Communication is half the work

I made an observation recently. I will spend hours upon hours agonizing over a design, fretting over complexity, and testing and retesting assumptions. Then when I am satisfied with the work, scurry to share out on Slack. As the last character is barely out on the wire, the pinky of my right hand hits on send; the whole process taking no more than 15 minutes.

That seems obviously wrong. Even without thinking too hard, there is a mismatch here, the input to output ratio off balance. To imagine the amount of time that went into working out the problem, the fullness of the deliberation, the decisions made, it would be remarkable to be able to represent the richness of the work in a few, short paragraphs hastily typed out in Slack. It would take a gifted communicator speaking to a familiar audience.

This feels like an easy trap to fall into – why? The first thought that comes to mind is the assumption that for all the work that went into it, it should be self evident. But why would that be the case? It would be presumptious to assume that other people have all the context, and unfair to expect them to comprehend and accept the outcome with minimal showing the work. Even when it happens, it is much more a testament to their ability than it is about me or the intrinsic quality of the work.

There is also selfishness. This may be unfair but let’s go through with it. Another way to explain the emotion it might be I have done the work, wrung out the satisfaction, and am now ready to move on. In this way, it is callous and indifferent to whether other people understand or accept these findings. We all take knowledge sharing to be important, then this is certainly depriving others for the benefit of the self. Self-satisficing, if you will.

Any work worth doing has to be a team effort. An effective team has to have a common foundation of understanding. Thus it stands to reason that one of the most effective ways to do good work is to be great at communicating. Putting in the effort to make sure that everyone gets what is being done and are able to provide feedback and build on it. And to much chagrin, more effective than what the most talented individual can output.

Communication is its own work. It’s funny because while I believe in it, I resist it. Instead, I’d like it to come secondary to doing the work because that is so much easier and fun. As its own work, communication is a domain that requires an entirely different set of skills, effort, and investment. Which for the unpracticed, may be even harder. The work here is to transmit not just the facts and understanding, but also the feelings behind them in high fidelity to others. To put it into technical terms, communication skills is like bandwidth. When put this way, isn’t it much more noble, distinguished, and worthy of the same amount of attention and care?

I write this as a reminder that communication is half the work. Whenever I feel like rushing through with gusto or being sloppy with sharing and getting feedback, remember, only half the work is done. However much I have put in so far, there is an equivalent amount on the other end. Much, much more to do.