicators too. I would also recommend asking your company to send you on a course or two about communicating assertively and negociation skills.
What luck for rulers that men do not think. - Adolf Hitler
I'm not aware of any training or education specifically designed to help technical people communicate more effectively with non-technical people. You are more specifically interested in communicating with decision makers, which is far more specific than say talking to your family or non-technical friends. Being more specific in some ways makes it easier. I'm guessing that your difficulty lies not so much in not communicating technical details or ideas adequately, but not understanding the decision making process being used. One of my primary job functions is being a liaison between the technical and non-technical sides of the company, and I even talk to customers/partners who know nothing about technology. Point being, I am good at it now--I am complimented on this often--but this was not always so. Meaning that yes, it's something you can get better at.
... enterprise ... leveraging" in (b), or the particulars about what enterprise-class means and mentioning competitors in (c)?
Given that, here's what I can tell you:
1) Detail is enemy #1. Technical work has lots and lots of details to it, and we often get absorbed in them and like to talk about them. This will ruin your efforts again and again, you *must* train yourself to hold back details unless specifically asked. For example, if somebody asks what an acronym means, you probably shouldn't tell them what it stands for. Also, when pressed for details, try and give only the details relevant to your audience. For example, if somebody asks you what "WebSphere" is, do you tell them:
a) "WebSphere is a proprietary J2EE server. I recommend we go with JBoss instead since it is open source and does everything we need. It's cheaper and easier too."
b) "WebSphere is an IBM product designed for an enterprise computing environment leveraging Java technology. You might use it for serving web pages."
c) "WebSphere is one of many enterprise level, server-side Java solutions. It's a complete J2EE server, supporting all server-side Java standards, like servlets, JSPs, and enterprise java beans. It is intended to provide scalability, robustness, clustering, fail-over, up-time guarantees, and other things expected from an enterprise class product. You might choose it for the same reasons you would choose Oracle over other databases. BEA, Oracle, Sun and JBoss all provide competing products providing almost identical functionality at different price points and service levels."
All three are reasonable answers depending on the context. Does your audience want to hear "cheaper and easier" in (a), "IBM product
2) Decision makers often have to make decisions regarding things they do not personally know. As you have observed, this often leads to making sub-optimal decisions. In debate class, relying on an authority rather than having a good argument might get you marked down. In the real world, quoting an authority is often (maybe even usually) more important, as the decision maker might not understand the actual argument. I experienced this repeatedly and to great frustration earlier in my career, where a manager would pretend to listen to me, only to do what a more senior, trusted person recommended. In some cases there will be other hidden agendas, and often times you won't know what the decision makers parameters are. For example, you might recommend Vendor A for price/performance reasons, and the manager chooses Vendor B because B is a "safe" choice and the decision maker is in a difficult position with his or her boss.
3) This leads to: you'll need to understand the chain of command. Often times, the person that you get to talk to does not have the final say. Instead, that person has to sell the decision to other business people and the people who control the purse strings. So in some cases you are educating someone who is really just a champion, not a final decision maker. In this case, you must prep them to d
Give them 3 choices, and each choice ends with "...and a new Porsche for me."
-- www.globaltics.net
Political discussion for a new world
There are no magic bullets for solving the problem you are dealing with. A lot depends on what your audience is trying to accomplish, what kind of constraints they feel they have to work within, and how much they know about the subject matter. High level managers and executives can't be experts on everything they need to make decisions on. The span of their decision making is to large and their ultimate focus has to be on bottom line issues like controlling costs, building revenue, and delivering on time. Note that none of those things are technical issues.
You may find considerable value in reading a book on making presentations (the kind they use in basic speech courses in college). There are a number of excellent choices out there. I'm particularly fond of Presentations In Everyday Life: Strategies For Effective Speaking, by Engleberg and Daly, because I think their recommendations are well researched. This kind of text is usually a goldmine of organizational strategies for presentations, any one of which may be right depending on the managers you are addressing and the type of recommendations you are trying to make.
The most important chapters in these books (make sure they have them) are the chapters on researching the audience and listening. Hardly anybody really learns how to do these things, but they are the key to making effective presentations to overburdened managers and executives, who often have to make difficult, risky, and expensive decisions based on one or a few ten minute meetings. What you need to find out, before you even walk into the room, are the following things:
Research. Listen. Listen to the staff you ask questions. Listen to the people who've presented. Take notes. Ask questions. Make sure you understand what you hear. I generally recommend that you do each of the following things as you listen:
Davis http://davis.foulger.net
Always try to turn your techno mumbo jumbo into a car analogy. People love car analogies.
This guy's the limit!
As much as I hate it, zappepcs is exactly right on this. Management will not adjust itself to your terms. You need to adjust to their terms and concepts, or find new management (e.g. change jobs ... yeah, there are vast differences in managers).
Things to especially keep in mind include: 1: Express the issue in business terms, including short and long term costs, impact on revenues and sales, legal liabilities, and a thorough risk analysis (risks not only of a paradigm shift in technology, but also a shift in markets, staffing, etc). ... and 2: Give managers choices, but not too many. Two choices can usually work. Three or Four choices is better, even if one or two are obviously bad choices. More than that is probaby too many (depending on the complexity of the issue).
Put it in writing. Summarize entirely in not more than one page, better if it is one or two paragraphs. The whole report shouldn't be more than 2 to 6 pages, shorter is better. Then just say the full details can be made available if needed (they usually don't want it, but some will). And include your recommendation and why in one paragraph. The higher level the manager is, the shorter all this usually needs to be.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
I was comfortable speaking in front of a crowd as long as I was talking about computers and speaking in technical jargon. What didn't occur to me was whether or not the people understood what I was saying.
There are specific items in Toastmasters that will apply directly to what you're seeking. Overall the ability to listen well and speak directly to your audiences' needs regardless of their level of understanding.
Impromptu speaking: the ability to provide an intelligent, concise answer on the spot, or the ability to deflect it until you can provide an answer. This is a phenomenal skill when dealing with supervisors or when interviewing.
Structured thinking: you'll start writing speeches in a structure (opening, body, conclusion) and have nested structure within that. Before long it will affect your thinking and you'll find yourself telling people exactly what they need to know in a clear, easy to follow manner.
Time saving: due to time limitations of speeches, you'll put emphasis on getting your point across. In addition with practice and removal of crutch words (ah, um, so) and unnecessary pauses, you'll be able to say more in a shorter period of time.
Meeting management: perform certain tasks in a timely manner, ensure things run smoothly and accomplish all tasks/goals expected. This can apply to a formal business meeting or even a "hallway hijacking."
Leadership skills: you learn to take the helm especially when there is no apparent leader and you learn how to steer any situation in the right direction to accomplish a goal.
There are advanced projects that will help you with this specific issue: speaking to management, speaking to inform and technical presentations.
Obviously this will not happen overnight, but I am quite certain that in a good, healthy club you'll notice immediate changes within six months.
Hit the http://toastmasters.org/ website and use the "Find a club" button to locate a club near you. Visit several clubs just to get a feel for the environment and find out which ones are healthy clubs. You might even find one with numerous technical members. If you'd like specific assistance finding a club or want to know more, send me a private message. I'd be glad to help.
Your manager doesn't want choices. They want the right decision. Going technical doesn't help them make the right decision. Neither is giving them choices (though using the Decoy effect is very efficient).
Give them the right choice. You know what the requirements are. You know if it's too expensive, or too difficult, or too time consuming. So make the right choice and then give it to your manager.
Give them the explanation only if they ask for it.
Give them the alternatives only if they ask for them.
GPL Deconstructed