8 Steps on how to talk benefits, not features
When I tell my business users about new features we have added to their software, their eyes glaze over and they don’t pay attention. This really makes me mad. What should I do so they will listen to me? As technologists, we love technology, particularly technology that we personally created. This is often not the case for the business users that we serve, even if they are a techie-want-to-be or were involved in defining the business requirements. These business users, as they should, look at technology as a tool to perform their daily tasks. That is to say, they look at technology as a means to an end, not an end in itself. To your question, if you would like your business users to engage with you about the software you have written on their behalf, describe what you have done based on business value, business benefits, and how the software will make their jobs easier. In effect, don’t try to bring them into your world, you should step into their world, thus describing what you have done using their terminology and perspective, not yours. As an x-software developer by profession, I would write half a dozen lines of working code and want to show it to someone. I would do this not to brag about what I had done, I did this because I loved technology and wanted to share what I did with others. Truth be told, I’m still the same way. I’m the primary architect and developer of the [...]