9. The writing's on the wall

Career stage: Only after 5 years of military experience, and 10 years into my IT career, did I become confident enough to jump into action on the whiteboard. In fact, it almost became the only way I could have a technical conversation because I wanted to ensure my audience (1 person or many) were on the same page of understanding and could follow along with my train of thoughts. There are many other tools you can turn to; it all depends on the situation and the type of message you need to convey.

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Challenge: There are a few reasons why I favor the simple diagram over long complex text in a document:

1. When studying a new topic such as Developer Security, or Quantum Computers, I am initially faced with the daunting task of reading and understanding a lot of information and talking to some extremely knowledgeable experts. It is certainly a privilege to do this, however it can very quickly become overwhelming and easy to lose track of what I know, and more importantly what I do not know, yet. To help me keep track of all the different aspects, I draw them out in a mind-map. As I learn more, I can group and simplify, add additional context, and start to shape how I might retell the lessons I learnt.
2. When it comes to sharing your ideas, how do you tell the story of a deep technical and complex issue, to an audience that is a mix of technology experts and non-technical business experts??- Yes, use a diagram!
3. The intent is to start as simple as possible, to build up the core components, and add additional context until we get to the real talking points that the audience needs to address. Show any gaps, highlight anything that is interesting, and leave room for the group to contribute to the ideas shown so far.

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As we have covered in this series so far, and will do in the next few posts, a good diagram can be the difference between successful communication and complete misunderstanding. Over time I have experimented with many ways to draw, I'm no artist, but there is something tactile about the act of putting a few marks together and starting to reveal something that was only in your imagination. I encourage you to try a few of these options and see what works for you:

• One of the first recommendations is to carry a notebook or writing device with you everywhere. Once you start to think in diagrams, you never know when the next spark of inspiration might come to you. Sketch out the basic ideas, write lists of components to add later, and a few boxes with lines linking your ideas. If you don't like wasting paper there are modern and inexpensive options like temporary electronic writing boards (see image 1 as an example), or notebooks with wipeable pages that come with a mobile app to automate the capture and storage of each page (Rocket Book). Otherwise, you might use digital tablet or the immensely popular device by Remarkable (it’s on my wish list).

• If you see a good diagram in use, take a picture or a screen shot of it and add it to a catalogue of ideas (upload to a specific folder in OneDrive is the easiest way). This is a great way to get inspiration from other great story tellers, such as Mark Simos, and build your own story based on your favorite topic and area of expertise.

• If you are regularly in meeting rooms where you may get to use a whiteboard, carry your own dry board markers and have a selection of strong colors to help differentiate your talking points. Most meeting rooms I've ever been in have either lost their markers, or they have dried up. They may have just one color, or worst case, and it happens a lot, someone puts a permanent marker in the room, near the whiteboard! - use your own so you are ready to go whatever the situation. You may also be bold and write on any wipeable surface (be careful) - some meeting rooms include entire walls to write on, whilst others have plenty of glass which can be used as a drawing surface. These options allow for extended sessions where a single board just isn't big enough

• If you have the budget and considering upgrades for your home office or work offices, there are a few great options from the Microsoft Surface team to consider that will enhance group collaboration even if your teams can not be in the same room. By using the Microsoft Whiteboard app, these devices are designed to enhance the experience and provide great productivity tools:

Surface Laptop Studio is portable and the screen tilts and allows use of the built-in pen to draw and sketch at an agronomical angle.

Surface Studio 2+ is a desktop system with a much larger screen for professional graphics designers, but just as useful for a novice like us.

Surface Hub 2 is a wall mounted, or portable stand mounted, large screen interactive display that allows you to write directly on as if it were a large whiteboard.

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• I've mentioned the Microsoft Whiteboard app already, this is available on all common platforms. Microsoft Visio is my next go-to option for creating the most complex diagrams that might span large areas, I can keep adding more without running out of space. Both options are great to create complex ideas and especially when you don't know how big it might end up, however eventually you need to either collaborate with others, or simplify and use in a presentation to your audience. For this purpose, I now favor using PowerPoint for diagrams.

Microsoft PowerPoint is a great documentation tool, it is not limited to only creating the kinds of inspirational presentations you might see on a TED talk, or the most boring list of bullet-points and small text you might find in your next business meeting. PowerPoint not only has most of the components needed to create great diagrams and animation, but it can be worked on by multiple people, easily shared internally and externally, and eventually may end up on a projector as the backdrop to your own TED talk.

There are alot of choices, and within a given week I probably use a bit of each one. Here is an example of how one of my diagrams started and ended:

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Step 1: I recently thought about how the integration of OpenAI will be used in the near future, especially its use to enhance security capabilities for expert defenders. I started by using my sketch pad to map out the key areas that would be included in explaining this to someone else:

Step 2: With this quick idea mapped out, I moved into PowerPoint to create a better structure of the key points. It is a bit of a longer process but a nicer finish and an easier way to include text (my handwriting has never been a strong skill). Instead of using straight square edges, I opted for a unique style to keep it looking like it might have been hand drawn. In this version of the diagram, I started to think about the major components I need to communicate, which all centered around the human expert at the center of the conversation:

Step 3: Whilst the first and second versions of the diagram don't look the same, it’s the thought process that mattered. The real story I was exploring is just how and where AI could be implemented to provide new insights, context, and learning opportunities:

Since drawing this diagram, Microsoft has announced their plans to create the Microsoft Security Copilot. The details in my diagram have nothing to do with this, but it will be interesting to see how close or far off I was between my thinking and the result of the product as it takes shape.

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What I Learnt: Whilst not every audience will immediately get the point of your diagram, it is easier to talk about it in more detail and gain mutual understanding, than using words alone. Once you gain feedback on what you have drawn, you can make iterative changes to improve and incorporate new messaging.

Regardless of your artistic capabilities, have a go and start creating. Use the tools that work best for you, and if you can enlist the help of an expert, your ideas will give them a head start to create something even better.

Join me next time for a much less technical conversation about email, would you like to get your "Inbox 2 Zero?"