As an employee of a software development it’s fairly common to have people of many nationalities and cultural backgrounds as co-workers. More and more people from around the world come to Canada and the United States to find jobs in the tech industry, bringing there ample skills and knowledge to the companies they work for. Now you might think I’m going to talk about the language barrier that can sometimes exist in these situations, but I’m not. I’m going to talk about the language barrier that exists in companies that has nothing to do with foreign languages.
Your saying the same thing, but different
Dealing with language barriers with people from other backgrounds can be difficult, but even more difficult is when you are all speaking the same language but your not understanding each other. It never ceases to amaze me how differently a concept or task or email can be interpreted by people that speak the same language!
Clearly defined language and terminology regarding the business you work in is key to having a team that is cohesive and on the same page. There is nothing more frustrating then sitting around a table with a group of people who are all saying the same thing, differently.
You say potato, I say potato
When you are sitting down to meet about a sprint, or a release or something that is applicable to your particular business does everyone speak in the same language? Is everyone using the same set of terminology to talk about development work? Business Value? Semantics, language and meaning play such an important role in business today it’s very easy to get tripped up and swirling in a black hole of misunderstanding. The next time you see something like this happening it might make sense to stop talking about the problem at hand and all agree on how your talking about it. It can save time up front and time in the long run, but most of all it makes everyone feel involved and appreciated!
Semantics, language and meaning
As an employee of a software development it’s fairly common to have people of many nationalities and cultural backgrounds as co-workers. More and more people from around the world come to Canada and the United States to find jobs in the tech industry, bringing there ample skills and knowledge to the companies they work for. Now you might think I’m going to talk about the language barrier that can sometimes exist in these situations, but I’m not. I’m going to talk about the language barrier that exists in companies that has nothing to do with foreign languages.
Your saying the same thing, but different
Dealing with language barriers with people from other backgrounds can be difficult, but even more difficult is when you are all speaking the same language but your not understanding each other. It never ceases to amaze me how differently a concept or task or email can be interpreted by people that speak the same language!
Clearly defined language and terminology regarding the business you work in is key to having a team that is cohesive and on the same page. There is nothing more frustrating then sitting around a table with a group of people who are all saying the same thing, differently.
You say potato, I say potato
When you are sitting down to meet about a sprint, or a release or something that is applicable to your particular business does everyone speak in the same language? Is everyone using the same set of terminology to talk about development work? Business Value? Semantics, language and meaning play such an important role in business today it’s very easy to get tripped up and swirling in a black hole of misunderstanding. The next time you see something like this happening it might make sense to stop talking about the problem at hand and all agree on how your talking about it. It can save time up front and time in the long run, but most of all it makes everyone feel involved and appreciated!