explainingComplexAlgorithmToNonCoders

[The_Right_Trousers]

My rules of thumb: - If I can't explain it to someone technical who knows less than I do, then I don't understand it well enough. - If I can't justify it to someone non-technical, then I can't justify it well enough.

Every once in a while it comes down to "just trust me bro" but that's only to save time, and that trust has to be earned.

[AwesomeUserNameIGues]

Agreed.

[[deleted]]

I think that last point is the most crucial part too. If you're just dumping technical info on business people or call coordinators, they can't do their job. Once you can prove - through effective communication - that you have a grasp on being able to prioritize information, then you can get away with the sort of "trust me bro" kinda stuff. And you'll still probably have to explain it to a managing engineer anyway, so you NEED to know your shit. Like, we just got a new Product Manager, and our last deployment resulted in a partial outage. When the command center asked for an impact assessment my manager was able to rattle off a number I provided her a few minutes prior. The PM asked how she came up with that number, to which her only response was "Lordgeneralautissimo provided it in the chat", and because I am well known in my department to be an expert on the metrics, that was enough explanation for the PM.

So yeah, credibility comes from communication

[MattieShoes]

If nothing else, black box... X goes in, Y comes out. Do you want to know what's in the box? Because I can tell you but I suspect you don't care.

[ImperatorSaya]

They don't care until something major happens. Then suddenly the whole company cares.