What do you do if non-technical stakeholders struggle to understand complex technical concepts?

This issue has different angles to approach it. The first question is what the stakeholders need to know about the technical concept? In other words, how does this technical concept impact the outcome? It will change the quality, or the cost, or the efficiency, or what else? In large projects not all the stakeholders are technical people, but their interest is focused on the result. So, connecting the concept to the result is a fantastic way of maintaining them connected to the importance of the concept

Improving communication with non-technical personnel starts at the beginning of the project: there must be a simplified model of the product or process to be developed, its "why", and which advantages it will bring to the organization. After understanding the value, during the development process, ideally there should be simplified and "translated" versions of the product or process that are evolved as the project progresses. One way to do this is to always have a slide summarizing in simplified language what the project is dealing with at that specific moment.

I find it helpful to use AI to assist me in explaining a technical concept to my audience. Here are three examples of prompts I would use: 1. "Explain application scalability to a marketing person using the analogy of a popular restaurant that struggles to serve a sudden influx of customers during a festival." 2. "Explain application scalability to a finance person by likening it to a company facing budgeting constraints adjusting it's cash flows to meet peak demands efficiently." 3. "Explain application scalability to a HR person by comparing it to the challenges of quickly hiring many employees to meet an increase in project demands." Remember, the more context you provide the AI, the better it can help you tailor the message!

The best way is to create trust. Trying to make a layperson understand expert knowledge is practically impossible. Give them reasons to believe you.

Speaking the stakeholders’ language is essential when explaining complex technical concepts. Using terms and analogies from their field can make the information more relatable and accessible. For instance, when discussing databases with finance professionals, compare them to a financial ledger. Just as financial ledgers organize and track transactions for accurate reporting and decision-making in finance, databases organize and store data for efficient retrieval and analysis in software. Analogies like these bridge the gap between technical and non-technical worlds, making concepts more understandable to stakeholders.

I like to use interactive, visual aids to first establish a common level of abstraction and then listen to what stakeholders think is important. Sometimes a visual interesting map is used that inspires stakeholders to share their knowledge and experience and sometimes it can be a playful schema that fills during the discussion. It is important not to calculate anything at this stage and not to use any technical maps for instance. You can lose stakeholders who do not understand the specific information or results. Once the most important aspects and issues on the topic are mentioned and responded to by the stakeholders, the engineers can start working, but always show and explain how they incorporated the collective view of the stakeholders.

When all else fails, analogies can come in handy when attempting to convey complex technical information. Take for example electronic parallel/series circuits. A nicely formulated analogy to water pipes will allow laymen to get a working grasp at electron behavior and help them "intuitively" predict circuit flow.

Auxílios visuais, como diagramas, fluxogramas ou infográficos, s?o ótimas ferramentas para explicar informa??es técnicas complicadas. Eles ajudam a tornar conceitos abstratos mais claros e fáceis de entender. Por exemplo, um fluxograma pode mostrar como os dados se movem em um sistema, destacando cada etapa do processo. Isso é especialmente útil quando descrever tudo verbalmente seria muito complicado. Lembre-se: uma imagem vale mais que mil palavras, especialmente ao simplificar coisas técnicas.

Visual aids are always helpful to elucidate different technical aspects like systems, ther interaction, direction of data flow and sequence of actions. Non technical stakeholders especially like to get the high level view of what is exactly happening.

After spending my career communicating with engineers, I have been on the side of learning their language and the technical complexities they solve. What helped me understand was to ask questions and repeat back to them what I'm hearing. It helps me and helps them. I then put it in layman's terms and see how that resonates with them. This is very helpful in presentations, emails, proposals, and employee communications. Working with brilliant technical people is very rewarding. What is more rewarding is finding a way to simplify their messaging so that an entire audience can understand.

Nothing is difficult to understand if it's explained correctly. Example: Imagine you have a toy robot that you can control with buttons. The buttons tell the robot what to do - move forward, turn left, or stop. A PLC is like a super smart version of those buttons. Instead of just pressing buttons, you can program it to do specific tasks.

