Read on Twitter
A specific instance of this process at work: me, creating a presentation, or video, or blog post.
A thread. Probably a short one.
0/ https://ssbipolar.com/2020/08/19/thoughts-on-effective-communication/
A thread. Probably a short one.
0/ https://ssbipolar.com/2020/08/19/thoughts-on-effective-communication/
I start with the end goal in mind:
Who is my audience?
What is my goal for communicating with this audience?
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Who is my audience?
What is my goal for communicating with this audience?
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Typically the answers to these questions identify gaps i need to fill - for me to achieve my actual goal, I need to provide foundational information first.
This is often a recursive process - the foundational topics also need context setting.
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This is often a recursive process - the foundational topics also need context setting.
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This sometimes feels to me like functional decomposition.
Do they even teach functional decomposition to computer science students anymore? I learned this when I was learning COBOL.
Anyway...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_decomposition#Software_architecture
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Do they even teach functional decomposition to computer science students anymore? I learned this when I was learning COBOL.
Anyway...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_decomposition#Software_architecture
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If you've ever seen me deliver a live interactive presentation you've probably noticed that I will often explicitly follow this pattern in the form of verbal tangents. When answering one question I might explore 3 or 4 tangents before winding them back in to the main thread.
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If you've read any of my writing, you may not have noticed that I follow the same patterns, because I usually ret-con them back into the main narrative. My excessive[1] use of footnotes is the real giveaway.
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[1] Yes, excessive. I know.
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[1] Yes, excessive. I know.
I'm thinking about this now because I'm spending some time today building my presentation for my September 23rd webcast on dataflows patterns.
Shameless plug: You should attend this webcast.
https://ssbipolar.com/2020/08/28/webcast-patterns-for-adopting-dataflows-in-power-bi/
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Shameless plug: You should attend this webcast.
https://ssbipolar.com/2020/08/28/webcast-patterns-for-adopting-dataflows-in-power-bi/
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The main thing that I need to communicate is patterns for adoption.
But before I can do that I need to communicate patterns for usage.
And before I can do that i need to communicate information about features and capabilities and scope.
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But before I can do that I need to communicate patterns for usage.
And before I can do that i need to communicate information about features and capabilities and scope.
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But I also need to ensure that the emphasis remains on patterns, not features.
What a delightful balancing act.
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What a delightful balancing act.
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Anyway, I'm apparently still procrastinating. I should get back to that presentation...
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True story: me closing this thread is also an internal voice screaming "No! No!!" in German.
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True story: me closing this thread is also an internal voice screaming "No! No!!" in German.
