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Good engineers Iâve worked with over the years have always had one thing in commonâââthey prefer precise communication. I do too.
Good engineers will demand that requirements and specifications are spelled out exactly and then make sure that they meet all the criteria perfectly. But great engineers communicate defensively.
I donât mean defensive as in âit wasnât my faultââââI mean defensive as in defensive driving.
As an engineer itâs quite natural to apply the engineering mindset to pretty much everything thatâs happening around youâââand weâve actually seen this have tremendous results in non-engineering disciplines like sales, marketing, and fundraising, and even PeopleOps (I mean come on, PeopleOps is totally an engineering phrase)
The one place where Iâve seen the engineering mindset fail over and over is in workplace communication, and Iâm the first to admit that I likely fail at this at least once a day for as long as I can remember.
One of the biggest improvements, however, for me came from a simple realization.
If you want to engineer precise communication, you have to practice defensive communication.
One of the biggest mistakes I used to make was to assume that incoming communication was âthe truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truthââââaka exactly what I âneeded to knowâ or exactly what I âneeded to doâ.
I assumed that I was getting a spec that was always perfect.
If I was a driver, that would be like assuming that everyone always stops at a red light. You canât assume that if you want to drive safely, you still have to watch the road and correct for other driversâ mistakes to avoid accidents.
Thatâs the basic idea of defensive drivingâââto assume that other drivers are always making mistakes, but instead of painting a giant middle finger on your windshield, you defensively anticipate and check for them as youâre driving.
If everyone does this, the number of accidents is dramatically reduced.
Pretty much every communication accident I see on engineering teams can be boiled down simply to the fact that the people in question didnât communicate defensively.
If the first driver assumes that the second driver will pay attention to their rearview mirror, some accidents happen.
If the second driver assumes the first driver will always flash their blinkers before turning, some accidents happen.
But itâs guaranteed to be safe if both assume that the other is not.
Hereâs an example for an engineering communication accident
PM: This feature should guarantee that A=B and B=C
Engineer: Ok itâs done
PM: Uh your code is sloppy because A does not equal C!
Engineer: That wasnât in the spec. Itâs your fault.
PM: Itâs your fault. You should have inferred that A=C from the spec.
Hereâs a defensive version of the same communication.
PM: The goal of this feature is to make sure that A, B, and C are all equal. So weâll need to check A=B, B=C, C=A, and maybe more depending on how you choose to implement it.
Engineer: Itâs done. Since your specified checks didnât assume that order matters, Iâll also guaranteed the reverse too, like B=A, because Iâd expect that to be part of the stated goal of the project, even though it was left out of the spec. Let me know if thatâs not the case.
PM: Sweet, thanks for catching that!
Do you agree about this style of communication? Let me know your thoughts.
About the author: Vinayak is the founder and CEO at Drafted, the referral network. You can find his other writing on LinkedIn and the Drafted blog
Great engineers practice defensive communication was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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