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How to Talk to Non-Developers?

Mangabo Kolawole on October 06, 2024

Let’s face it—being a developer isn’t just about writing flawless code. It’s about collaboration. But here’s the harsh truth: most developers suck ...
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pidgey0403 profile image
Gabrielle Niamat

This is a really good reminder, I feel like every developer should have this in their onboarding plan. It's important to know how much technical detail to include, depending on the context. When talking with managers and those outside your team, it may be easier to focus less on technicalities and more on requirements. If you're pairing on a feature ticket with another dev, including more detail is usually better. Thanks Mangabo!

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koladev profile image
Mangabo Kolawole

Yes, you are right Gabrielle. I think it should be the first thing to communicate to every developer joining a new team.

It makes collaboration easier. Thanks for reading!

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gokayburuc.dev • Edited

Epic Attitude:

  • "you dunno anything about development get the hell out of here! "
  • "Don't touch my PC and phone! Hands off"
  • "Don't ask me silly questions about lights and buttons. This button blows up the world so push the button please when i was in kitchen!"
  • "Yes, it's a green text and black screen terminal. And I am trying to hack myself. Searching the place the put the switch cable around. Back off, Cavemen! Go and hunt some mammoth!"
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koladev profile image
Mangabo Kolawole

🤣 those are legendary answers, stealing that 🤣🤣

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darkwiiplayer profile image
𒎏Wii 🏳️‍⚧️

I would say it's all about anticipating what information the other person actually wants and needs; in some sense, it really is just the basics of being considerate in conversation. I often find myself in conversations trying to almost probe how much information the other person wants; some will have a "don't care, just tell me what this means for me" attitude, while others will be much more interested and just curious about stuff to the extent that they can understand the technicalities.

Trying to tell a complete non-programmer about classes and objects kind of sounds like a general problem with communication skills, honestly.

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NateDhaliwal

Great article! Now I know how to talk to my friends about my project without them zoning out.

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koladev profile image
Mangabo Kolawole

haha, thanks Nate

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Liamarjit Bhogal • Edited

This is a good article to help us bridge the gap. I really like to help them visualize the technical stuff into something they can relate with, like talking about buildings. Buildings need strong foundations, walls, utilities, amenities, windows. Don't even mention anything technical. If there's a bug causing issues, you can say 'imagine we're building an extension on your house, the foundations need to be solid and the builders just found an unexpected sink hole whilst digging, it's opened up into a mineshaft beneath your house and the entire thing needs to be filled with a specialist material that has to be imported from spain. I'm currently sourcing a supplier, please give me some more time to build your lovely extension'. And theyre like 'oh I totally get it now, what a pain in the ass'. Fully relatable struggle. They'll be on your side. Windows could be application features that haven't got the right glass in, bugs could be drain blockages. I find people really love it when you give them something they can relate with. Then it gives them an opportunity to ask for more details which you can then appropriately drip feed.

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koladev profile image
Mangabo Kolawole

Exaxtly

thanks for sharing your experience

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Sm0ke

Thanks K!

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koladev profile image
Mangabo Kolawole

you are welcome Adrian!

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Ryan

I was laughing a bit when reading this, so relatable

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koladev profile image
Mangabo Kolawole

glad you liked it :)

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The Grey Hat Guy

man you just saved my whole startup team ,even the explanation is simple ,God bless you brother ,🤣🤣🤞

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koladev profile image
Mangabo Kolawole

haha thank you man

God bless you too

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Bernardo Euler

Great advice

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Mangabo Kolawole

Thank you Bernardo

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Niyonda_Cronytel

Awesome

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koladev profile image
Mangabo Kolawole

thank you

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val von vorn

How to talk to developers, though? Have you all ever had a coworker like Sheldon that made you feel completely not-nerdy all of a sudden?

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vigneshwaran kumaravel

Good article must read as this is crucial for all developers especially for integration developers as they need to talk to multiple teams and stakeholders

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CORNELIUS KIPKORIR KILIMO

This is really so clear.