Humour

Getting across to the Geek Island

T A Balasubramanian on building communication bridges between geeks and non-geeks.

Displaying his usual flair for frosty wisdom peppered with a touch of absurdity, Dr Don Jong, dubbed The Oddfather because of the unusual solutions that he offers, takes up another session. He delves boldly into the world of Bobo Jitter, the incorrigible CIO of Bazooka Company. Dr Jong, as we know, has honed a special skill in grappling with the curious challenges of the IT workplace.

“You know, Doc, a lot of geeks like El Gizmo, my project team leader, ooze into management positions through osmosis. From being secluded programmers required only to turn out a certain volume of code each week, they are suddenly called on to shift into higher gear. That causes a lot of dismay.”

“Ah, and why is that?”

“Well, they have more responsibility thrust on them, which usually means a lot of non-geeks pestering them. All of a sudden they have to look up from their screens and start relating to these other people formally. El Gizmo has no trouble doing technically difficult jobs on his own, but ask him to get down to describing the details of how exactly the software works, or why it is important for a business result and he becomes incomprehensible or just goes blank.”

“Ah, there is the gap in speaking in plain language to the plain people?”

“That’s right. To get anywhere I need to get the budget for my projects, which, most of the time, is in the hands of the person who is not a geek—like Fin Fina, the CFO at Bazooka.  Now if I send El Gizmo to do a presentation to the CFO,  he gets so wrapped up in his talk about broadband and WiFi that Fina virtually cancels my budget.”

“It is, no doubt, frustrating, eh? This geek speak that makes your case weak?”

“Frustrating? It is getting to the point where Fina once called me aside and advised me to forget the technology skills and get non-geeks into my teams with plain business skills and teach them the technology. Can you believe that?”

“I can comprehend, Bobo. So it is in the medical profession where we have our own geek variations of El Gizmo. One of the hardest things that geeks have to learn is how to communicate with non-geeks. It is a commonly held belief—predominantly among those who oil the wheels of business and nurture the ancient anti-technology tribalism of the non-geeks—a belief that geeks cannot communicate to anyone outside their private Geek Island. And geeks end up being subscribers to this belief.”

“You’re right, Doc. In fact, it is an outright expectation.”

“I am not surprised by this, my boy. Up until the age of sixteen or so, I was on my own Geek Island. I thought that if people did not understand me, it was because they were stupid, not that I was unable to communicate with them. Thankfully, I changed—or at least I hope I have. As you can see, in my present persona, I am required to be in your head, so to speak.”

“Ah, Doc, but in Bazooka, the learning curve is perhaps, different from what it might have been for you. El Gizmo has no patience to wait and explain. He fumes when confronted by anyone who does not comprehend geek speak. I try to cure him. In fact, I tell him the way it is in Bazooka.”

“So, if only El Gizmo can speak plainly of what he needs to the non-geek Bazooka manager, then you have less of a headache, eh?”

“Precisely, Doc. It has taken me years to understand this as a CIO. Each time, when I was at the receiving end of heavy criticism, it was because I did not hold back the jargon—or explain it patiently. There have been instances where someone jumped all over me for using one unexplained piece of jargon in a 3,000 word post, or where someone was obviously unable to comprehend the topic at hand. But we are technical people, Doc. We live and breathe jargon. I tried getting El Gizmo to cut down on the geek speak, but he got annoyed.”

“It is but natural for him to be annoyed, Bobo. Many of the IT geeks that I have worked with follow El Gizmo’s grand example. They fill a proposal with technical details, and expect the person reading it to understand the benefit of the proposal from the technical information. In other cases, they write an e-mail that is littered with code and abbreviations that have no explanation. These careless communications reveal that here is a creature who is indifferent to what lies outside the Geek Island. The non-geek recipients cannot understand why they should approve a request or give a project more resources, or otherwise help this geek with whatever goal it is that he or she is trying to accomplish.”

“So how do I get him off his Geek Island, Doc?”

“Why get him off, my boy? Why not let him be there and have it too?”

“What? Come on, Doc. You want El Gizmo to spout technical jargon at Fin Fina regardless of the consequences?”

“Well, Bobo, maybe times have changed since you took the trouble to explain jargon to the non-geeks—maybe you would need to turn this Geek Island into a great attraction in the present world. Geeks have technical terms for things because they generally need them to be sufficiently precise. Like any other specialised field, technology has its own language. Maybe there is simply too much complexity for El Gizmo to be able to discuss specifics meaningfully in a layman’s vocabulary. Would you trust me if I told you ‘Oh—I see the problem now, Bobo—you have a boo-boo about water in your little head?’ instead of saying that you have hydrophobia?”

“Well, Doc, do I have that—hydro-whatever-itis?”

“Of course not. I just quoted an example of how handy jargon can be. Now, in this increasingly technical world, non-geeks, or ordinary consumers of technology products have two basic options. One, they can visit Geek Island periodically and ‘learn the lingo’ so that they can understand the technical details when the lofty geek gods are ‘speaking geek.’ The obvious difficulty here is that the landscape is changing so rapidly that this is an uphill climb. But then nobody said the world is becoming easier to live in.”

“And what is the other option, Doc?”

“They can remain ignorant of the technology and its unique dialect and instead rely on a professional—perhaps a Geek Island Native—to help them decide what they want and need. The obvious problem here—as you no doubt see daily at Bazooka in your capacity as a CIO—is that these people, such as your CFO, Fin Fina, often have a significant stake in pushing their own agenda. Have you ever noticed that the helpful people at the electronics store always seem to believe that the value to you from any given device is proportional to the commission that they receive if you buy it?”

“Well, Doc, now that you mention it … it is odd that Fin Fina always finds a way to cut back my budget each year …”

“Voila, you comprehend? Now think of how much more easier it would be if Fin Fina were to receive a quick and easy lesson in broadband and WiFi.  You have to open more bridges to Geek Island, Bobo.  And bring in the non-geeks for a guided tour.”