Being Succinct

Some years ago, I had my first and only client fallout. It’s unfortunate that the client also happened to be my uncle and the project was compelling (a story for another time). After much thought, I’ve concluded the reason for the fallout is something I both created and could have prevented. It all boils down to the succinctness of my communication.

There are times and places for being verbose, but they’re few and far between. In most cases, it’s more beneficial to be verbose in thought, yet succinct in communication. Constructing software for complex systems means everyone involved is juggling a number of facets at any given time. The last thing participants need is a slurry of unnecessary data to parse. What they need are snapshots into key factors. The factors included will vary between contexts, and it’s detremental to include information that isn’t relevant to the receiving parties. It’s important to pick and choose what you want to get accross; peoples’ time is valuable.

There’s an art to currating the right words that express the intent of your message without creating fluff or otherwise unneeded characters. It’s a deliberate practice, effort must be put into reducing the number of words. But being succinct doesn’t only involve verbal and textual communication, it also involves physical locality. It can be frustrating to be summoned to a meeting for which you’ll say nothing. Sure, bits and pieces of a two-hour-long meeting might be relevant, but it would be much more worthwhile to touch base afterwards on those minor affairs. All in all, it’s about respecting the time of other people. Taking the extra step to refine the level of communication goes a long way and as I’ve learned from past experience, it can be the difference between a healthy or fallacious relationship.