I agree with Bonnie Blueford. A wise engineer once told me that to effectively communicate with a person without your background is to be able to talk to them in their own language. Each field has its own jargon and way to communicate. To be effective you need to know enough of their language to be able to describe your point of view. It also helps to communicate with examples that everyone can understand, without talking down to them. A condescending attitude will loose your audience immediately. A little kindness and humor will go a long way.

Para ajudar seu público a entender conceitos complexos, é importante introduzi-los gradualmente, em pequenos passos, para evitar sobrecarregá-los. Comece com as ideias fundamentais antes de abordar os aspectos mais complicados. Por exemplo, ao explicar o ciclo de vida do desenvolvimento de software, comece com o planejamento e a coleta de requisitos antes de entrar em detalhes sobre a implanta??o e a manuten??o. Dessa forma, você respeita o ritmo de aprendizado das pessoas e torna as informa??es mais fáceis de entender.

The most important thing in this situation is to try and break the complexity of the problem to its simpler forms for them to understand, because if they don't they might be reluctant to support. If possible, use simple practical situations whereby the articulation of the problem will be simple to everyone. Give them the platform to ask questions, so that you will also have the opportunity to break down everything to its terms. If you get the management to understand and see things your way, it will help speed up the process of improvements. Lastly, show them the benefits after everything has been done or improved because of of the management staff, want to know about the expected outcome, which will be good for the organization.

Contar histórias é uma ótima maneira de tornar conceitos técnicos mais acessíveis. Compartilhe histórias ou exemplos de casos reais que mostrem como uma tecnologia funciona ou como ela impactou outros projetos. Isso faz com que o conceito seja mais fácil de entender e mostra sua utilidade no mundo real. Por exemplo, contar como uma atualiza??o de software ajudou a melhorar a eficiência em outro projeto pode ajudar as pessoas a entenderem os benefícios e a se interessarem mais pelo assunto.

I always like to start from a common place of understanding so everyone in the meeting can get onbaord and then be able to get the abstract concept as we go deeper and deeper. this will help them focus on their area of concern and reach out for solutions.

Incentive as partes interessadas a fazer perguntas. Um ambiente onde perguntas s?o encorajadas e respondidas de forma completa ajuda a resolver mal-entendidos rapidamente. Aproveite para esclarecer dúvidas e dar explica??es detalhadas quando necessário. Essa comunica??o bidirecional n?o apenas ajuda na compreens?o, mas também constrói confian?a entre membros técnicos e n?o técnicos da equipe.

Após explicar, é importante acompanhar para garantir que todos tenham entendido. Isso pode ser feito com conversas, e-mails ou sess?es de perguntas e respostas. Revisitar os conceitos ajuda a refor?ar a compreens?o e esclarecer confus?es. Mostra comprometimento com a comunica??o eficaz e o envolvimento das partes interessadas.

Está demás decir que para que la implementación de un producto altamente tecnificado sea exitoso debe de tener el compromiso y participación de todos los involucrados en el proceso de implementación, stakeholders internos y externos deben de saber no solo como se utiliza en términos generales sino también la complejidad de su implementación y la necesidad de ser rápidos y acertivos cuando se participe en el proceso, sea éste administrativo o de soporte en general. No todos pueden ser expertos en todo pero si pueden entender en líneas generales la importancia de su aporte durante la implementación de un producto. Aprendizaje progresivo y lineamientos de soporte claros con importantes temas a considerar.

Basándome en mi experiencia en la gestión de proyectos de gran envergadura dentro de organizaciones, destaco dos aspectos cruciales: la importancia del lenguaje adecuado y la naturaleza multidisciplinaria de los equipos de proyecto. En primer lugar, el lenguaje utilizado en la comunicación del proyecto es clave para su éxito. El director de proyectos debe emplear un lenguaje accesible y apropiado que facilite la comprensión de todos los implicados, evitando el exceso de tecnicismos y enfocándose en transmitir la información de manera clara y motivadora. Es responsabilidad del director de proyectos garantizar que cada miembro del equipo comprenda claramente su rol, sus responsabilidades y la relevancia de cada contribución.