This document provides an outline for a presentation on communication skills for engineering project teams. The presentation covers topics such as communication challenges in engineering projects, basic concepts of technical communication using models like the sender-receiver model, causes of communication failures and how to address them, and challenges of communicating across cultures. It also discusses techniques for effective writing, PowerPoint presentations, and localization of information for international audiences.

1. Communication skills
for engineering project teams
Steve Dyson
www.sdc-language.com

2. Steve Dyson
 Technical communicator
and translator
to French high-technology companies:
 space (CNES, Alcatel, etc.)
 satellite-based imagery and remote sensing (Spot
Image, CNES, Istar, etc.)
 naval defence (DCN, Thales, Armaris, etc.).
2

3.  Consultant on major technical documentation
and translation projects for:
 French space agency CNES
 French naval prime contractor DCN.
3

4. Outline
1. Communication in engineering projects
 Communications-critical phases
2. Technical communication: Basic concepts
 Sender/receiver model
 Audience-centred communication
 Tips (writing, PowerPoint, etc.)
2. Communication failures + responses
3. Localization & catalogues
4

5. Communication in
engineering projects

6. Communications challenges faced
by engineering teams
Two main types of comms challenges:
 Presentations to team members and others with
engineering backgrounds.
 Presentations to non-engineers.
Engineer/presenter typically aims to:
 "Sell" the project or key concepts.
 Provide engineering input for high-level
presentations by senior project managers
to clients, investors, authorities, etc.
6

7. First critical steps
• Assess the importance of each presentation or
writing task
• Tailor response to the challenge:
– The more critical the task,
the more effective the document or presentation
should be,
and the bigger the communication effort.
A major effort will involve applying the
lessons learned today and more …
7

8. Technical communication:
Basic concepts

9. Technical communication:
Basic concepts:
 Sender/receiver model
 Audience-centred communication
9

10. Basic sender/receiver
communication model

11. Message encoding/decoding
sender sends information receiver
feelings, experience,
experience,
feelings,
history, history,
expectations,
expectations,
fears fears

13. Presentation skills
– Body language
Posture, eyes, etc.: 55%
– Voice
Tone, inflection, etc.: 38%
– Content: 7%
– Language skills & accent
Not included in this study.
– Study by Prof. Albert Mehrabian, University of Ca.,
STC "Technical Communication", Nov. 2000, p605
13

14. Audience
Communication is easiest between:
• people with similar backgrounds and training
• people who are used to working together.
14

15. Audience
It is more difficult:
• between departments (design, marketing, etc.)
• between people with different backgrounds,
languages, etc.
• for multidisciplinary, multi-department and
engineering project teams.
15

16. Audience-centred communication
• Focus on what your audience wants to know
and questions they want answered,
_not_ what you want to tell them.
• Tell them what you're going to say, say it
(no more than three main points), then tell
them what you've just said.
• Use rhetorical devices, including parallel
structures and repetition.
16

17. Reader-centred writing
• Focus on what readers want to know
and questions they want answered,
_not_ what you want to tell them.
• Provide navigation devices.
• Consider "Information Mapping":
– courses now available in Portugal.
17

18. Focus on:
– Readers’ information needs
– Readers’ technical knowledge
– Readers’ language skills
– Readers’ attitudes
– The time they are likely to spend reading your
document.
18

19. Unlearning …
Unlearning … things you thought you knew
and others you learnt at school/university.
Reader-centred writing is radically different from:
• explaining to teachers, who already know
• writing at least X pages
• showing that you know how to use
sophisticated language
• avoiding (at all cost) repetition of words.
19

20. Answer readers’ likely questions
• Start by playing devil’s advocate:
– Why should I read this?
– Where does this information come from?
– Which are the most important parts?
– What am I expected to do next?
– What does the competition have to say?
• What details or facts are your readers hoping
to learn?
20

21. Drafting tips

22. Making lists
Lists are:
– shorter than running text
– easier to write and understand,
especially if you use parallel structure.
Use parallel structure, i.e., begin with:
– verb (infinitive or conjugated; imperative, other)
– gerund
– noun (less powerful).
(See also : saywhatyoumean.com/html/readingroom21.html)
22

23. Keep It Short and Simple (KISS)
• Aim for an average sentence length of 17-21
words
But vary the pattern:
medium, long, short, short, medium,
short, long, medium, short, medium
• Maximum: 30 words, except in lists
23

24. KISS
• Remove unnecessary prepositions
– in the region of --> about
– as a means to --> to
• Remove other unnecessary words
– complete monopoly
– rectangular in shape
– . . . the dusting problem . . .
– these instruments have a marked tendency to drift
24

