Communication for Engineers

Being able to communicate effectively is one of the most crucial life skills to learn. Through communication, we transfer information to produce a greater shared understanding. Communication is multi-faceted. You can share information verbally or through written media, such as books, websites, and documents. You can enrich your communication visually using graphs, charts, images, and maps. Finally, you can complement the message with non-verbal communication such as body language, gestures, tone, and voice pitch.As software engineers, we care a lot about our code. It defines us. We study the programming languages we use in great detail. We become experts in the tools we deploy. We argue with other engineers who are not using the same editors we use. In college, we learn how to write compilers. We learn multiple programming languages, frameworks, and design patterns. A large majority of our formal education draws our focus on these technical topics. We see the same in informal discussions between software engineers.However, "softer" skills get less attention. Some examples: How to collaborate, how to achieve consensus on an idea, how to articulate our thoughts, how to make meetings effective, and how to listen to others. The more senior you become, the larger your scope of influence, and the less you can communicate effectively just by talking with others.Stand-ups, planning meetings, and peer programming sessions all have their physical limits. This effect applies to you sooner than you think. At that point, you need to pivot to asynchronous communication: you need to switch to writing. Those who can write well suddenly have a significant advantage. Through well-written communication, your words and thoughts can influence hundreds or even thousands of people.If writing is a superpower, I am not sure what we would call reading. Perhaps, a hyperpower. To become excellent at writing, you need to read a lot. Reading provides you with... Dedication Acknowledgements Foreword Chapter 1 Why this Book? Five Keys To a Successful Team The Communication Process Chapter 2 Outline The Structure of this Book Foundation Things People Impact What this book is not about How to Use this Book Chapter 3 Branding Who are you? Your Elevator Pitch Shaking Hands Name and Face Blindness Being your True Self Audience Chapter 4 Interaction Human Needs The Value of Networks The Dunbar Number Collaboration Disagreements How to Talk to People Giving Compliments Chapter 5 Emotions Emotional Intelligence Self-awareness Self-regulation Motivation Empathy Social Skills So many Skills to Master Chapter 6 Documents Types of Documents Document Structure Collaborating with Documents Document Organization Concise Documents Use Case: Design Documents Use Case: Team Onboarding Docs Chapter 7 Tickets Ticket Types Bug Reports Feature Requests Tickets == Communication Become a Ticketing Pro Chapter 8 Code Clean Code Readability Committing Code Code Reviews Demo your Code Chapter 9 Emails Best use for Emails Getting Responses to Emails Inbox Zero Setting the Right Tone Use an Email Signature Email as Workflow Tooling The Problem With Robot Emails Use case: Site Newsletter Chapter 10 Chats Productive Chats Chat is not a System of Record Chat is not a Workflow Tool Chat Etiquette Emotional Chats Chapter 11 Reading Reading is a Superpower An Experiment Typesetting Amazon Narrative Meetings Chapter 12 Writing Writing versus Execution How to Write Well How to Sound Literate Use Proper Grammar Writing Opportunities Blog Writing Storytelling Chapter 13 Planning Objectives and Key Results Effective Planning Standup Chapter 14 Meetings Meeting Productivity Taxonomy of Meetings Skip The Meeting Find Alternatives to Meetings Meeting Rules The Perfect Meeting Duration Make It A Tesla Meeting Video Conferencing Zoom Fatigue Chapter 15 Presenting The Ideal Talk Presentation Structure The Ideal Slide Speaker Training Sharing your Screen Camera Techniques Presenting is Exciting Chapter 16 Stakeholders Who are your Stakeholders? Stakeholder Management Collaborating with Stakeholders Chapter 17 Interviewing An Interview is Communication As an Interviewer Communicating as an Interviewer As a Candidate Communicating as a Candidate Show Interest in the Company Topics to avoid The Ideal Interview Candidate Chapter 18 Learning How to learn The Science behind Learning Accelerating your Learning Chapter 19 Growing Productivity Setting Personal Growth Goals Self Evaluation Giving Feedback Receiving Feedback Procrastination One-on-One Meetings Mentoring Chapter 20 Ranking Yourself Intermediate Communicator Experienced Communicator Advanced Communicator Conclusions Footnotes Copyright Title Page Dedication Contents Chapter 1: ‘I’m thinking’ – Oh, but are you? Chapter 2: Renegade perception Chapter 3: The Pushbacker sting Chapter 4: ‘Covid’: The calculated catastrophe Chapter 5: There is no ‘virus’ Chapter 6: Sequence of deceit Chapter 7: War on your mind Chapter 8: ‘Reframing’ insanity Chapter 9: We must have it? So what is it? Chapter 10: Human 2.0 Chapter 11: Who controls the Cult? Chapter 12: Escaping Wetiko Postscript Appendix: Cowan-Kaufman-Morell Statement on Virus Isolation Bibliography Index