Better Communication with Non-Technical People? 164
tinpan asks: "I've got a communication problem. When non-technical managers ask me to explain technical choices, they often make choices I recommend against and they later regret. I can tell that they do not understand their choice because of how they are explaining things to each other, but they usually refuse further explanation. So, it's time for some education. I want to get better at communicating technical subjects to non-technical people. More accurately, I want to get better at helping non-technical people make better technical decisions and I'm willing to accept it may include some understanding of 'selling your idea.' What advice do my fellow readers have in accomplishing this? What books, online courses and/or seminars do you recommend and why?"
3 Choices (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't use Acronyms (Score:4, Insightful)
Non-technical people (read: bean counters) like to have slow, soothing explanations, not a lot of jargon laden speechifying. Sometimes, it takes some leveling of your personal technical hubris to ratchet it down a notch, but if you want your IT life to be simple, you have to explain things in terms they'll understand.
None of this requires a book, a seminar or a conference. It's internal, and if you don't learn it intuitively, you won't use it properly.
-jim
My dealings with non tech savvy CIOs. (Score:2, Insightful)
One had some promise. He understood that he was, to be kind, completely devoid of any real understanding of the technology. He relied heavily on the knowledge of the staff and focused on the client facing and staff management aspects of the job. All was well, until it turne
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
SO, we will typically make 3 designs. A) is bland and boring but me
Re:Give them one choice (Score:3, Insightful)
Give them the right choice. You know what the requirements are. You know if it's too expensive, or too difficult, or too time consuming. So make the right choice and then give it to your manager.
Give them the explanation only if they ask for it.
Give them the alternatives only if they ask for them.
Re: (Score:2)
What programmers do... [youtube.com]
--
It's not everyday you get to implement OpenGL on the Wii
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Between your introduction and high-level description of the "right" choice, you shouldn't use more than a few paragraphs. Seriously, most folks won't bother to read more than a page - maybe two.
And KEEP IT SIMPLE. Don't write something like "The ambient temper
The best advice you can get.... (Score:2, Redundant)
No, seriously. You need to learn how to communicate to those in charge, those above you, and those below you. If you are unable to communicate to those you need to, it is YOU that has a problem. Start reading CIO magazine, read SEC reports, do what you need to do so that you are able to communicate what is required in a way that your audience understands.
I'm not bashing you, or supporting management that is intolerant of the tech savvy crowd. I'm simply saying that if you have
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
And then, the questions:
So, you've begun with:
and:
It's a start, but it's not really answering his question. Any other ideas?
Re:The best advice you can get.... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not going to tell you to trust me on this, but I will say that if you don't learn to communicate effectively with the audience that you are trying to appeal to, you will never get anywhere no matter what your message is. This is why we see so much political posturing during elections; they are trying to appeal to the voters - their audience.
At every level of business, you have to be political. The absolutely largest part of politics is relating to your intended audience. If you need to take speaking classes, finance classes, whatever... do something so that you can relate to your audience in a way that is EASY for them to understand.
Is that a bit more clear?
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not going to tell you to trust me on this, but I will say that if you don't learn to communicate effectively with the audience that you are trying to appeal to, you will never get anywhere no matter what your message is. This is why we see so much political posturing during elections; they are trying to appeal to the voters - their audience.
At
Re: (Score:2)
Re:The best advice you can get.... (Score:5, Insightful)
As much as I hate it, zappepcs [slashdot.org] is exactly right on this. Management will not adjust itself to your terms. You need to adjust to their terms and concepts, or find new management (e.g. change jobs ... yeah, there are vast differences in managers).
Things to especially keep in mind include: 1: Express the issue in business terms, including short and long term costs, impact on revenues and sales, legal liabilities, and a thorough risk analysis (risks not only of a paradigm shift in technology, but also a shift in markets, staffing, etc). ... and 2: Give managers choices, but not too many. Two choices can usually work. Three or Four choices is better, even if one or two are obviously bad choices. More than that is probaby too many (depending on the complexity of the issue).
Put it in writing. Summarize entirely in not more than one page, better if it is one or two paragraphs. The whole report shouldn't be more than 2 to 6 pages, shorter is better. Then just say the full details can be made available if needed (they usually don't want it, but some will). And include your recommendation and why in one paragraph. The higher level the manager is, the shorter all this usually needs to be.
