I'm a Presales Engineer, and a big part of my responsibility is to translate what engineers are saying into something customers can understand, and vice versa. Over the past 4+ years I've been at this job, I have come to realize that this is a very, very rare skill. I don't think it has much to do with being able to communicate (English isn't even my native language!), but rather being able to think in abstract terms and recognize patterns among different ideas.
One neat trick I learned over the course of my career when talking to non-engineers is to use analogies, especially car-related ones. For example, trying to explain a named user licensing model to someone who has never dealt with software licensing before will be a nightmare. But if you say "it's like having assigned parking spaces, where every parking space is assigned to an individual," people just get it. Whereas an engineer will describe how the model works from a software perspective, and the non-tech person will just bang their head against a wall thinking themselves as stupid.
Very interesting advice re the car analogies. Thank you.
It seems that you are the character in Office Space* that had to madly defend his job to the two Bobs. In my real world development experience, I find that you are right about the rarity of your skill, and am always thankful when someone around me has it.
I don't think you understood that scene from Office Space correctly.
In my opinion it was supposed to be ironic. He is supposed to be communicator but he can't communicate his importance and he is showing very bad communication skills. After all it was taken out of context.
Actually, come to think of it, TFA provides some good ones. If a customer has contradictory requirements, just tell them they're asking for a line that is red and green at the same time.
One neat trick I learned over the course of my career when talking to non-engineers is to use analogies, especially car-related ones. For example, trying to explain a named user licensing model to someone who has never dealt with software licensing before will be a nightmare. But if you say "it's like having assigned parking spaces, where every parking space is assigned to an individual," people just get it. Whereas an engineer will describe how the model works from a software perspective, and the non-tech person will just bang their head against a wall thinking themselves as stupid.