
Should a Non-Technical Co-Founder Learn a Language? - erik_p
http://erik.randomdrivel.com/articles/26/should-a-non-technical-co-founder-learn-a-language/?sms_ss=hackernews&at_xt=4dd48742268c8ee8%2C0
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jsavimbi
So basically, they should improve their English and let the developers do the
work.

Not that I'm saying that once one commits to a non-technical role that they
abandon all hope of acquiring technical language skills, but what I am saying
is that unless they're dedicated to learning and using that language 100% of
the time, then they're never going to be a significant contributor to the
product and it'll end up taking away from their contributions to the other
1000 things they're supposed to be doing.

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erik_p
I don't think that's what I meant at all... fwiw. I'm saying working on things
that help them articulate visually their ideas quickly.

The act of learning a bit of HTML/CSS or Rails/PHP/etc makes the non-technical
founder a better non-technical founder, but my suggestion is to focus on tools
that improve the conveyance of ideas/features/etc. _shrug_

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jsavimbi
If taken from the context that the un-technical co-founder will be
conceptualizing, if not creating, the product UI itself, then yes, by all
means, this person should get out of their comfort zone and gather as much
knowledge and learn as many toolsets as they can and in order to at least be
able to transfer their ideas into a visual system of sorts until someone with
the appropriate expertise comes around and implements their vision.

Depending on the level of investment that a company is putting into their UX,
then maybe this approach makes sense if you're going to be trolling the
Craigslists looking for a student who needs to pimp out their portfolio in
exchange for a hot meal, but in all seriousness, treating UX like some low-
hanging fruit that a business person is going to pick up after a couple of
Frontpage tutorials is ludicrous, not to mention downright insulting to anyone
who practices the craft. I believe the same applies to anyone who works in the
middle-tier or back-end. If the non-technical co-founder is smart enough to
partner themselves with a technical person whom they can trust to make the
right technical decisions while sharing responsibility for the costs, then
they won't need to be poking around in the details trying to micromanage
something they have no inkling of understanding, never mind actually
designing, developing, deploying, maintaining, troubleshooting or fixing
should everything go south.

I'll go back to my original premise: learn to communicate well in English,
both in spoken and written form.

A person who can master that will be at an advantage of selling the company's
product, services or team to any client, partner, potential employee or
investor over someone who cannot speak publicly, has grammar issues and spends
their time fucking around with powerpoint-related technologies. Effective
communication starts with language, not toolsets, in my most humble opinion.

~~~
erik_p
While I agree there's definitely more to the holistic experience of UX than
simply designing a UI after "frontpage" tutorials (really now comparing
balsamiq or keynote wireframes to frontpage 101 is a little insulting to those
tools)

A non-technical co-founder doesn't necessarily have to be a business person,
they could be a designer, a product person, or other type of hustler.

The main point I think is show don't tell... there's also no one "right way".
I would think people would use language in addition to pictures.

If it's myself and a technical co-founder sitting in a room, I'm probably
going to use both the white board and my voice to get my idea across.

I'm sorry you got the message from the article and my comments that I think UX
is easy. I know first hand that's a difficult thing to do right (and even then
after you a/b test things you think are right, they turn out to be wrong :P ).

I'm just saying there are some great tools available for expressing yourself.
I wouldn't call anyone cobbling together a song with garage band loops a
necessarily a bonafide serious musician, but I recognize that the barrier to
entry is much lower for expression.

 _shrug_ Maybe I am taking for granted my (self-assigned) proficiency in my
target market's language and treat it is a given...

