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Patterns in Confusing Explanations

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Re: Patterns in Confusing Explanations

#2

Post by beprogrammed »

pattern 1: making outdated assumptions about the audience’s knowledge

pattern 2: having inconsistent expectations of the reader’s knowledge

pattern 3: strained analogies

pattern 4: pretty pictures on confusing explanations

pattern 5: unrealistic examples

pattern 6: jargon that doesn’t mean anything

pattern 7: missing key information

pattern 8: introducing too many concepts at a time

pattern 9: starting out abstract

pattern 10: unsupported statements

pattern 11: no examples

pattern 12: explaining the “wrong” way to do something without saying it’s wrong

Re: Patterns in Confusing Explanations

#4

Post by null_object »

beprogrammed wrote: post #2

pattern 1: making outdated assumptions about the audience’s knowledge pattern 2: having inconsistent expectations of the reader’s knowledge pattern 3: strained analogies pattern 4: pretty pictures on confusing explanations pattern 5: unrealistic examples pattern 6: jargon that doesn’t mean anything pattern 7: missing key information pattern 8: introducing too many concepts at a time pattern 9: starting out abstract p…

>pattern 1: making outdated assumptions about the audience’s knowledge

>pattern 2: having inconsistent expectations of the reader’s knowledge

>pattern 3: strained analogies

>pattern 4: pretty pictures on confusing explanations...

edit: I understand you're trying to help, but... Your post simply listing the 'titles' of each of the categories is ironically itself an example of exactly the problem the blog-post is discussing: your bare list implies that these are all known rhetorical devices (assuming knowledge) whereas the blogger is attempting to articulate the reasons why these categories are confusing for the reader/learner.

In other words, the value of the blog-post is in the detail, not in some list that can be summarized like this as a tl;dr.

Re: Patterns in Confusing Explanations

#5

Post by carrolldunham »

null_object wrote: post #4
beprogrammed wrote: post #2

pattern 1: making outdated assumptions about the audience’s knowledge pattern 2: having inconsistent expectations of the reader’s knowledge pattern 3: strained analogies pattern 4: pretty pictures on confusing explanations pattern 5: unrealistic examples pattern 6: jargon that doesn’t mean anything pattern 7: missing key information pattern 8: introducing too many concepts at a time pattern 9: starting out abstract p…

>pattern 1: making outdated assumptions about the audience’s knowledge >pattern 2: having inconsistent expectations of the reader’s knowledge >pattern 3: strained analogies >pattern 4: pretty pictures on confusing explanations... edit: I understand you're trying to help, but... Your post simply listing the 'titles' of each of the categories is ironically itself an example of exactly the problem the blog-post is discu…

I dunno... they each seem pretty self-evident.

Re: Patterns in Confusing Explanations

#7

Post by cbhl »

korijn wrote: post #3

I wish this wasn't written just for programmers, so I could share it with more people.

Understanding your audience (and your audience's knowledge) was one of the first things I learned in public speaking / rhetoric class in college... so I suspect more generic examples would hurt your ability to persuade folks. But it seems reasonable enough to take the core ideas and reframe them against different examples that better resonate with the "more people" you're thinking of.

Re: Patterns in Confusing Explanations

#8

Post by beprogrammed »

null_object wrote: post #4
beprogrammed wrote: post #2

pattern 1: making outdated assumptions about the audience’s knowledge pattern 2: having inconsistent expectations of the reader’s knowledge pattern 3: strained analogies pattern 4: pretty pictures on confusing explanations pattern 5: unrealistic examples pattern 6: jargon that doesn’t mean anything pattern 7: missing key information pattern 8: introducing too many concepts at a time pattern 9: starting out abstract p…

>pattern 1: making outdated assumptions about the audience’s knowledge >pattern 2: having inconsistent expectations of the reader’s knowledge >pattern 3: strained analogies >pattern 4: pretty pictures on confusing explanations... edit: I understand you're trying to help, but... Your post simply listing the 'titles' of each of the categories is ironically itself an example of exactly the problem the blog-post is discu…

I have to disagree. And to each is own.

Having read the article I found that list painted a clear picture and summed up the patterns nicely.

If one reads that and wants more, read the article.

(Not authors)Pattern 13: Using excessive prose where less will do

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