Start using 'good' analogies (Score:4, Interesting)
However, you'll need to make sure that you have a good understanding of what you're trying to express and a fair understanding of the terms you're trying to express it with. Otherwise, everything will be like a series of tubes...
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
PBX? Ain't that the channel what had that funny-lookin' white guy with the afro painting happy little trees?
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Start using 'good' knowledge (Score:2)
You must be an engineer... (obligatory eng humor) (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
However...as good as your advice is, I get the impression that he is needing more.
The rest of this is not a direct reply to your post, but in the hopes he actually reads this.
Okay Cliff, I can't give you specific books or classes to take to help you, mainly because what you are asking help for is difficult to define, much less give specific info to help you without actually being in your shoes.
Two things I learned in college that have helped me to no en
Re: (Score:2)
Truer words and all that.
Illustration: I was once assigned to a team that was required to study a new and growing industry, understand their impact on current law and regulation, and make recommendations for new regulations and/or legislation. We're talking billions of dollars of economic impact per
Some times you just need to speak with authority (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Some times you just need to speak with authorit (Score:5, Insightful)
The worst is when the non-technical person asks a room full of technical people for a solution to a problem. You usually get a whole lot of really poorly thought out solutions. Sometimes, however, you will get one good solution.. and the non-technical person will ask a lot of questions about how this is going to effect business needs of some description. This is bad. If this is your solution, you should immediately suggest that you will follow up with the non-technical person at a later time.. or immediately take them out of the room.
Because you know what's coming? An alternative. Typically a worse alternative. This happens all the time. Technical people love to bring up poor solutions to problems and contrast them against the better solution. They think the non-technical person is going to see why the best solution is better if they can see the reasoning behind why the worse solutions are worse. They want to elevate the conversation out of talking about business needs and back into the technical realm. This is guarenteed to confuse the non-technical person.
The result of which will be the wrong decision. And who gets to clean up the mess? Yeah, we do.
Re: (Score:2)
The IT equivalent of a Bush appointee. All problems are purely technical. Arrogance unbounded. The alternatives to your solution never to
Re: (Score:2)
1: Rule out the bad solutions and present the best solution given the requirements and assume that the requirements are accurate
--OR--
2: Give the complete list of alternatives to someone who can't distinguish between the alternatives
There's a reason why the people who give the best advice also give the shortest answers.
retail (Score:5, Interesting)
Work in a retail environment, preferably on commission. In about 6 months you'll either learn how to sell ice to eskimos, or starve.
Seriously, this was the best exposure I had to the non-technical user, and I've utilized the learned salesmanship in later interviews and technical presentations. I recommend spending some time selling something to everyone.
Re: (Score:2)
Used cars.
I'm still making payments to the devil.
for my soul.
Yes get into sales, no don't sell cars. (unless you like kicking people when they're down).
-nB
I signed someone for 22% on a 72 month loan for a $14K car. I quit the following day. I still feel bad.
Re: (Score:2)
and yes I still feel bad. The only bright side is I don't get phucked with when I go to buy a car.
Now to make this post useful.
As to getting into sales, it really is a good learning experience (naturally don't quit a higher paying job to go do sales). The only advice I have for someone seriously considering sales is DO NOT EVER sign up for "commission draw" based pay structures. Unless you are a top seller you will never make more than the minimum wage, and ma
Re: (Score:2)
Re:retail (Score:5, Interesting)
She had 2 BK's in under 10 years.
She had $4K down (enough for the bank to approve her at shark rates).
I tried desperately to sell her a used car that she could have free and clear, I even honestly offered her my commission bonus on the car as a rebate.
She wanted that damn new car (Saturn).
Now, had I been selling Benz or Bimmer and someone wanted to bury themselves over a new car I would not have felt nearly as bad. But a Saturn is about as low as you can go without buying complete crap (Escort, KIA, Hyundai, etc.) and in my area you are screwed without a car. I pointed out to the gal that the used car she would own free and clear, have about $1K left over, the car had a 90 day/5K mi warranty, so it wasn't crap (crap don't get well... crap for warranties). She could likely drive it for about 4 years before she'd need another car, and she'd be debt free.
