Communication skillsfor engineering project teams

Steve Dysonwww.sdc-language.com

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Steve Dyson

Technical communicator and translator to French high-technology companies: space (CNES, Alcatel, etc.) satellite-based imagery and remote sensing (Spot

Image, CNES, Istar, etc.) naval defence (DCN, Thales, Armaris, etc.).

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Consultant on major technical documentation and translation projects for: French space agency CNES French naval prime contractor DCN.

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Outline

1. Communication in engineering projects Communications-critical phases

2. Technical communication: Basic concepts Sender/receiver model Audience-centred communication Tips (writing, PowerPoint, etc.)

3. Communication failures + responses

4. Localization & catalogues

Communication in engineering projects

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Communications challenges faced by engineering teams

Two main types of comms challenges: Presentations to team members and others with

engineering backgrounds. Presentations to non-engineers.

Engineer/presenter typically aims to: "Sell" the project or key concepts. Provide engineering input for high-level

presentations by senior project managers to clients, investors, authorities, etc.

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First critical steps

• Assess the importance of each presentation or writing task

• Tailor response to the challenge:– The more critical the task,

the more effective the document or presentation should be,and the bigger the communication effort.

A major effort will involve applying the lessons learned today and more …

Technical communication:Basic concepts

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Technical communication:

Basic concepts: Sender/receiver model Audience-centred communication

Basic sender/receiver communication model

Message encoding/decoding

experience,

feelings,history,

expectations, fears

sender receiver sends information

feelings,

experience,

history,

fears

expectations,

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Presentation skills

– Body languagePosture, eyes, etc.: 55%

– VoiceTone, inflection, etc.: 38%

– Content: 7%– Language skills & accent

Not included in this study.– Study by Prof. Albert Mehrabian, University of Ca.,

STC "Technical Communication", Nov. 2000, p605

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Audience

Communication is easiest between:

• people with similar backgrounds and training

• people who are used to working together.

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Audience

It is more difficult:

• between departments (design, marketing, etc.)

• between people with different backgrounds, languages, etc.

• for multidisciplinary, multi-department and engineering project teams.

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Audience-centred communication

• Focus on what your audience wants to know and questions they want answered,_not_ what you want to tell them.

• Tell them what you're going to say, say it (no more than three main points), then tell them what you've just said.

• Use rhetorical devices, including parallel structures and repetition.

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Reader-centred writing

• Focus on what readers want to know and questions they want answered,_not_ what you want to tell them.

• Provide navigation devices.

• Consider "Information Mapping":– courses now available in Portugal.

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Focus on:– Readers’ information needs– Readers’ technical knowledge– Readers’ language skills– Readers’ attitudes– The time they are likely to spend reading your

document.

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Unlearning …

Unlearning … things you thought you knew and others you learnt at school/university.

Reader-centred writing is radically different from:

• explaining to teachers, who already know

• writing at least X pages

• showing that you know how to use sophisticated language

• avoiding (at all cost) repetition of words.

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Answer readers’ likely questions

• Start by playing devil’s advocate:– Why should I read this?– Where does this information come from?– Which are the most important parts?– What am I expected to do next?– What does the competition have to say?

• What details or facts are your readers hoping to learn?

Drafting tips

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Making lists

Lists are:– shorter than running text– easier to write and understand,

especially if you use parallel structure.

Use parallel structure, i.e., begin with:– verb (infinitive or conjugated; imperative, other)– gerund– noun (less powerful).

(See also : saywhatyoumean.com/html/readingroom21.html)

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Keep It Short and Simple (KISS)

• Aim for an average sentence length of 17-21 words

But vary the pattern:medium, long, short, short, medium, short, long, medium, short, medium

• Maximum: 30 words, except in lists

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KISS

• Remove unnecessary prepositions– in the region of --> about– as a means to --> to

• Remove other unnecessary words– complete monopoly– rectangular in shape– . . . the dusting problem . . .– these instruments have a marked tendency to drift

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KISS: short, simple words

• Prefer Anglo-Saxon to Latinate words:– accelerate --> speed up– fabricate --> make– frequently --> often– principal --> main– utilize --> use– should it prove

to be the case that --> if

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KISS: Action in verbs

• Put the action into a verb– we made an application --> we applied– it provides a summary of --> it summarizes– . . . the addition of talc is done in two steps --> Talc is added in two steps– We have a lot of knowledge of . . . --> We know a lot about . . .

