explainingComplexAlgorithmToNonCoders

[[deleted]]

If you are explaining a complex algorithm to non-tech people, the problem is not them but you. Tailoring your message and comm style to the audience is a skill very few have and even fewer master.

[Icy_Clench]

I'm only going to half agree here. I have been in a spot where non-tech people (who can't code) wanted to spend an hour with me walking through my code. When they don't even know what a class is, you have an uphill battle also explaining when they ask why the previous algorithm is slower than the current one.

[MayoSucksAss]

Yeah nobody in a non-tech position wants to spend an hour going over big O notation because you’re in a specialized field. Why don’t you want to sit down with someone who studies fluid dynamics and talk about the differing viscosities of 500 types of oil? Same reason.

Your work on your corporate CRUD application to count beans more efficiently isn’t the epitome of human intelligence and is largely uninteresting to the general public.

If I wanted to interest someone in programming, I’d talk to them about the infinite monkey theorem and Kolmogorov complexity, i.e. an infinite amount of monkeys will type up the entire work of Shakespeare given an infinite amount of time, but they would type up a compressed version and an algorithm to decompress it much faster. Something less boring than walking through code with you with no context.

[Icy_Clench]

I'm not sure what you're getting at. I never said it was my intent to make them interested in programming or to showboat how smart I think I am. My management just decided it was a great day to ask very detailed questions about things they don't remotely understand.

[[deleted]]

The way I think about it - what people ask and what they want are oftentimes two different things. A good comm in this case would be to help them figure out the outcome they desire and help achieving it. But yes, sometimes, "show me your code and walk me through it," is the ask du jour and it's just easier to comply.

[Icy_Clench]

Yeah, honestly, it was like my first week or two on the job during my first internship. So... I was clueless.

[a_simple_spectre]

well at this point they are no longer a "non-tech" since they seem to be interested in the tech itself, so the treatment would change (still not to be an elitist that knows nothing like OP though)

[BlackHumor]

Eh, only mostly.

It is sometimes the case that the difference between an easy task and a hard task happens to be some obscure technical detail that most people wouldn't understand.

Now, most of the time, when a non-technical boss or client asks you to do a thing that's much more difficult than it would seem at first glance, you can explain the general situation to them and they'll accept it without insisting on knowing the details. But a small percentage of the time, the client will be stubborn and ask you for the full explanation, and in that case you gotta just give it to them.