Word Blind

The line of impatient customers was growing behind him. This was his fourth attempt to get the 4 letters of “cash” in the right order. The bank teller waited patiently. After 4 attempts he gave up, handed over the abused check, and asked for help.? He was pretty sure he had the right letters, just could not assemble them in an order that looked correct. The smiling bank teller took the check and wrote “cash” so it could he could get his money.??

??I thought nothing of it. Imagining this happens to everyone. My girlfriend at the time also worked at that same bank so I got to hear first hand what the teller thought of the imbecile who couldn’t spell cash. Thinking nothing of it I headed back to university for my final year.

In the early-mid 1900s word blind was the term used for people who could not spell. These days we have a much fancier term for the condition, Dyslexia.?Much more is known about the condition though few will admit to having it, unless it is severe.

Word blind is much more descriptive in my opinion. It seems sad that the adopted term is one a dyslexic had no hope of spelling correctly ???

Why should you care??

?It is estimated that 20% of the population is dyslexic, and as high as 30% of software engineers are.?

Why? Because dyslexics make good software engineers.

Here is a quote from the above linked article.?

“I knew early on that my dyslexia made me a very good troubleshooter of electrical equipment and computer code, as I could see the complete system in my mind and visualize the solutions.’ (A successful dyslexic working in industry)”

So if you are managing, especially engineers, it is good to appreciate some of how they think. Because they think differently.? Understanding this a little better can help the best from your dyslexics. It is also important to know their likely limitations.? For example:-

• Do you expect your engineer to communicate, via email, slack, text???
• Are you looking for engineers to present to large groups???
• Is their annual review a written report they have to create?
• Is their next promotion based on a document you have them write?
• Do you expect them to answer questions in an open forum with no prep?
• Perhaps you start your meetings with 10 minutes of silence while everyone reads a document?

I suspect some or all of the above and more are industry norms and in many organizations.

Perhaps you don’t think they understand a problem because their answer sounds like some vision of a distant future, off at a tangent or missing the point.

?Are you putting 20% of your team at a disadvantage and missing out on fresh ideas ?

Some dyslexics can be pretty smart.? Einstein, Eddison and Leanardo Da Vinci are a few among many famous dyslexic.

How will you know they are dyslexic?

You have to look for the signs, because they won’t tell you.? From my experience working at a large organization, about 1% will admit to it. Quite possibly they don’t? even realize they are dyslexic. That’s 1 in 100 that will own up. 1 in 5, perhaps even 1 in 3 for software developers that are actually word blind.? If you have a team of 7, odds are you have at least 1 or 2 on your team. Unless you got rid of them because they couldn’t spell of course ??

How do dyslexics think? The rest of my story

This is just my story, having no idea of how others think. Though I see signs that make me think we have similar thought processes.

As a junior at school I was sent home to rewrite a page of text as no one else could understand my writing.? Back then it didn’t matter to me that all the right letters were in the word, if they were in the right order or if they were well formed.? The shape of the overall word was all I needed to understand my own writing. Forming words well assumes you know the right letters to use in the first place and in what order. That page of homework took me all evening to write, and taught me nothing.

In senior school the English class would discuss a chapter from a book we had to read for homework. I was amazed what the other kids could find to talk about.? I had read every word of the chapter and completely missed huge pieces of the story.? I reread one chapter again and still could not find where the sheep went over the cliff ??

At 20 years of age the bank incident above should have been my biggest clue that I might not think quite like others. I just thought things like this happened to everyone now and then. No big deal.

Think about that for a second. It’s just 4 letters. How hard could it be to get them in the right order?? It still surprises me when I think about it.? Sometimes I don’t even know what the letters are that make up a word I am trying to write.

Fast forward well into my 40s my CEO asked me why I left words out of my sentences. I had no idea that I did. In 40 odd years he was the first person to point it out.?

We worked on approaches to help me improve. These included?

• Writing and waiting (a day or more) before rereading
• Reading every sentence backwards one word at a time to find the missing ones
• Not writing when tired

Note: All of these idea can cause delays to deliveries and possibly missed deadlines - Adjust your expectation accordingly if you are managing dyslexics

Personally I don’t think in words, or pictures. Like the person in the quote above I envision things in my mind. This includes the current specific problem, future predictions, past related and unrelated experiences and more. Translating these concepts into words or diagrams is hard. Translating from thoughts to words is exhausting.? Going the other way, i.e. reading, is equally exhausting. And time consuming, because my reading speeds are slow.? I read last thing at night. It is better than any sleeping pill for me.?

Don't argue with me

Communication can also be frustrating because the ideas in my head don’t translate easily for me to words.? This makes discussions and even open dialog very challenging. I am often surprised and confused by people’s responses to my words, written and spoken. “Why are they responding this way?” What I say is never everything I picture. “What should I have mentioned?” "Why can't they see the bigger picture". By now, of course, the discussion has moved off at a tangent. With people talking fast, more words, to be translated. No gap for me to gather my thoughts and try to translate them back into words for others. Arguing with me, I am told, can be quite frustrating. Quite often I literally have nothing I can translate into words. People ask “What are you thinking?” It can quite literally be nothing and I learned the hard way that “I can’t tell you” or “nothing” are not my best responses ;)?

