[tt] CHE: Keeping It Simple When Talking Technology

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Keeping It Simple When Talking Technology
The Chronicle of Higher Education, 7.10.26
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i09/09a03301.htm

Warren Arbogast, a technology consultant who works in academe, and Scott 
Carlson, a Chronicle reporter, tackle the challenges facing college IT and 
offer advice about digital dilemmas.

This week: communication. IT-staff members often get criticized for 
talking over the heads of other administrators. What's the solution?

Scott: Something we hear a lot is that folks in technology have trouble 
talking about it with other people.

Warren: It comes up all the time — getting folks to talk about complex 
things in ways that folks can understand. I once had a high-level tech 
decision maker who was having a real problem getting the president's 
council to understand what he was talking about. We worked and worked on 
his message. Finally I put him in front of a group of second graders, and 
I said: "Kids, when this nice man says something you don't understand, you 
raise your hands." He got about 10 words out, and the hands shot up, and 
he looked at me like, "What do I do now?" It took about two hours for him 
to get it right.

I'm not necessarily saying that presidents and trustees are like second 
graders, but the reality is, when you're talking to non-tech people, it 
needs to be in a way that people can understand — and that is not easy.

Scott: But not everyone has access to a group of second graders. What else 
can you do?

Warren: Well, I have done the "TV Guide exercise." One of the things that 
TV Guide does so well is boil complex three-hour movies down to a few 
words. "Titanic: Love story in which the boat sinks." It's a funny 
exercise.

If you're a tech person, tell everyone on your staff to pull out a piece 
of paper, tell them about the TV Guide exercise, and tell them to write 
down exactly what you're trying to accomplish — whether it's a technology 
initiative or an idea or a faculty member's new project. Then collect them 
and read them out loud. You'll be surprised how far apart some people are, 
even though they think they are on the same page.

Scott: Why is this so important? People might not think that communication 
is the most important thing.

Warren: Technology is very complex and intimidating, and technology folks 
are constantly getting knocked for poor communication and poor 
customer-service skills. It's taking a lot of time, leads to a lot of 
frustration, and leads to a lot of money being misspent.

Troubled by technology? The Tech Therapists are here for you. E-mail your 
quandary to techtherapy at chronicle.com. And listen to the complete Tech 
Therapy podcast at http://chronicle.com/multimedia