Seriously, the sales manager saw my face after I signed the deal over to finance and said: You don't work here anymore do you?. I replied that I had to go home and think (food on table, or some sense of shame), had no kids at the time, so jobless was I for the next few weeks.
-nB
Re:retail (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
I believe that some people are addicted to debt. When faced with two options, they will always pick the one that drives them deeper into debt. What can you do about it? Start a twelve step program, I suppose.
Re: (Score:2)
Be sure to provide a high-interest loan option to help those who really need the program pay for it!
Re: (Score:2)
Amort Calculator [fsu.edu]
22% interest on 14K over 72 monthly payments (I'm assuming 12 payments per year)
$351.77 / month car payment
After 6 years, that's $11326.75 in interst paid!
Let's put it this way: If you can afford to put aside $351.77 / month, and you can get a savings account that offers 4% interest, then after 1 year, you'll have $4,313.83 saved up.
If you need the car NOW, then heck, if you can afford $351.77 / month, you probably
Re:retail (Score:4, Insightful)
But this is not one of them. You did EVERYTHING in your power, even went WAY beyond (shame on you) and she still insisted on buying that car at a stupid price. You didn't sell her that car, you merely ran the paperwork. 'Selling' involves an effort to entice the customer to buy. You did exactly the opposite.
Maybe your immortal soul will have to atone for other saleman-sins, but this is not one of them..
Re: (Score:2)
I guess you're not cut out for that job tho, so I guess it was good you figured that out early, than when its a lot harder to quit.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:retail (Score:4, Informative)
If you hear a finance guy talking about someone's BK, they are talking about a bankruptcy.
-nB
Re: (Score:2)
But even today you can pay interest rates in the mid teens if you have bad credit.
$273.70 per month is not too tough a pill to swallow for a newish car.
If you have ever had bad credit you will do anything to rebuild it.
America has a cast system just like old India. . . only our cast system is based on buying power not birth.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Two Words... (Score:5, Funny)
Two better words... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, we know they're sock puppets, but the question was how do we communicate with them.
I usually just go with the BOFH [theregister.co.uk] approach and push enough technical terms on their stack until it overflows and then tell them what to do while their still rebooting.
Talk to People... (Score:2)
the basics of good communication (Score:2)
When you say that you have no problem communicating with technical folk, what you're actually saying is that you are very comfortable talking to people who are in the same professional area as you are, those who share the same technical lexicon. To these people you do not have to make an extra effort to communicate - your profession provides you with the to
influence, not communication (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Office Space (Score:5, Funny)
Toastmasters (Score:5, Interesting)
Find your local toastmasters club and practice. Since joining toastmasters, I have had many comments from people in both my work and personal life about how much my verbal communication has improved.
Each speech will give you supportive and constructive feedback from multiple people, from multiple experience levels, and from multiple walks of life. I now find myself re-thinking how I explain quite a few technical things to others and catch myself when I am talking to non-technical people and I start to use the jargon that is so automatic among technical folks. I still pause and think about how to appropriately re-phrase what I was about to say to make it more appropriate to the people that I am talking to, but at least I am catching myself now when I used to rattle on and lose them long before I realized that they weren't getting it.
Besides, the dues are about the same as a magazine subscription. It is quite inexpensive for what you get.
Seconded (Score:2)
Disclaimer: I'm not still a member, and not likely to be again for awhile.
Re: (Score:2)
Let me give you an idea why. I was not a bad speaker when I joined the club, and in fact I was quite well-spoken, but I've improved a lot since then. I present seminars professionally and I also am involved in sales presentations nearly daily. I joined Toastmasters to get evaluated by my peers and not by my prospects or customers. You will get highly objective feedback from people whose sole goal is to help you imp
Good advice (beat me to it :-) (Score:3, Informative)
I was comfortable speaking in front of a crowd as long as I was talking about computers and speaking in technical jargon. What didn't occur to me was whether or not the people understood what I was saying.
