How Analogies Bridge the Communication Gap Between IT and the Business

Welcome back to the "From Code to Crayons" series. In Part 2, we'll take a look at how you can use analogies to connect software development and technical work to business value. When used effectively, analogies can help Software/IT Executives and Practitioners tie their technical excellence to business value for business leaders. (If you missed Part 1 of the series, you can find it here). 

Analogies, when used well, can help everyone hone in on what's important and keep your discussions at a strategic level by providing business value. IT executives "need not understand every aspect of the problem at hand. Rather, they pay attention to select features of it and use them to apply the patterns of the past to the problems of the present," according to an article from HBR.org. 

Personally, the best analogy I have ever leveraged, and have also witnessed other Executives/Practitioners leverage, is the great "homeowner" analogy. If you have ever remodeled or built a new home, the analogy resonates even further. Consider these primary analogy points in connecting the homeowner/construction analogy to software development projects in particular:

• Your home's exterior and interior design and elements can be thought of as the User Interface (an easy-to-visualize investment). Spectacular masonry work and well-coordinated siding colors and trim all give a home an abundance of curb appeal, as do the proper design strategies, styling, colors and fonts for an impressive User Interface!
• Your home's plumbing, electrical and HVAC can be thought of as the Back-End of your software architecture. For example, application and database servers, data access services, business logic, workflow and rules engines, etc., provide the incredibly important software infrastructure on top of which the User Interface can be seamlessly implemented.
• If you've been involved in home remodeling or new construction projects, you'll recognize the project management connection between such home projects and software development projects. If a certain amount of foundation, framing, and plumbing/electrical "rough-in" work needs to be completed as a dependency to further enable the home interior and exterior work, the same analogy holds in software development projects, where software infrastructure items many times are a dependency to further User Interface visual work. This analogy overall helps business leaders understand the intricacies of complex software development project task dependencies, team resource skills, and the mixture of task assignments for executing on an efficient and high quality project.

For communication of the importance of achieving low-defect software development project goals, consider this homeowner analogy: Anyone having experienced a sewer backup or a finicky HVAC system will very much appreciate your investment into an easily maintained and defect-free Back-End software architecture!

Lastly, I'd like to share a related analogy regarding my recent experience with purchasing fireworks for America's Independence Day holiday.  As I entered the massive fireworks store as an inexperienced fireworks buyer, a younger gentleman immediately greeted me and asked if I needed any help in selecting fireworks for purchase. As he quickly dove into many technical fireworks terms, I immediately asked him to define certain terms and provide basic explanations for various products. Apparently the fireworks industry already has fantastic, built-in analogies describing their products - primarily references to trees (e.g. palm tree and weeping willow tree fireworks) and flowering plants (e.g. peony fireworks). These analogies are well-known in the fireworks industry, and they were extremely helpful for a fireworks-buying novice like myself!

Stay tuned for additional technical communication strategies in the forthcoming Part 3 of this series, and throughout 2016, let's work together to highlight technical excellence to business leaders!