Communication is a very important aspect of our lives. If people can express themselves simply and meaningfully, they can communicate well. So, what exactly is simple and meaningful communication?

If you can translate to a level that your audience can understand, you are communicating simply and meaningfully. In this article, you will be able to understand how to explain technical concepts simply and meaningfully without using technical words.

I will examine this from three different perspectives: communication with someone who is not a software specialist, communication with a technical development team and communication with developers from different fields of expertise.

Communication with someone who is not a software specialist

How can we translate our work into a simple and meaningful way with non-software experts? It is not easy to translate technical work into simple and meaningful information, but here are some tips:

The software world is just like real-life. In another sense, building software is like transferring real life to a computer or an electronic environment. Therefore, It should be done by simulating everyday life experiences and translating those experiences into simple and meaningful language.

For example, let's imagine a developer who is trying translate to non-software experts their technical work in a task like "database migration framework implementation." This means nothing to someone with no software development experience. Let's translate this task into a real-life example to make it understandable to the general public. Database migration means “versioning schema changes” inside a database. In this task, we can understand that a developer implemented a framework solution to a project about database migration. Still unclear? Well, if you consider an accounting book, you know that records are not deleted in the book and new records are added according to dates. We can say that the changes in a database is like updating a form in an accounting book with dates. Every database migration version is like a dated accounting book page.

Now for MotaWord, let’s imagine that a developer is trying to translate to a non-software expert their work in a task which name is "Price Calculator Function Implementation for Translating a Documentation to a Specific Language." Complicated, right? Let’s make it simple and meaningful. The software functions are like an ATM. You can put a bank card into an ATM like a “function parameter”. You can do what you want to do by pressing the button on the screen and the ATM will give you money or give some receipts like a function return. ATMs are connected to each other, and all data changes are the same inside all ATMs. In this way, all your account values are the same in the other ATMs because they are connected to the headquarters of the bank for the account synchronized to the card.

Communication with the development team

So how should communication be between the developers within a development team? If you're applying a methodology like Scrum-Kanban, as we did within the MotaWord development team, and your team has experience working together for a few months, it would be easier to communicate with the team using this method. Within a certain period of time, communication terminologies become standard within the team. So it will be easy to tell your team members what you are doing using this language.

If you're a new member to a development team, your terminology may be slightly different. For this reason, you should explain your tasks - like translating as you would to a non-expert. Now, this may be a difficult step. Some developers worry because, who are we if we cannot define ourselves using technical language? Do not worry! This is temporary. Your terminology will be synchronized in the near future, with time and experience. If you are a member of the MotaWord development team, communication within the development team will be very easy, because translation is our job!

Communication with developers with different fields of expertise

How should experts in different fields communicate with each other? The software world is enormous, and it can take a lot of time and experience to become an expert in any programming language. However, the basic principles of the software world are clear, and if you have studied engineering in the field of software, you should communicate with people who are experts in different fields with engineering terms in a more simple way. The developers working in different fields agree on the basic principles and the logic of engineering. For this reason, it is important that you should not use terminology for a specific technology to explain your task. You should follow engineering principles and logic.

Throughout my career, I have worked with many developers, and based on my experience, I have found that communication is more important than we think. In some cases, developers think that when they explain themselves using technical words, they believe they have knowledge about the subject, but this is wrong. Just because you are using technical words and specific terminology does not mean you are able to be understood within a development team. Developers like to talk with technical language, but you should grow into this within your team.

Good developers can translate their tasks in a way that anyone can understand. At MotaWord, we do our best everyday to create lightning fast tech that works in a simple and meaningful way to bring the highest quality translations to our clients.