Storytelling for Engineers
Steve Myles
Hewlett-Packard Company
8 September 2012
© Copyright 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.

Overview
Speaker Bio
Something I Wish I’d Learned in School: Storytelling
How to Tell a Story
Benefits of Storytelling
Q&A
Raffle
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Steve Myles
HP Experience
Lead Technical Analyst (Decision Support and Optimization)
(2011 – present)
Operations Research Analyst (2004 – 2011)
Other Experience
Materials Management Coop (Ethicon Inc., 2000)
Education*
MBA (UT Dallas 2012)
BSIE and MSIE (Texas Tech 2002, 2004)
http://about.me/stevemyles
Certification
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Engineer in Training – Texas *I didn’t go to UH, but my wife did.

Something I Wish I’d Learned in
School: Storytelling
© Copyright 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.

Something I Wish I’d Learned in School: Storytelling
There is more to life than circuits, thermodynamics, and linear programming
Why do engineers need to tell a story?
Stories provide summaries of the pertinent details
• They give an audience “the basic facts; it doesn’t need to read like Hemingway” (Perry)
• This can be very useful in a business setting
Audiences may be non-engineers*
• Business (and life!) puts engineers in contact with all types of people
– They may not have the background to understand technical details
– They may have a wide range of responsibilities
– They may only be interested in the bottom line
• A basic understanding of organizational psychology and sociology is useful for relating to
people
*In this context, “non-engineers” refers to anyone not working as a front-line engineer
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Something I Wish I’d Learned in School: Storytelling
There is more to life than circuits, thermodynamics, and linear programming
Why do engineers need to tell a story?
Engineering education focuses on scientific thought and solving formulated problems
• Not all people can relate to information presented as facts and numbers
• Facts and figures may not be sufficient to explain a product or process
• “No one cares about your facts and figures as much as you do.” (Ruger)
Abstract thought is key to innovation (Ben-Heim) and formulating problems
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“A story takes all the senseless
data that the world provides and
turns it into something
meaningful.”
Jonah Sachs, author of Winning the Story Wars
(qtd. in Parks)
© Copyright 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.

How to Tell a Story
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The Five Ws (Plus One H)
An invaluable lesson from elementary school
Who? Where?
Who does the story affect? Where will it happen?
Who needs to know? Where else could it happen?
What? Why?
What is the bottom line? Why will it happen?
What actions are needed? Why does the audience need to know?
When? How?
When will it happen? How will this happen?
When will it happen again? How many/How much?
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The Five Ws (Plus One H)
Who?
“Characters”
Who is the story about? Who is affected?
• Yourself
• Coworkers
• Boss (or boss’s boss, etc.)
• Customers/Suppliers
• Etc.
Audience
Who needs to know?
• Frame the story for the audience
• Avoid technical jargon with non-technical audiences
10 © Copyright 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.
Photo credit: Mary Paulose

The Five Ws (Plus One H)
What?
The Bottom Line
What is the problem to be solved or the information to be conveyed?
• Summarize when possible (get to the point)
• Keep details to a minimum
– Be ready and able to discuss details if asked
Actions
What do you want the audience to do?
• Is this a status update or a request for action?
Relates to “who”
• Who needs to take action?
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Photo credit: Bilal Kamoon

The Five Ws (Plus One H)
When?
When will this happen?
Timeliness is key
If asking for action, the audience and the “characters” need time to react
• Take into account:
– Project due dates
– Budget cycles
– Resource constraints
– Seasonal demand patterns
– Etc.
• Will the actions need to be repeated?
Note: you may need to reconcile your timeline with that of your
audience
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Photo credit: Brenda Anderson

The Five Ws (Plus One H)
Where?
Where will this happen?
If your organization has multiple locations or departments, specify the relevant one(s)
• This can implicitly answer some of the other questions:
– “Who” could be the employees at a given location
– “What” could be a project that is focused on one department
– “Why” could be a need of a single location or department
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Photo credit: Anonymous Account

