Communication
Everyone Needs to Communicate.
Last updated: Mon 10-Aug-2026 noon
How To Communicate
Communication comes down to three things
- The Message
- The Words
- The Artefacts
The Message
Central Message
- Supporting Point 1
- Minor Point 1
- Minor Point 2
- Minor Point 3
- Supporting Point 2
- Supporting Point 3
- Supporting Point 4 (Maybe)
- Supporting Point 4 (Maybe)
The Words
Words matter
- Choose them wisely
Avoid pronouns
- “you”, “me”, “she” will cause people to be defensive
- Focus on the problem / discussion not on the people
- Not “your problem” instead “the problem”
Keep cool
- Communication is only ~9% the words that you use
- The rest is your tone and body language
Active Listening
- Listen to understand
- Do not listen to respond
- Offer your opinion last – first listen to others
Communicate to avoid being misunderstood
- Don’t communicate to be understood
- Communication to not be misunderstood
- An example: you could say “they are happy”.
- Maybe in context it is relatively easy to understand who “they are”.
- But if instead you said “Bob is happy” then
- No one has to spend mental energy to map “they” to “Bob”.
- The listener then has more time / energy to focus on the message.
The Artefacts
Find your lists.
Find your buckets.
Find your tables.
Find your diagrams.
Find your medium:
- The medium of your message can be as important as the message itself.
- If no one can understand your medium, no one is listening to your message.
Search for many sources on how to draft a good diagram, dashboard, power point, etc.
Key Takeaways
Understand your message.
Use your words carefully.
Craft your medium to communicate your message and to not distract from your message.
Appendix
Old Version
Version History
| Date | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Mon 1-Mar-2021 | Initial version |
| 02 | Mon 10-Aug-2026 | Converted to markdown |