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KISS: Examples

– Commence inspection of the facility upon completion of the final stage --> Inspect the building after the final stage

– A reduction in the quantity of the data by a factor of two results in a corresponding enhancement of the capabilities of the system -->

Halving the amount of data makes the program run twice as fast

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• In recent years the traditional brick sector has adopted new technologies that have resulted in higher productivity levels and are better able to meet the requirements of modern architecture in terms of product quality and diversity.

--> In the traditional brick sector, new technologies have increased productivity, product quality and architectural variety.

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Ladder of abstraction

• Anglo-Saxons often prefer words low on the ladder of abstraction

• Latins often prefer words higher up the ladder.

M icrocom puters W orkstations … …

C om puters … …

H ardw are

… … … …

Softw are

R esources

Writing PowerPoint slides

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Steps and tips

1. Select a plain, easy-to-read template

2. Go to Options/Edit:Deselect "Auto-fit text to text placeholders"

3. Consider using Word in Outline mode, then importing Word Outline into PPT

4. Follow advice of Office Assistant

5. Apply 6x6 rule: 6 lines, 6 words each

6. Use bulleted points with parallel construction.

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PowerPoint: Limitations

Be aware, however, that PowerPoint also has severe limitations.

As Edward Tufte says:

"The problem with bullet points is that they can only represent the simplest relationships between things. They're good for making laundry lists or describing step-by-step procedures. The problem is that information is usually much more complex."More at: saywhatyoumean.com/html/readingroom25.html

Communications failures and responses

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Communications failures

• Who's responsible?– Sender:

Virtually every time– Receiver:

Hardly ever!!... and even if he/she is responsible,what point would there be to saying so?

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Responses to failure:

Review presentation with:

• carefully selected member of audience

• someone from outside your organization

• someone unfamiliar with the subject.

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Review resources and strategies:

• Choose a different presenter

• Call in an outside specialist

• Learn how to speak better in public

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Repeated challenges

Team facing repeated communication challenges should consider:

• developing standard procedures

possibly even standard forms, templates, etc.

• studying how others handle these challenges:– internet searches

– external consultants

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Is the problem cross-cultural?

Did communication failure involve:

• more than one nationality?

• different cultural or sociocultural groups?

• several corporate cultures?

If so, research cross-cultural communication issues or call in a specialist.

Jody Jakob (jody.jakob@netcabo.pt) is one such specialist based in Portugal.

Cultural differences

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Culture: What is it?

• “The collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category from those of another.”– Geert Hofstede

• “A learned, shared, compelling, interrelated set of symbols whose meanings provide a set of orientations for members of society.”– Terpstra & David

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Characteristics:What all have in common

All cultural traits are: Prescriptive, i.e. they define what a particular

group considers to be acceptable Learned, not genetic Dynamic: Interactive relationship between

behaviour and culture Subjective: Meanings vary by culture

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Cultural differences _do_ exist!

Cultural studies and their impact on good business are also increasingly popular,witness these TV advertisements by anglo-Asian banking group HSBC.

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Geert Hofstede's model

1. Power distance

2. Individualism vs. collectivism

3. Femininity vs. masculinity

4. Uncertainty avoidance

5. Long-term vs.short-term orientation

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Power distance

The extent to which the less powerful members of an organization (in a given culture) expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.

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Individualism vs. collectivism

Individualism = degree to which individuals are integrated into groups.

• An individualistic society has loose ties between individuals, i.e. everyone is expected to look after him/herself and his/her family.

• Collectivistic society has in-groups (with strong, cohesive ties between individuals from birth) which protect their members in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.

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Masculinity vs. femininity

• Masculinity = assertiveness

• Femininity = caring– Masculinity/femininity refers to the distribution of

roles between the genders, a fundamental issue for any society.

• Women in 'feminine' countries have about the same modest, caring values as the men.