There are specific items in Toastmasters that will apply directly to what you're seeking. Overall the ability to listen well and speak directly to your audiences'
Communication Skills (Score:3, Interesting)
Everyone should learn how to communicate with people. Essentially, this means understanding different viewpoints, which means being able to understand how people are different. There are different communication styles even between people who are ostensibly similar, which can get in the way of clear communication. I find it very frustrating that techies cannot seem to abandon the idea that there is true and false and nothing else, from which logically follows that if you don't agree with me you are wrong. Of course, in most day-to-day situations things are way more complicated than that. Is it a fact that it is rude to ignore me for two minutes when I approach your desk to talk to you? Yes, of course, I have feelings and a hello costs nothing. No, of course not, I am only dumping the contents of my brain into my IDE so I can give you my full, undivided attention.
Understanding people's reasons for their actions and reactions, and seeing through their eyes, enables you to persuade people to do the right thing, which is good for both your employer and for you. It is not being Macheavellian, or turning into a sales weasel (as long as it is used for good
I would recommend Getting To Yes by Roger Fisher and William Ury, about win-win negociation; I'm OK, You're OK by Thomas A. Harris, Games People Play by Eric Berne, and TA Today by Ian Stewart and Vann Joines, about Transactional Analysis; and the works of Deborah Tannen, especially Talking From 9 to 5. Look into the Myers-Briggs Type Indicators too. I would also recommend asking your company to send you on a course or two about communicating assertively and negociation skills.
Re: (Score:2)
It helped me find techniques for getting my needs aired and considered (if not always met) as a part of negotiations. I find that I can walk away from negotiations, now, feel
What I've found (Score:2)
You simply have to put yourself in their shoes and explain things in a way that means something to them and their own priorities, agendas, etc. This means knowing quite a bit about other jobs and what drives the people you are attempting to 'educate', of course.
Again, put things in their terms, focusing on what your idea/plan/suggestion is going to do to help them solve whatever it is that happens to be important to them at that time. Not yo
Crossing the chasm (Score:2)
get an infp to edit your writing (Score:2)
There may be some formal training but (Score:5, Informative)
Given that, here's what I can tell you:
1) Detail is enemy #1. Technical work has lots and lots of details to it, and we often get absorbed in them and like to talk about them. This will ruin your efforts again and again, you *must* train yourself to hold back details unless specifically asked. For example, if somebody asks what an acronym means, you probably shouldn't tell them what it stands for. Also, when pressed for details, try and give only the details relevant to your audience. For example, if somebody asks you what "WebSphere" is, do you tell them:
a) "WebSphere is a proprietary J2EE server. I recommend we go with JBoss instead since it is open source and does everything we need. It's cheaper and easier too."
b) "WebSphere is an IBM product designed for an enterprise computing environment leveraging Java technology. You might use it for serving web pages."
c) "WebSphere is one of many enterprise level, server-side Java solutions. It's a complete J2EE server, supporting all server-side Java standards, like servlets, JSPs, and enterprise java beans. It is intended to provide scalability, robustness, clustering, fail-over, up-time guarantees, and other things expected from an enterprise class product. You might choose it for the same reasons you would choose Oracle over other databases. BEA, Oracle, Sun and JBoss all provide competing products providing almost identical functionality at different price points and service levels."
All three are reasonable answers depending on the context. Does your audience want to hear "cheaper and easier" in (a), "IBM product
2) Decision makers often have to make decisions regarding things they do not personally know. As you have observed, this often leads to making sub-optimal decisions. In debate class, relying on an authority rather than having a good argument might get you marked down. In the real world, quoting an authority is often (maybe even usually) more important, as the decision maker might not understand the actual argument. I experienced this repeatedly and to great frustration earlier in my career, where a manager would pretend to listen to me, only to do what a more senior, trusted person recommended. In some cases there will be other hidden agendas, and often times you won't know what the decision makers parameters are. For example, you might recommend Vendor A for price/performance reasons, and the manager chooses Vendor B because B is a "safe" choice and the decision maker is in a difficult position with his or her boss.
3) This leads to: you'll need to understand the chain of command. Often times, the person that you get to talk to does not have the final say. Instead, that person has to sell the decision to other business people and the people who control the purse strings. So in some cases you are educating someone who is really just a champion, not a final decision maker. In this case, you must prep them to d
Take the choice away from them (Score:2)
If your managers are not technically competent, then they shouldn't be taking those decisions.
