When I describe my career, I tend to focus on the tangible stuff. The systems I build, the insights I derive, the efficiencies I create. But I tend to overlook the softer aspects of my work that are often what matter most. Most of all, socialization of projects and education of others in the organization outside my own team.
The assumption is that we toil away on some complex idea, and produce a brilliant solution that (we assume) everyone should appreciate as much as us. Certainly others can see it’s value as clearly as we do, we tell ourselves. The famous sales and marketing misalignment I think is mostly caused by this disconnect. One team believes they’ve got the obvious solution to a problem, but fail to put that solution in terms other teams can relate to or even understand.
If the first problem is not tailoring the message to the audience, then the second mistake is not enough repetition. I used to treat training on a new process as a one-and-done deal, and then would get frustrated by questions whose answers I thought should be obvious to others by now. If feels odd to hear yourself constantly repeating yourself, but to the outside world, it comes off less as repetitive and more as consistent.
“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listing, everything must be said again.” – Andre Gide