
I'm OK, the bull is dead: Communication skills for engineers - rubentopo
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/print/93903/I_m_OK_The_Bull_Is_Dead
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gruseom
Sorry, but this is contrived. One can speak clearly without resorting to a
formula.

The story contradicts itself. The author describes at length the process he
had to go through to decode this supposedly clear communication. The one
person without a vested interest in the formula (his wife) just found it
puzzling and annoying. Besides, it's obvious how to communicate the
information "I've been in an accident, but I'm ok" straightforwardly.

I kept hoping that the story would turn out to be a clever parody of the
father's pet theory by an impudent son. That, as anyone who has been
mercilessly imitated by offspring knows, is what children are made for. But no
such luck.

It reminds me of a book I read years ago by a psychologist who used to insist
that people (including his children) speak in active tenses so as to take
responsibility for things. Instead of saying, "The milk got spilled," one
should say, "I spilled the milk," and so on. He knew he had gone too far when
his 8-year-old came in soaking wet one day and said "Sorry Dad. I guess I
rained all over myself."

This kind of thing appeals to technical people who like algorithms for things
and want algorithms for human interaction. But that's a category error.
Engineers who really want to get better at communication would get further by
paying more attention to their audience (and themselves).

~~~
BrentRitterbeck
_"Sorry Dad. I rained all over myself."_

That's a breakdown in the kid's/family's communication. It is simple to say,
"I walked in the rain." It conveys the exact same piece of information--I'm
wet because it was raining outside, and I was outside without something to
keep the rain off of me. There are numerous other ways to say the same thing
without sounding backwards.

~~~
gruseom
Sure. But I think the point was that the father realized that he had
overemphasized a linguistic device at the expense of a general principle. He'd
got his 8-year-old into a state of clueless, if not malicious, compliance,
which didn't serve the real goal. (In fact, it often backfires, because people
will instinctively resist anything that inhibits their freedom.)

By the way, using active instead of passive language really does change one's
thinking and foster responsibility. I've found it to yield pretty rich
rewards, and the whole subject is fascinating. Similarly, beginning a status
meeting with a one-sentence summary, then proceeding to details, can be quite
effective. But when people focus on the trick rather than the substance, it
doesn't work anymore. And the OP is an example of that. A car accident is not
a status meeting.

~~~
scott_s
The phone call reporting it is. I imagine his son put in the "bull is dead"
bit to be funny - which it was. But when I've had to make similar phone calls,
I always start with "I'm okay, but..." It tells the person on the other end
the most important thing first: I'm okay.

~~~
pbhj
I never start a conversation with my mother like "I've been in an accident
...", if you're cut off then she'd go psycho and be needing tranqs. As the
parent said "We're all OK but ...".

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scott_s
Best presentation advice I've heard: put your conclusions first. People zone
out after five minutes if they're not interested. Tell people up front what
you want them to take away from the talk. Then, even if they fall asleep,
they'll know what you did - just not how you did it.

This _is_ in an academic setting, by the way, and that advice was given from
the chair of my department to someone in my research group who was prepping
for an interview talk at a government lab.

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huhtenberg
I feel like I was tricked into reading an Oprah magazine article.

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nico
I liked the story. I remembered my grandfather (a very successful engineer)
once told me I should take acting classes or something that would force me to
address an audience and communicate something in a way the audience would
understand. He then explained to me that engineers are usually not taught how
to communicate things effectively, and how this can make a big difference in
trying to accomplish your objectives in life.

~~~
angstrom
I've oft thought that was the failing of most college programs. You're asked
to show all your work, but rarely is the explanation for your decisions given
nearly as much weighting as the actual outcome and how you got there. In
reality is what you actually learned.

Switch over to the real world where 'cheating' becomes 'teamwork' and problems
are discovered rather than verbosely outlined. Communication becomes the face
of your reputation. While the ability to deliver may be the heart, no one can
see it without closer inspection.

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sharpn
Surely it should be: 'I'm OK, but I've been in a car accident'? Then maybe
mention the bull.

~~~
petercooper
That doesn't fit the "conclusion first" advice that makes sense to clarify a
situation. Problem is, an irrelevant conclusion was chosen. A better
alternative following the advice would be something like "I'm OK but the car
is wrecked."

~~~
sharpn
I agree that's a better phrase based on the rules, but stating what happened
('car crash') rather than the result ('car is wrecked') conveys more
information (ie. why 'I' am not already home). Either works though.

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PonyGumbo
I know Gopal (and Raj). This is an old, old story, but I get a kick out of it
every time I hear it.

~~~
sanj
Do you know what the story behind the bull is?

~~~
PonyGumbo
I don't know much more than the story as it's told, just that Raj was driving
past a farm late at night and hit a bull that had somehow escaped. It wasn't a
head-on collision, but it was enough to kill the bull and wreck his car.

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rubentopo
This was shared by a co-worker due to a problem i had at work, the business
and engineers speak a very different language...anyway, the article has proven
useful many, many times for me, hope you guys like it.

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calcnerd256
Maybe he should follow the style himself when writing the article about it.
The punchline should almost stand alone by itself. It shouldn't say, "Hey,
audience, now you have to listen to the rest of this to understand what I
meant." "The bull is dead," is a very provocative clause that leaves the
audience scrambling for (irrelevant) context.

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BrentRitterbeck
This reminds me of a business case study done during my undergrad days. I
don't remember the finer details of the study, but I remember the lesson. The
case study was basically a company that had screwed up royally. We were not
given much of any hints as to what needed to be done. Most people, including
myself, went about creating huge forecasts for trying to solve a problem that
really couldn't be solved. We were all wrong. The lesson of the case study was
this: Sometimes the only answer is to admit that something has gone wrong,
stay calm, severe ties to the project, understand what went wrong, and go
about things with what you have left. This is one of the most important things
I learned in business school.

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snowbird122
As a project manager managing multiple projects, I often need status updates
from my team. I find that without a standard structure, people often fail to
convey the most important information. I ask my team to report status in the
following manner: 1\. Of the things that were expected to be done at this
point, what is not done? 2\. What other deliverables are in danger of not
being done in time? 3\. What is being done about items in #1 and #2 4\. Of the
things that were expected to be done at this point, what is done?

I'd love to receive feedback about this process. What has worked for you?

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logjam
All the academic writing I produce and read begins with a conclusion, in the
abstract.