First, take away the technical choices and leave them with business options. Deciding what functionality is provided in a product is a business option; deciding on the design patterns is a technical choice, as is screen layouts (although customer input is a good idea!). So the options you provide only allow business decisions to be made - the relevant technical decisions are implicit.
Gray areas include choice
Re: (Score:2)
If the VP that will make the purchase decision has been offered a board seat at company X, then it's a business decision to buy the product from company X, not the technically superior Y.
Unfortunately, the business people will never reveal everything that goes into their decision process, unlike technical people that like graphs, charts and pro vs. con arguments. You can't know what t
Talk to them in their terms (Score:2)
If you're talking to a business person, explain your solution / idea / objection in business terms. If you're talking to your doctor, explain it in medical terms. If you're talking to your 3-year-old, explain how SpongeBob would do whatever it is you're trying to do. If you don't really understand what you're trying to convey then you'll have a hard time with this, but if you do know what's going on it's not usually
Technical people don't understand business (Score:2)
What I have often felt is that non-technical people think that techies don't understand business and that they understand both business and technical issues. But whenever I have asked a business person if they could give an estimate of the profits of a certain functionality, they often simply stated that it was needed to win a customer. Yet at the same time they often demand that I give an accurate estimation of the development effort (costs).
But the reality is that software is usually bought by non-tech
Talk long enough (Score:2)
After about an hour, start suggesting him your solution more and more, gently point out his mistakes at first, then put more and more stress on his/her shortcomin
Win-Win! (Score:2, Funny)
Listening is the key to effective presentation (Score:3, Informative)
There are no magic bullets for solving the problem you are dealing with. A lot depends on what your audience is trying to accomplish, what kind of constraints they feel they have to work within, and how much they know about the subject matter. High level managers and executives can't be experts on everything they need to make decisions on. The span of their decision making is to large and their ultimate focus has to be on bottom line issues like controlling costs, building revenue, and delivering on time. Note that none of those things are technical issues.
You may find considerable value in reading a book on making presentations (the kind they use in basic speech courses in college). There are a number of excellent choices out there. I'm particularly fond of Presentations In Everyday Life: Strategies For Effective Speaking [amazon.com], by Engleberg and Daly, because I think their recommendations are well researched. This kind of text is usually a goldmine of organizational strategies for presentations, any one of which may be right depending on the managers you are addressing and the type of recommendations you are trying to make.
The most important chapters in these books (make sure they have them) are the chapters on researching the audience and listening. Hardly anybody really learns how to do these things, but they are the key to making effective presentations to overburdened managers and executives, who often have to make difficult, risky, and expensive decisions based on one or a few ten minute meetings. What you need to find out, before you even walk into the room, are the following things:
Research. Listen. Listen to the staff you ask questions. Listen to the people who've presented. Take notes. Ask questions. Make sure you understand what you hear. I generally recommend that you do each of the following things as you listen:
car analogies (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
It's kinda like saying everyone should drive an SUV because it's small enough basic personal use and big enough to haul stuff.
-
As for the non-technical crowd... (Score:2)
Learn to communicate (Score:2)
The best way to communicate better (Score:2)
Listening is active. Consider what they are saying; don't get disgusted with stupid questions, elicit better ones.
If you want people to understand you, you have to know what their concerns are, then build understanding on that framework.
Re: (Score:2)
I had a conversation recently with another techy at work about how to communicate difficult issues to management. His method is to write a really long email, covering all of the technical pros and cons for all the options, so the manager can make the best decision. My approach is to write a very short summary of the main business issues, with one or two recommended solutions, and an offer to explain things further if need be. My colleagu
Essay Form (Score:2)
In this kind of situation you are providing technical advice, not technical information so have the advice be
I have a better question. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Basically, because they're the ones willing to take risks, while most of those who are knowledgeable on some subject usually prefer stable and less risky positions.
Nothing, in principle, prevents the knowledgeable ones from also becoming risk takers and either succeed or fail by doing so. Also, those who do so have huge chances of becoming successful, provided they also devote time to develop the specific
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
So is working for an entrepreneur. There are also all the employees who became broke and jobless because their employer's risks did not pay off. All of the risk, none of the potential for reward.
