- **Epistemic status:** #seedlings A good idea is wasted if not communicated effectively. Work often revolves around communication by gathering and parsing intentions into requirements that other people can consume. To be able to get your ideas implemented, you will need a strategy. ## Understand your audience You want to avoid the situation where you are explaining your idea and your audience has no clue what you are saying, or they are bored. Take the time to understand the needs, interests, and capabilities of them. Explaining fine-grained architectural decisions about the code might be too much detail for a CEO, but they might be expected from the CFO. Your audience won't give you the thumbs up to implement that cool idea if they can't connect to it. ## Write an outline Plot out the sections that you want to cover before thinking on the details of your pitch. Take a step back and ask yourself if those sections convey the idea you are trying to present. If it can be refactored, then do so until it can convey the idea effectively. ## Choose a good moment Choose a moment that pitching your idea makes the most sense. As an example, if production got bamboozled because there is no automatic test runner before merging code. After the problem is mitigated, it would be appropriate to ask your boss or colleagues if they have time to hear you out on avoiding the problem to happen again. Don't choose a moment when everybody is very stressed out trying to find a solution and what you suggest is more work. Also, don't choose a moment where your idea will be dismissed because they don't see the problem. ## Put effort into a good presentation You can put a lot of effort into a solid document with interesting facts, but all is lost if it is presented in a poor-looking document. With the advancement of software it can be easy to set styling on documents regardless if it is markdown or a rich-word processor. Learn the different commands to set header, footers, layouts, and other nifty tricks that will make your document shine. ## Involve your audience in early drafts The process involved in creating a document is often more important than the result. Involving the audience gives them a sense of ownership, and getting their feedback early on will help you produce a more solid document. ## Listen to the audience Encourage people to talk by asking them questions turning the meeting into a dialog. You'll make your point more effectively and receive feedback that can further improve the idea. --- ## References - Thomas, David, and Andrew Hunt. _The Pragmatic Programmer, 20th Anniversary Edition: Journey to Mastery_. Second edition. Boston: Addison-Wesley, 2019.