How to communicate as a software engineer

Communication at work is presented as the hardest part of the job. The article says it is a collection of personal best practices for communicating clearly with peers, managers, and executives, and it is not based on science.

Reading notes

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• Organize thoughts into bullets so each point is easy to scan and the message is easier to understand.
• Edit before sending, reread the message, and remove extra details so the central point is clear.
• Be charitable and assume other people are busy, smart, and able to ask follow-up questions if needed.
• Leave out implementation minutiae unless they are necessary, because most audiences do not need that level of detail.
• Put the most important information first so the reader can see the impact immediately.
• In a production incident update, lead with customer impact and resolution status, then add supporting details.
• In a project status update, answer the question up front, then add options and reasons if they matter.
• When asking a colleague for help, a shorter request that asks for time to debug together is better than a long problem dump.
• Concise tickets and messages respect other people’s time and make it easier to do the work that was asked for.
• The article closes by saying that summaries, minimal necessary information, kindness, and editing all improve comprehension and work satisfaction.