25. KISS: short, simple words
• Prefer Anglo-Saxon to Latinate words:
– accelerate --> speed up
– fabricate --> make
– frequently --> often
– principal --> main
– utilize --> use
– should it prove
to be the case that --> if
25

26. KISS: Action in verbs
• Put the action into a verb
– we made an application --> we applied
– it provides a summary of --> it summarizes
– . . . the addition of talc is done in two steps
--> Talc is added in two steps
– We have a lot of knowledge of . . .
--> We know a lot about . . .
26

27. KISS: Examples
– Commence inspection of the facility upon
completion of the final stage -->
Inspect the building after the final stage
– A reduction in the quantity of the data by a factor of
two results in a corresponding enhancement of the
capabilities of the system -->
Halving the amount of data makes the program
run twice as fast
27

28. • In recent years the traditional brick sector has
adopted new technologies that have resulted in
higher productivity levels and are better able to
meet the requirements of modern architecture
in terms of product quality and diversity.
--> In the traditional brick sector, new
technologies have increased productivity,
product quality and architectural variety.
28

29. Ladder of abstraction
• Anglo-Saxons often prefer words low on the
ladder of abstraction
• Latins often prefer words higher up the ladder.
R e s o u rc e s
H a rd w a re S o ftw a re
C o m p u te rs … … … … … …
M ic r o c o m p u te rs W o r k s ta tio n s … …
29

30. Writing PowerPoint slides

31. Steps and tips
1. Select a plain, easy-to-read template
2. Go to Options/Edit:
Deselect "Auto-fit text to text placeholders"
3. Consider using Word in Outline mode,
then importing Word Outline into PPT
4. Follow advice of Office Assistant
5. Apply 6x6 rule: 6 lines, 6 words each
6. Use bulleted points with parallel construction.
31

32. PowerPoint: Limitations
Be aware, however, that PowerPoint also has
severe limitations.
As Edward Tufte says:
"The problem with bullet points is that they can only
represent the simplest relationships between things.
They're good for making laundry lists or describing
step-by-step procedures. The problem is that
information is usually much more complex."
More at: saywhatyoumean.com/html/readingroom25.html
32

33. Communications failures
and responses

34. Communications failures
• Who's responsible?
– Sender:
Virtually every time
– Receiver:
Hardly ever!!
... and even if he/she is responsible,
what point would there be to saying so?
34

35. Responses to failure:
Review presentation with:
• carefully selected member of audience
• someone from outside your organization
• someone unfamiliar with the subject.
35

36. Review resources and strategies:
• Choose a different presenter
• Call in an outside specialist
• Learn how to speak better in public
36

37. Repeated challenges
Team facing repeated communication
challenges should consider:
• developing standard procedures
possibly even standard forms, templates, etc.
• studying how others handle these challenges:
– internet searches
– external consultants
37

38. Is the problem cross-cultural?
Did communication failure involve:
• more than one nationality?
• different cultural or sociocultural groups?
• several corporate cultures?
If so, research cross-cultural communication
issues or call in a specialist.
Jody Jakob (jody.jakob@netcabo.pt) is one such
specialist based in Portugal.
38

39. Cultural differences

40. Culture: What is it?
• “The collective programming of the mind which
distinguishes the members of one group or
category from those of another.”
– Geert Hofstede
• “A learned, shared, compelling, interrelated set
of symbols whose meanings provide a set of
orientations for members of society.”
– Terpstra & David
40

41. Characteristics:
What all have in common
All cultural traits are:
 Prescriptive, i.e. they define what a particular
group considers to be acceptable
 Learned, not genetic
 Dynamic: Interactive relationship between
behaviour and culture
 Subjective: Meanings vary by culture
41

42. Cultural differences _do_ exist!
Cultural studies and their impact on good
business are also increasingly popular,
witness these TV advertisements by anglo-
Asian banking group HSBC.
42

45. Geert Hofstede's model
1. Power distance
2. Individualism vs.
collectivism
3. Femininity vs.
masculinity
4. Uncertainty avoidance
5. Long-term vs.
short-term orientation
45

46. Power distance
The extent to which the less powerful members
of an organization (in a given culture) expect
and accept that power is distributed unequally.
46

47. Individualism vs. collectivism
Individualism = degree to which individuals are
integrated into groups.
• An individualistic society has loose ties
between individuals, i.e. everyone is expected
to look after him/herself and his/her family.
• Collectivistic society has in-groups (with
strong, cohesive ties between individuals from
birth) which protect their members in exchange
for unquestioning loyalty.
47