Re: (Score:2)
Wrong. When you have a standard job, you know you'll be making a fixed amount per month. You think you might be making more, but you figure you also might be making less, or getting mixed results. Talk to anybody that works by himself without being either an business owner nor a salary man, and he will tell you it i
Re: (Score:2)
23 years I've been working in IT and providing suggestions, recommendations and consulting. Most of the time those suggestions were taken into account and a sound business decision was made that improved our workflow, simplified processes, brought in more customers or in general affected the business in a positive manner.
But there was this one company, sadly a technical company, who took my ideas, converted them into their ideas with their own business twists and then wondered wh
No shortcuts? (Score:2)
What about your social circle - are they all techies or do you spend time with folks outside your area of expertise? How do you talk to them? I cu
Call your mother (Score:2)
Security & Fear (Score:2)
Programs... (Score:2)
Other options would include:
taking business writing and classes at a local community college.
Toastmasters (while they are about public speaking, they also help develop communications skills).
You might check out a local community college or public university to see who their technical/business writing professors are and con
the 800 lb gorilla (Score:2)
If this is the case, better communication will not help. Rather, work on cultivating an attitude of acceptance, and consider whether you should change jobs.
A couple of tips (Score:2)
Starting from there, I'd offer a few tips.
1. Don't talk about choices that don't matter.
If you have a set of 6 choices, but you know that 4 of them really a
Don't talk down to people, for one thing. (Score:2)
First of all, you need to remember that most people don't like to appear as if they don't know something, so they may not tell when they don't understand you.
Second of all, never assume that people are unwilling or incapable of learning. Sometimes, people just need to be shown that the problem which is giving them a headache is simpler than it appears at first gla
This one is always tough (Score:2)
Things I have taken away from my similar experiences might be of some help. I have three major things to look at that will make my presentation of my idea more efficient in a sense.
First off, since all non-technical people are different, y
Use analogies... (Score:2)
For instance (happened to me yesterday):
Q: "Why can't my boyfriend send me emails? I keep getting these stupid 'rejected by the con
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"That's like drawing a picture of a car, and saying 'This is how it will feel to drive'"
Not sure it worked, though.
No seriously, it works. (Score:2)
For some reason,
Re: (Score:2)
They are stupider than you which is why they are managers and they are definitely stupider then you if they can't choose the right product on their own. The very existence of your job illustrates that they realise they are stupider than you and hence need help choosing things. The final damning piece of evidence is that, after hiring you to help them make the decisions they are too dick witted to do on their own, they ignore your advice.
I wonder why it is that techies are seen as insular and arrogant. The skills needed to be a sysadmin and to be a manager are different and non-overlapping. In my many years in the IT business I have learnt that Service Managers, Change Managers, Technical Architects and all the other bains of my life have a role to play and, quite often, the view from the sysadmin bunker doesn't cover all the options. An effective working relationship should involve mutual respect for each other's part in the overall plan
I despise attitudes like this (Score:2)
Really? So anyone who is not an expert in your subject is a dullard, correct? The idea that the just lack expert knowledge, and that the expert in front of them is not very good at explaining things, never enters your head.
I am sick to death of the attitude amongst a certain segment of the geek population that anyone who does not understand IT issues is dumb. I used to work front line tech support, and a lot of the techies in that office wo
Re: (Score:2)
what you mean by "non-technical people" are actually dullards.
This is exactly what you just accused me of doing. He said "non technical people". You would like this to mean "dullards". I find that attitude patronising, arrogant and stupid. You offered absolutely no evidence to support your assertion that these people are dullards, other than to say "if they were as smart as you, they wouldn't need to hire you" (paraphrasing). Suppose he works for a company who's primary business is not IT. W
Re: (Score:2)
The question here is "how does this guy get better at communicating to non technical people" You are saying it's a waste of time to even try explaining things to them, managers are too dumb to understand, and if they weren't dumb they wouldn't need you. I take issue with this. The only evidence you have for saying these people are dumb is that they failed to understand the questioners explanations. I would like to know exactly why you discount the possibility that the pers
Re: (Score:2)
Thing is, what you would need to do to justify, for example, why the company should use a combination of Ruby on Rails and AJAX on a LAMP setup to build their next corporate website, you should talk about the return it can generate a good return on investment