Ideas for Managers

Some ideas for how to spot and work with dyslexics

Meetings

• They are likely quiet in meetings, and don’t like to have to think and talk in a group unplanned/rehearsed?Invite them to talk though don’t put them on the spot“Do you have any thoughts” ← is good, they can defer“Tell us what you think” ← bad now they are on the spotTake the time to follow up 1:1 afterwards Unfortunately this sounds like a description of most introverts, INTJs. And 90% of engineers are INTJ. So you will need more clues.
• We are not good at typing online notes with everyone watching.?It calls attention to the fact we can’t get letters in the correct order creating stress and a vicious cycle of more word blindness?One team I worked with had the following as a process? - The weekly status report was a shared document with everyone contributing - Each week a different person from the team read out loud the document including? ad hoc comments that were being added in real time.It was easy to spot at least 20% of that team was really not comfy with this process. They likely dreaded their turn as the speaker as I would have. Yes I had a quiet word with the? leader of this team.
• We are not good at reading aloud from a document or book. - Don’t have a process that makes this mandatory - If you see someone stumbling step in then follow up afterwards 1:1 - Don’t have team training or team building sessions that require this type of behavior. So many do when you take notice. It's not team building for 20% of the team
• Written communication - An unusual number of miss spellings is a good clue, especially in the days of spell checkers.?- Lack of prose.? Remember we can barely get the right letters in the right order. Don’t expect Literary MBA accuracy in the writings. (You may laugh though I have worked under such expectations in the past).- Sentences missing words- Sentences that appear to be parts of two separate sentences joined together.- Take the time to work with them to understand their ideas. It won’t all be in the docs they write. If it is, it may seem way off track for the project.- Help them write their reviews, especially if they are to be read by others during a calibration phase. I had a great manager once who could take my random thoughts and shape them into something Shakespeare would have been proud of.- Give them plenty of time to write or read anything Remember it is exhausting and time consuming “I need that report tomorrow” is not going to yield a lot of value from a dyslexic.
• Projects and planning- Make sure they have as big a picture of all aspects of a given problem as possible.?The more inputs the better the results.? Explain not just the what but also the why, the relative priorities and the relative consequences of potential options already considered. Feed the machine. Half baked inputs will lead to half baked resultsI would always try to get to as many meetings as possible. Even if the subject seemed only vaguely related.
• Don’t expect them all to be the next Einstein. They may have an idea worth listening too now and then though :).
• Let them know that you know- Tell them when they are missing words from documents or emails.?? I was in my mid 40s before anyone told me and I was really glad they did. You can simply put it in the form of a non-accusatory question

• Don’tsuggest they buy a dictionary or look words up onlineDyslexia is much more complex than arranging a few letters in the right order. Besides if you have no idea what letters are in the word a dictionary does not help ??Remember it was called word blind for a reason. It’s not just letters that go astray, whole words do too.

Tips for Dyslexics

Here are some things I discovered that have helped me.?

• Own it.? Let people you work with know
• Embrace it.? If you think differently to others that is an advantage to the group or team as a whole. You won’t always be right however a contrary view is always a valuable to ensure a problem has be thought through thoroughly (Now there is a 3 word combination to challenge and dyslexic :) ) ??????
• Remember no one cares, including the CEO,? if you can’t spell Saftey if your idea moves product iteration time from months to a week (yeh that was me in my youth :) )
• Use a spelling and grammar checker.? Young folk today have it easy ??
• Pro tip the best spell checker is Google search. It is the best I have found at anticipating the word you are really looking for even when you don't know the letters.
• Know you common mistakes.? Yep mine is right there in that sentence. I double check for my common mistakes like? “you” and “your” words.
• Give yourself time to think and write or read.
• Don’t write when you are already tired.
• Read at night. Sleep well :)
• Try to memorize the word shapes for popular words. You will know the word is wrong evne if you can’t figure out what order the letters should be in
• Wait before sending or sharing written text. Ideally a week. So that the document is new to you too when you give it one last read through
• Read your key documents and emails backwards, one word at a time, to spot the missing words
• Embrace today’s auto-correct and mis-types.? See, everyone secretly wants to be dyslexic.?
• Write with a pen and paper. It really helps force you to try to figure out words and remember them.
• Get as complete a picture of the problem you are working on as possible. Don’t be afraid to ask broad or tangential questions.? If you can’t “see the complete system” your results will be sub par.? I try to understand not just the what but also the why, the relative priorities and the relative consequences of potential options already considered

So why do I post articles

Am I just masochistic ????

Perhaps, I find the process of translation to and from words exhausting, as with most things, though practice really does help. I don’t expect to win any literary awards. However, if I can help a one or two of the 20%, this article will have been worth it.

?Please feel free to DM me or comment if you would like to understand more or are dealing with dyslexia, or you're just asking for a friend :)? As is typical there is much more in my mind that is written here. Very happy to help anyone manager or dyslexic, or perhaps you are both.