Archive for the 'Communication' Category
Green cellphone
Facebook, Part II
FaceBook In Reality
Whachootalkingabout? (Part IV)
“For the purposes of obscurity…”
Community Is The Framework
Do you know about Learning And Improvement
I’ve been commenting back and forth with David Gray, from Communication Nation about one of his recent posts.
Whachootalkingabout? (Part II)
I’m just not hip, it seems. I have difficulty ordering at fast food restaurants. I want to go up to the counter and say something to the tune of, “I’d like a veggie burger, with 2 patties instead of one. The second is to give to my daughter who doesn’t actually eat the bun. Is it possible to get milk with the combo? I’d rather not get the fries, thanks. Maybe salad?” Or, ideally, “I’m relatively hungry, and I have my 5 year old daughter here with me. We’re vegetarian. I have $12 to spend. What’s your advice?”
But it doesn’t work that way. The counter staff wants me to say “Veggie combo, extra patty, fries and cola”, or something like that. They want me to talk like them, I suppose, to make it easier for them to punch it into their till. If that’s what I’m supposed to do, just let me punch in my order. I don’t want to have to learn how to talk to the counter staff, I don’t think I should have to.
What I’m advocating for is a needs analysis approach. Not just in the scenario above, but in life in general. It leads to better communication, and happiness all around. Ultimately, it can save time, energy and resources. The client describes what they want in a way which doesn’t make assumptions on how the provider works, and the provider works with the client to define what is possible.
I’ve been in far too many meetings where buzzwords and catch phrases are misused, and the time it takes to properly define a project in that environment is tremendous.
It’s not rocket science. It’s communication. You talk about what you know, I’ll talk about what I know, and hopefully we’ll get the job done.
Whachootalkingabout?
If you don’t know what you’re talking about, don’t say anything, ok?
- When did people start using the term “portal” so damn much? Can you please stop? Call it what it is…a “website”, or rather a “set of webpages”.
- Why do people write like this “…six (6) core courses will be developed and offered as “web-based” online courses…”? Why “six (6)”? Is this a legal document? Why “‘web-based’ online’”? Heck, why not just say “stuff on the interweb-o-blogosphere”? It makes just as much sense!
