Speak until you can’t be misunderstood

“Don't speak until you can be understood, speak until you can't be misunderstood " is a quote that I heard time and time again from a former employer. When he was saying it to me many years ago I felt it was annoying. Over the years I've learned just how valuable this really is. I expect that I will continue to see more value in this quote as I get older and gain more experience.

The majority of the general population, those of us in technology included, use phrases and terms loosely. When we speak outside of our domain or we are in a hurry we become especially fast and loose with our terminology. We sometimes do this out of ignorance, sometimes for expedience. However, it can frequently lead to confusion.

Everyone's perception of any given issue is influenced by differing factors and external influences. This amalgamation of information into a single opinion is of great importance in our everyday lives, and can make or break a career, a product, and/or a company. One of the major contributors toward influencing people's opinion of a given item are the things they hear about it from others. This leads to today's discussion on the importance of using the correct word in the correct place.

I'll get right to an example. We typically say that any item not performing the way we want it to is “broken”. However, is this necessarily correct? Let's say I ask you to design a widget for me. I want that widget to perform action foo. You agree and build me a foo-ing widget. I thank you and go to work, getting all my foo-ing done. The widget foos magnificently and is a wonderful piece of equipment, meeting my requirements and exceeding my expectations. Months later, my manager changes how we foo at my company. My widget hasn't changed, but it's value to me has.

As is human nature I may disparage my widget. “Man, this widget is useless.” Maybe my boss will come over, see my widget lying idly on the shelf while I'm foo-ing and ask me why I'm not using it. Is it expedient or in my best interest to explain to my boss that when we changed the foo-ing process the widget no longer was up to the task, or is it easier for me to respond with a simple “it doesn't work anymore”? In my experience most people, myself included on occasion, with take the latter course of action. While it may be factually correct, that phrase is likely to leave a false impression on my boss.

My boss will most likely walk away from that scenario with the belief that my widget is broken, when in fact it isn't. He may call you, the widget manufacturer, and ask why we have a broken widget, or worse yet he won't call you and straighten out the situation. It's more likely that he'll simply mark you off as a vendor for providing inadequate tools.

Is this scenario overly simplistic? Yes. However, you would have a hard time convincing me it's outside of realistic possibility. I've seen this type of thing happen from multiple angles over multiple years.

Several people that work with and around me have commented over the years that I'm very rigid when it comes to semantics. I try to be very particular about the words that I use and the context I use them in. We all spend plenty of time trying to decipher meanings and redo work because of misunderstandings. If we all do what we can to say the things we mean and ensure that our meaning is clear, we'll be doing more to minimize the amount of misinformation our lives.