The Five Ws (Plus One H)
Why?
Why will this happen?
For example:
• Why is the project necessary?
• Why is this a good use of resources (i.e., what value will the project add)?
Why does the audience need this information?
Everyone’s time is valuable; don’t waste it!
• A rule of thumb is to spend “ten minutes preparing for every minute you
expect to meet” with a manager (Maxwell 127)
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Photo credit: Bart Everson

The Five Ws (Plus One H)
How?
How will this happen?
What techniques will be used to solve the problem?
• Minimize technical jargon (depending on the audience)
How many/How much?
How many will be produced?
What resources are necessary?
• Time
• Money
• Personnel
• Equipment
• Other resources
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Photo credit: somjuan

Visual Storytelling
A picture is worth a thousand words
Rules for visual storytelling:
1. Include basic factual details as necessary
• For example, title and/or caption images
2. Any assumption a viewer could reasonably make must be true
3. Use more than one image
4. Know the story before you start and connect all parts of the story
• At least know the destination before you start the journey
5. Edit ruthlessly
6. Ensure that the visual story makes sense if it stands alone
• For example, a viewer should be able to interpret a graph without accompanying narration
7. Show new things and/or show familiar things in unfamiliar ways
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Adapted from “10 Rules for Visual Storytelling” by Mindy McAdams

Visual Storytelling
But how to show that picture?
A (non-comprehensive) list of visual storytelling tools
Traditional tools
• MS Office (Excel, Powerpoint, etc.)
• OpenOffice
Data visualization tools
• QlikView
• Spotfire
• Tableau
Design tools
• Autodesk/AutoCAD
• TurboCAD
Etc.
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All logos and trademarks are property of their respective owners

Visual Storytelling
Example
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Data visualization by Craig Butt

Benefits of Storytelling
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Benefits of Storytelling
Helping ensure that the audience understands
Stories alleviate uncertainty and doubt
They help people cope with change
• Change can be uncomfortable
They can help audiences understand the need for compromise
Stories simplify complex issues
They persuade when facts are not enough
• “No one cares about your facts and figures as much as you do.”
They help the audience reach the desired conclusion by evoking strong imagery
20 © Copyright 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.
Based on “Storytelling In Business: How Can It Benefit You?” by Kelsey Ruger

“Telling stories is an incredibly
effective way of getting
information across and making
sure it sticks.”
Robert Kosara, Associate Professor of Computer
Science at UNC-Charlotte
© Copyright 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.

© Copyright 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.
Photo credit: Steve Myles

© Copyright 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.
Photo credit: Horia Varlan

Works Cited
Ben-Heim, Yakov. “Why the Best Engineers Should Study Humanities.” International Journal for Mechanical
Engineering Education . 28 (2000): 195-200. Web. 4 Sep 2012.
Butt, Craig. “The Total Medal Count.” Tableau Public Viz of the Day. Tableau Software. 13 Aug 2012. Web. 5
Sep 2012.
Kosara, Robert. “Storytelling with Data.” Tableau Software Blog. Tableau Software. 14 Aug 2012. Web. 5 Sep
2012.
Maxwell, John C. The 360° Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization. Nashville:
Nelson Business, 2005.
McAdams, Mindy. “10 Rules for Visual Storytelling.” Teaching Online Journalism. 6 Sep 2011. Web. 5 Sep 2012.
Parks, Bob. “Death to Powerpoint!” Bloomberg Businessweek: Lifestyle 30 Aug 2012. Web. 31 Aug 2012.
Perry, John. “How to Be a Better Procrastinator” Wall Street Journal 10 Aug 2012. Web. 31 Aug 2012.
Ruger, Kelsey. “Storytelling in Business: How Can It Benefit You?” TheMoleSkin. 3 Mar 2010. Web. 5 Sep 2012.
24 © Copyright 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.