• Women in 'masculine' countries are somewhat assertive and competitive, but not as much as the men (hence a gap between men's values and women's values).

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Uncertainty avoidance

Uncertainty avoidance deals with a society's tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity; it ultimately refers to man's search for Truth.

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Long- vs. short-term orientation

• Deals with Virtue regardless of Truth.

• Values associated with long-term orientation are thrift and perseverance

• Values associated with short-term orientation are respect for tradition, fulfilling social obligations, and protecting one's 'face'.

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Low- vs. high-context cultures

Individualism/collectivism is related to Edward T. Hall’s idea of low- and high-context cultures:

Individualist cultures tend to be low-context Collectivist cultures tend to be high-context.

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• Low-context communication: the mass of information is explicit.

• High-context communication:little has to be said or written because most of the information is in the physical environment or within the person.

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Examples of impact on writing

More formal style expected in high power distance cultures

More explicit information expected in low-context, individualist cultures

Inductive + deductive mix often suitable in low power distance, individualist cultures.

"Localization" problem(Internet catalogues, etc.)

Terminology for web sites

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Moulinex calls it ...

presse-agrumes (FR)citrus press (EN)Zitruspresse (DE) citruspers (NL)spremiagrumi (IT)citruspressere (DA)exprimidor (ES)espremedor de citrinos (PT)sitruspressen (NO)citruspress (SV)sitruspusertimen (FI)

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Search statistics (English)

AltaVista normal mode (10/04/01):

• lemon squeezer: 987

• orange juicer: 193

• citrus press: 151

• orange squeezer: 94

AltaVista advanced mode (10/04/01):

• "orange squeezer" + Moulinex: 0

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Search results (English)

AltaVista "image search" (10/04/01):

• citrus press: 3

• lemon squeezer: 2

• orange squeezer: 2

• orange juicer: 2

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Internet catalogues

English-language section needs to be indexed using at least:lemon squeezer, orange squeezer, orange juicer, citrus juicer, citrus press, ...

Question is: How?

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META tags

How can one add synonyms, variants, etc. to Internet catalogues, etc.?

Solution: HTML META tags ... containing invisible keywords, that are recognized and indexed by certain search engines.

Same applies to typos.(Think about spelling of destinations offered by a travel agency.)

Information Mapping®

What is it?

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Information Mapping

• Information Mapping® is a methodology for analysing, organizing, and presenting information based on the audience's needs and the purpose of the information.

• All information is presented in specially formatted "maps" comprising "chunks".

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Information Mapping

– Information Mapping (in Portuguese) by Formedia

http://www.formedia.pt/

– Information Mapping in Europehttp://www.imap.dk/

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On-line resources: General

• Online writing course (in English):http://www.me.vt.edu/writing/

• Online diploma course in technical writing (in English):http://www.cpit.ac.nz/splashpages/techwrit/

• STC (Society for Technical Communication)

http://www.stc.org/

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On-line resources: writing, etc.

• Writing resources for engineers, etc.:http://www.ecf.toronto.edu/~writing/resources.htm

• On-line English grammar:www.edunet.com/english/grammar/

• Writing mission statements:– "The Mission Primer, Four Steps to an Effective

Mission Statement"www.erols.com/rdoh/4steps.html

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On-line resources

On-line learning:– On-line technical writing courses:

http://www.online-learning.com/

– On-line writing tips:http://saywhatyoumean.com/

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On-line resources

Tips on presentation skills:– http://lorien.ncl.ac.uk/ming/Dept/Tips/present/present.htm

Tips on using PowerPoint:– http://www.communicateusingtechnology.com/pptworkscd.htm

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On-line resources

PowerPoint Is Evilor Power corrupts.

PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.at http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html

An alternative view by Edward Tufte,Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Computer Science and Statistics, and Graphic Design at Yale,and author of "The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint".

See http://www.edwardtufte.com

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Roundup

1. Communication in engineering projects Communications-critical phases

2. Technical communication: Basic concepts Sender/receiver model Audience-centred communication Tips (writing, PowerPoint, etc.)

3. Communications failures + responses

4. Localization & catalogues