[thelist] How to Talk Down to the Client (WAS: getting rid of the quote builder)
Luther, Ron
ron.luther at hp.com
Thu Dec 9 15:10:55 CST 2004
Jeniffer C. Johnson asked about the 'client - techie gulf':
>>One, just how does one handle talking down to a general audience?
Easy ... Don't! Address your remarks and writing to a specific
audience. If the people in the room you happen to be speaking in
have diverse backgrounds and levels of experience, then you may
need to restate your key points several times - each time addressed
to a different 'specific' audience - in order to "get through" to
everyone.
If there isn't a 'one size fits all', then offer multiple sizes.
>>Second question, less important but to me more interesting: is this
>>the norm?
To some extent, yes. Simply because no one is an expert in everything.
It sounds like you understand the important bit ... ignorance of a
specific obscure technical detail does not, alone, make anyone a moron.
I've spent a LOT of time being dragged to meetings to sit between the
business folks and the technical folks and act as an "interpreter".
One of the problems I see in these meetings is that, often, neither side
seems to appreciate what's important to the other. Another problem,
closely related and very common, is a lack of articulation on both
sides. So I get to ask a lot of leading questions. ;-)
I see biz users fail to ask for things that are critical to make the
application run properly. [D'Oh! Do they _want_ it to fail? ... No, they
just didn't realize the techie folks don't work in their area and didn't
already know this stuff. The people they interface with on a normal
day-to-day basis thoroughly understand all of that 'elementary' stuff.]
I see techie folks build in features that they know are useless and
stupid (like 150,000 value LoV dropdowns) because "I vas only vollowing
oooorders. It vas in de requirementskis!" [1]
Oftentimes it doesn't seem like either side understands that
specifications are negotiable. I've seen both sides get freaked out
when I point out something like "Mr. User? Do you really *need* this
field you are asking for? Or is it merely a *nice to have*? ... The
reason I'm asking is because, if we leave this out, the application
Ms. Techie is building for you will run twice as fast ... and could be
delivered six months earlier."
- I've seen users freak and yell at the programmer "Why didn't *you*
tell me that?"
- I've seen programmers freak and yell at the user "Why the &^%*&^% did
you ask for things you don't *need*? LOSER!"
<sigh? ... It's Fun! ;-)
It's an interesting role. I just wish it had an impressive
(and recognizable) job title to go with it ... so I could ask for
more money! ;-)
Hmmm ... "Technical Expediter", perhaps? ... although I'm not sure that
has enough panache. (I once told my former CEO my job title was
"Information Alchemist" ... but I'm not sure he got it.)
>>What gets you frustrated?
Heh ... Don't get me started! ... being 'in the middle' I get it from
both sides ... the biz folks can be frustrating when they haven't thought
through want they want - mostly because that's going to mean lots of
revisions and changes in the future.
But frankly, the tech folks can be just as frustrating ... they do lots
of 'stupid stuff' too ... physically deleting records from OLTP systems,
including dozens of 'lookup-able' text description fields in my millions
of records of transactional data! WTF? Who do they think they are? Grrrrrr!
Oh well ... <shrug /> ... that's My 2¢,
RonL.
[1] Not to be overly mean ... I've seen it in rare cases on-shore, but
I'm not sure I've ***ever*** seen an off-shore techie team question
*anything* in the requirements document ... or even attempt to negotiate
the specs. Hmmmm ... maybe I'll add a "... and monkeys fly out of your
butt" requirement to the next spec sent overseas and see if it gets any
reaction. [2]
[2] Of course, I'll definitely make sure *I'm* not going to be working
acceptance testing first!
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