Episode 75: Communication Failure Modes

In this episode of the Acima Development Podcast, host Mike welcomes returning contributors Kyle, Will, and Dave for a lively and insightful discussion on communication and its failure modes—especially in engineering and development teams. Mike kicks things off with a humorous but illustrative story involving his children, hoverboards, cactus spines, and a major context mismatch with his wife. This leads into the first failure mode: people interpreting the same situation differently due to differing contexts. The group agrees that a lack of shared understanding often derails conversations and projects, especially when assumptions go unspoken or expectations aren’t clarified. Will and Kyle emphasize the importance of providing full context when asking for help or collaborating remotely, noting that even minor omissions can significantly delay progress. The conversation then shifts to another failure mode: assuming communication is complete after initial planning. They highlight how this mindset leads to integration issues near the end of projects—when it becomes clear that vital tasks or dependencies were overlooked. Dave tells a memorable story about a sound engineer who foresaw this issue and left a self-contained module called “OYWNS” (“Oh Yeah We Need Sound”) that could be plugged in later, exemplifying proactive thinking. However, the team debates whether these are truly communication issues or just planning failures, ultimately agreeing that both planning and communication must be iterative and responsive, especially in complex, cross-functional environments. Mike brings in the Agile principle of “customer collaboration over contract negotiation” as a more effective framework to reduce these last-minute failures. Toward the end, the group introduces a third major communication failure: speaking without tailoring the message to the audience. Whether it’s explaining unit testing to a non-technical relative using car analogies or trying to influence C-suite executives without drowning them in technical jargon, they agree that effective communication requires strategic translation, not just transmission. They also discuss how hierarchy and communication chains create distortion, using examples like long managerial handoffs or segregated teams that never speak directly. The episode closes with a call to action: be deliberate about context-sharing, break down silos, speak in your audience’s language, and ensure someone owns the responsibility of facilitating true collaboration. Transcript MIKE: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Acima Development Podcast. I am Mike, and I am hosting again today. With us, we have long-standing contributor Kyle and Will Archer. Kyle Archer, Will Archer-no relationship to each other [laughs]. We have Dave Brady-- DAVE: Howdy, howdy. MIKE: Who hasn't been here for a little while, but he's here today. He's been out on leave because of some medical challenges, so we're really happy to have him here with us today. DAVE: I'm delighted to be vertical and to be here. MIKE: [laughs] DAVE: Yes, that was optional. That was an elective for me, was being vertical. So... MIKE: So, great having you with us, Dave. We are looking forward to having a good conversation. And speaking of conversation [chuckles], that's what we're talking about today. We're going to talk about communication and communication failure modes. I'm going to start, as usual, with a story, but I’ll introduce the topic first. To tell you a story...A few weeks ago, I got to do a little bit of setup here. So, you probably all know about hoverboards. They're not hoverboards, right? But it's like a Segway without a -- DAVE: Segway with no sticks? MIKE: With no stick, exactly. The self-balancing scooter that you stand on and move around. They're ubiquitous, especially among young people and kids, and they're all over the place. We’d had one in my house for several years, and the kids played with it, and they enjoyed it. My wife discovered something. You can put a seat on it, with a bar that comes out from it, and you put your feet on it. And it's got handlebars that you can lift up and down, two bars that you can lift up and down. So, you can adjust, you know, you can move it forward or back like you normally would by using your hands. And it makes it into, essentially, a little electric go-kart [laughs] because you've got a really low center of mass, you can just go full speed and have all kinds of fun. So, my kids at home, at Christmas, that’s what they all got, and they love it [chuckles]. There's a ring around my house that’s...[inaudible 02:32] dead. [laughs] They have flattened it so much, not every day, but often. And [laughs] they have a great time. So, that’s the first line. So, I’ve got to tell a couple of things that are going on here. In my office, I actually have a lot of cactus plants. Back during the depths of the pandemic, I had a little extra time and started ...