How Executives and Developers Can Communicate Better
Do business executives and software developers speak the same language? As more and more companies build their marketing and operations strategies around software, it’s increasingly important that they do. Unfortunately, it is rare to find a workplace where the CEO, founder, investors, senior executives, and the marketing team are sufficiently technical to be able to intelligently and realistically communicate the goals of a software project to the software development team.
When business leaders don’t have a sense of the capabilities of the software, they will have difficulty sharing their vision in a way that the development team will understand, costing a company time and resources, and significantly delaying a product release. Nelly Yusupova in Terra highlights this struggle:
Most entrepreneurs excel at communicating their business vision, but when it comes to websites and mobile apps, they sometimes lack the background to explain the finer details of what they are seeking. If entrepreneurs simply let a product developer take the reins, they may be surprised and even frustrated when the end result is inconsistent with the vision.
In a perfect world, all project participants would speak the same language, allowing them to flush out any gaps or incorrect assumptions prior to development. This would, in turn, result in the production of successful software, which precisely meets the objectives and serves its purpose. However, for many entrepreneurs and business leaders simply sharing an idea isn’t enough—and generally hearing an idea is not enough for a developer. There needs to be a bridge over the communication gap—a place where goals and processes are carefully outlined and a mutual understanding exists.
Brett Miller in Mashable says that for business leaders, the process of producing a software requirements document will facilitate understanding and agreement among stakeholders, especially the development team. The key is producing as much information and detail as possible prior to development.
“The good news is that you can’t do this wrong. The key to success is to take the time to thoroughly dig into your thoughts, identify vital details and pinpoint the scenarios you need to account for. Spending the time to be thorough at this juncture could end up saving many hours of development, which translates into fewer headaches and lower costs,” Miller wrote.
While a requirements document, if done right, is extremely useful, it isn’t the only way to outline the finer details for a development team. Yusupova outlines five other ideas—including sketchbooks or use cases—for improving communication between business leaders and the development team.
Communicating prior to development prevents the costly risk of having to go back and rework a fully developed project. However, communication shouldn’t end at a requirements document or a storyboard. Connecting with all participants involved in the project during different stages of development will make for the best possible outcome.
To read more on bridging the communication gap between executives and developers, visit the uTest Software Testing Blog .
