Communication Is Everything

Roscoe and I were sitting around the pot-bellied stove, chewing the fat on a rainy Saturday. He had been working with a group of software engineers for about six months, and I was surprised that there had been no events significant enough to register on the Richter scale. Given that Roscoe is about as volatile as Vesuvius in August,^[2] I figured that something was up.

^[2] Located immediately south of Naples, Italy, Mount Vesuvius erupted on August 24, 79 AD, completely burying the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in lava, ash, and mud.

"Roscoe," I ventured, "how is it that you haven't run off half that crew you inherited a while back?"

"Why should I do that?" he responded. "Buncha good hands, I'd say. Course, you gotta know how to talk with 'em."

"Oh, really," I replied. "What's the big deal? What makes talking to software engineers so special?"

"Wrong already, son. You don't talk to engineers; you talk with them. Starting off by talking to them can quickly degenerate into talking at them, and you're bound to get into trouble."

Darn! Nailed so soon, and I hadn't even gotten started. But the man had a point.

"OK, Roscoe, I get it. But really, is talking with engineers, and especially software engineers, any different from talking with other people? If so, I'd really like to understand what the secret is."