There's a weird overlap between sales conversations and code reviews. Both require you to:

There's a weird overlap between sales conversations and code reviews. Both require you to:

1. Listen before you respond. The worst code reviews are the ones where the reviewer skims and reacts. The best ones start with "help me understand why you went this direction."

2. Separate the person from the problem. "This code is wrong" vs. "I think there might be an edge case here" — same feedback, completely different outcome.

3. Ask questions that open doors. "Have you considered X?" beats "You should do X" every time.

I wrote a book called How to Talk to Humans aimed at salespeople, but developers keep telling me it changed how they run 1:1s and give feedback.

The core idea: communication isn't a soft skill. It's the infrastructure everything else runs on.

If you lead a team or work cross-functionally, the chapters on "strategic silence" and "the 3-second pause" might be worth your time.