“How’s the product looking?”Dog With Tin Can phone

Everyone from the CEO to the Technical Support Analysts wants to know. Learn the dangers for “hallway reporting” and the best responses.

What’s the #1 mistake techies make in communicating with the team and upper management.? We’ve got you covered!

Understand who your audience is, what they need to know (and why) and how to get to the point.

We’ll take a look at written reports and give you a simple, easy to use format. You’ll also learn what makes a report boring and irrelevant.

Got fears that the project is running behind, needs more people or another feature to really be useful? We’ll talk about how to use project data to convey your point to management.

The biggest risk to your project is the fact that your entire team comes from different companies and different educational backgrounds. You may think you are all speaking the same language but behind the words are:

  • Varying expectations
  • Differing definitions of the same term
  • Differing experiences in the same methodology (ie: Agile)

In Communication Skills for Technical People you will learn to:

  • Think like a financial stakeholder in the project. This is the ultimate bottom line.
  • Remove risky assumptions and begin to operate like a business and identify all the inputs andoutputs from your internal clients and vendors including the level of quality of each of the deliverables.
  • Communicate concisely in meetings and in written reports.
  • Easily get the information you need to get your job done and meet your deadlines.

Learning Objectives
  • Explore how to behave in meetings (what to say and what NOT to say)
  • Explore the different audiences you have and what information each one is looking for in order to get their job done
  • Explore how to summarize and get to the point.
  • Discover the memory aids that will help you quickly and easily remember what to say in person,in meetings, in email/weekly reports and in project status reports.
Last updated/reviewed: March 15, 2024
4 Reviews (29 ratings)

Reviews

5
Member's Profile
Jennifer Flaa provide very clear guidance and helpful ways to communicate in a professional/technical setting. I feel that what I have learned will be helpful in my future communications.

5
Anonymous Author
This was well organized, great visuals, very informative and a training that I think was time well spent. There is really nothing I would change.

5
Member's Profile
The course was very insightful and provided perspectives for different roles in the organization.

3
Anonymous Author
Informative and the information was presented in a very relatable state.

Prerequisites
Course Complexity: Foundational
  • No advanced preparation or prerequisites are required for this course.
  • This course assumes that you are working in a software development environment.
  • This course assumes the people on the team are normal, healthy people.
  • This class does not cover how to deal with difficult people.
Education Provider Information
Company: Illumeo, Inc., 75 East Santa Clara St., Suite 1215, San Jose, CA 95113
Contact: For more information regarding this course, including complaint and cancellation policies, please contact our offices at (408) 400- 3993 or send an e-mail to .
Instructor for this course
Course Syllabus
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
  Introduction to Communication Skills For Technical People: Course Teaser00:50
  2 Jenn Flaa's Bio1:14
Inputs & Outputs
  3 How Communication Skills Can Help You Survive A Layoff1:43
  4 The #1 Mistake You Are Making Right Now2:17
  5 The 3 Tools You Need to Fix Your Mistake2:10
  6 The #1 Mistake You Make Talking 1 On 11:38
  7 Be Psychic! Predicting Your Audience11:06
  8 Getting What You Need in 15 Minutes or Less4:35
Verbal Communication
  9 How Chit Chat Can Save Your Job8:28
  10 Chatting Up The Boss2:37
  11 The #1 Mistake You Are Making in Hallway Conversations1:18
  12 Potty Mouth – Dealing with Bathroom Bound Conversations1:37
  13 The Top 6 Ways Verbal Communications Go Bad for Techies10:54
Summarizing
  14 The #1 Skill You Must Have To Succeed In Tech1:57
Meeting Communication
  15 What Your Boss Expects You To Know About How To Behave In Meetings10:11
  16 The 3 Biggest Mistakes You Are Making In Meetings3:51
Reports
  17 Unleash Your Inner Genius With This Report Template2:10
  18 Manager Asked For A Report; What Was Sent Will Shock You6:03
  19 The Hidden Power Behind Reporting Your “Issues”2:43
  20 The One Report That Will Silently Sabotage All Your Relationships3:07
  21 Charts & Graphs – A Quick Look at Project Reports3:20
Deep Dive
  22 Bad Examples You’ve Got To See To Believe5:06
  23 Interpreting Project Data10:34
  24 Using Bugs To Guide You7:25
  25 Using Project Data To Win an Argument1:26
Wrap Up
  26 3 Quick Tips That Will Keep You Sane5:25
  27 10% To Remember1:23
CONTINUOUS PLAY
  Communication Skills For Technical People1:55:08
SUPPORTING MATERIALS
  Course Outline: Communication Skills for Technical People PDF
  Communication Skills for Tech People Worksheet PDF
  Examples: Communication Skills for Technical PeoplePDF
  Templates: Communication Skills for Technical PeoplePDF
  Communication Skills for Tech People REAL Project ReportPDF
  Communication Skills for Tech People Lab AnswersPDF
  Communication Skills for Tech People Glossary/IndexPDF
REVIEW AND TEST
  REVIEW QUESTIONS quiz
 FINAL EXAMexam