Nuanced communication usually doesn't work at scale
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Re: Nuanced communication usually doesn't work at scale
#2Looking back, I work(ed) in a lot of environments where leadership tried to be nuanced. Or at least tried to communicate two or three equally important things.
Thinking about the outcomes of these with this explanation in mind does explain a lot.
Just not sure if this is a case of Confirmation Bias or a genuinely helpful way of looking at corporate communications.
Probably need more examples/data to better understand if he is on to something.
Nonetheless do I think it is a good framework as clearly communicating one thing and dropping the nuances would probably increase the likelihood that the content is being parsed as intended.
Re: Nuanced communication usually doesn't work at scale
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Re: Nuanced communication usually doesn't work at scale
#4Quoted post unavailable.
Jokes aside it's not that nuance doesn't work at scale. It's that many people whose experience is mainly with short-range communication fail to realize or underappreciate that you need different techniques to communicate nuance from a large distance than they are accustomed to using up close. Think about painting.
Re: Nuanced communication usually doesn't work at scale
#5Dan Luu is right that public messaging -- and company-wide internal messaging -- tends to be bone simple and incomplete.
What's interesting is that the nuances don't completely fade out of site. They exist in quiet and sometimes quite intricate underground conversations. I've joined organizations where it was howlingly clear that the official messaging was not the way the company really ran.
That invites the question of whether it's worth staying long enough (and being bold enough) to get drawn into the nuanced underground dialogue, too. Sometimes yes. Sometimes that's quite exciting and makes the job more interesting and more durable.
Other times, it's just too hard to wiggle into that circle. Or that circle has its own evasions and power struggles. In those cases, it's easier to meet the basic formal requirements of the job, enjoy the extra time to have a rich life outside of work -- and think hard about what kind of next job would be better.
Re: Nuanced communication usually doesn't work at scale
#6On a related note, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11370189 has an interesting paper worth reading.
Re: Nuanced communication usually doesn't work at scale
#7It's not just corporate communication.
Post on any internet forum about some minor drawbacks of Technology X, and the comments will instantly split between those who feel personally offended and must defend the sanctity of X, and those who take the post as proof that X must not be used at all. People love to think in black & white. People don't like to parse "A if (B and (C or not-D))". It takes much training and discipline to overcome the instinct for simplification.
You can clarify yourself and correct any misunderstandings if you're in a small group that shares a lot of context, but this quickly becomes impossible as the group gets larger. Even competent statesmen struggle to convey "A if B else C" in their speeches.
Re: Nuanced communication usually doesn't work at scale
#8Flat orgs are very popular right now, but isn’t it a huge benefit of a hierarchical organization with subparts that rather than the President of Azure getting on a VTC and telling the whole division that the goal is velocity he can explain to his reports (a small group) that they need velocity with reliability and they can explain to their reports (more small groups) and so on and so forth?
Yes, nuanced comms don’t scale so why isn’t the answer—-don’t require scaled comms?
Re: Nuanced communication usually doesn't work at scale
#9IIRC Jonn Kerry's campaign for President was plagued by too much nuance in both his and the campaign's communications.
And the Romney critique as the "flipping Mormon" can also be seen as a rejection of nuance.
Re: Nuanced communication usually doesn't work at scale
#10Slightly easier to read: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1487228574608211969.html