48. Masculinity vs. femininity
• Masculinity = assertiveness
• Femininity = caring
– Masculinity/femininity refers to the distribution of
roles between the genders, a fundamental issue for
any society.
• Women in 'feminine' countries have about the same
modest, caring values as the men.
• Women in 'masculine' countries are somewhat assertive
and competitive, but not as much as the men (hence a gap
between men's values and women's values).
48

49. Uncertainty avoidance
Uncertainty avoidance deals with a society's
tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity; it
ultimately refers to man's search for Truth.
49

50. Long- vs. short-term orientation
• Deals with Virtue regardless of Truth.
• Values associated with long-term orientation
are thrift and perseverance
• Values associated with short-term orientation
are respect for tradition, fulfilling social
obligations, and protecting one's 'face'.
50

51. Low- vs. high-context cultures
Individualism/collectivism is related to
Edward T. Hall’s idea of
low- and high-context cultures:
 Individualist cultures tend to be low-context
 Collectivist cultures tend to be high-context.
51

52. • Low-context communication:
the mass of information is explicit.
• High-context communication:
little has to be said or written because most of
the information is in the physical environment
or within the person.
52

53. Examples of impact on writing
 More formal style expected in high power
distance cultures
 More explicit information expected in low-
context, individualist cultures
 Inductive + deductive mix often suitable in low
power distance, individualist cultures.
53

54. "Localization" problem
(Internet catalogues, etc.)
Terminology for web sites

55. Moulinex calls it ...
presse-agrumes (FR)
citrus press (EN)
Zitruspresse (DE)
citruspers (NL)
spremiagrumi (IT)
citruspressere (DA)
exprimidor (ES)
espremedor de citrinos (PT)
sitruspressen (NO)
citruspress (SV)
sitruspusertimen (FI)
55

56. Search statistics (English)
AltaVista normal mode (10/04/01):
• lemon squeezer: 987
• orange juicer: 193
• citrus press: 151
• orange squeezer: 94
AltaVista advanced mode (10/04/01):
• "orange squeezer" + Moulinex: 0
56

57. Search results (English)
AltaVista "image search" (10/04/01):
• citrus press: 3
• lemon squeezer: 2
• orange squeezer: 2
• orange juicer: 2
57

58. Internet catalogues
English-language section
needs to be indexed
using at least:
lemon squeezer, orange
squeezer, orange juicer,
citrus juicer, citrus press, ...
Question is: How?
58

59. META tags
How can one add synonyms, variants, etc. to
Internet catalogues, etc.?
Solution: HTML META tags ... containing
invisible keywords, that are recognized and
indexed by certain search engines.
Same applies to typos.
(Think about spelling of destinations offered by a
travel agency.)
59

60. Information Mapping®
What is it?

61. Information Mapping
• Information Mapping® is a methodology for
analysing, organizing, and presenting
information based on the audience's needs and
the purpose of the information.
• All information is presented in specially
formatted "maps" comprising "chunks".
61

62. Information Mapping
– Information Mapping
(in Portuguese) by Formedia
http://www.formedia.pt/
– Information Mapping in Europe
http://www.imap.dk/
62

63. On-line resources: General
• Online writing course (in English):
http://www.me.vt.edu/writing/
• Online diploma course in technical writing (in
English):
http://www.cpit.ac.nz/splashpages/techwrit/
• STC (Society for Technical Communication)
http://www.stc.org/
63

64. On-line resources: writing, etc.
• Writing resources for engineers, etc.:
http://www.ecf.toronto.edu/~writing/resources.htm
• On-line English grammar:
www.edunet.com/english/grammar/
• Writing mission statements:
– "The Mission Primer, Four Steps to an Effective
Mission Statement"
www.erols.com/rdoh/4steps.html
64

65. On-line resources
On-line learning:
– On-line technical writing courses:
http://www.online-learning.com/
– On-line writing tips:
http://saywhatyoumean.com/
65

66. On-line resources
Tips on presentation skills:
– http://lorien.ncl.ac.uk/ming/Dept/Tips/present/present.htm
Tips on using PowerPoint:
– http://www.communicateusingtechnology.com/pptworkscd.htm
66

67. On-line resources
PowerPoint Is Evil
or Power corrupts.
PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.
at http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html
An alternative view by Edward Tufte,
Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Computer
Science and Statistics, and Graphic Design at Yale,
and author of "The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint".
See http://www.edwardtufte.com
67

68. Roundup
1. Communication in engineering projects
 Communications-critical phases
2. Technical communication: Basic concepts
 Sender/receiver model
 Audience-centred communication
 Tips (writing, PowerPoint, etc.)
2. Communications failures + responses
3. Localization & catalogues
68