Communication issues in small business

A good friend/ex-colleague of mine and I got into a discussion recently about some of the woes that accompany being a tech guru in a small business. The number one issue at hand was communication – trying to interpret the needs of the business (and the managers) and create a solution that made everyone smile.

Unfortunately, developers are terrible at managing the expectations of the boss, and managers are typically not quite as clued in as their technical subordinates with regards to technical limitations. What usually results is a solution which was either a) done within the timeframes required but falls short of expectations, or b) meets expectations to a degree, but took twice as long as intended.

In a larger business this unfortunate phenomenon is mitigated by two things. Firstly, timelines are paradoxically both more expanded/lenient (read: realistic) and also very inflexible… perhaps not so much a paradox, as the longer timelines may be designed specifically to prevent deadlines slipping… allocate more time than you need and all is well. The key however, is that while there’s plenty of time allocated to meet that goal… The Deadline Is Not Arbitrary. It must be met, on time, every time.

Secondly, an all-important position within the company becomes viable (even essential): there could be a dozen different titles for the position, but what it boils down to is that you have someone who is technically savvy and understands limitations, and has enough experience dealing with/participating in management to effectively manage the expectations of the top brass. Essentially this boils down to having a mediator, a translator who can take the requirements of the business, turn it into a specification the tech guys can understand, while at the same time effectively communicating the technical limitations (and the workload of the tech team) to the boss(es) and keeping their expectations within the bounds of realism.

If you’re dealing directly with tech staff, you may be inclined to put on your Leader Hat and rally them to nail a deadline they just can’t manage, whereas dealing with a single person who acts as an authority over your technical assets means you’re more likely to delegate the management of the project to them, instead of doing it yourself. This means managers can do their job more effectively and not worry themselves with the details, and the tech team can work under the leadership of someone who was once in their shoes.

So how do you fill such a position in a small business? From experience it’s pretty difficult… either you get someone who’s happy to occasionally step over from another role (say, marketing manager or business development manager) or you get a tech guy who can both do the hard work and manage the “team”, even if the team is just him/herself and one other.

It’s a no-brainer that having a separation between management and tech is a good thing, unless you’re lucky enough to build a team made up of a mixed bag of ex-tech, management etc. where the manager(s) has/have a keen understanding of the tech side of the business that they’re directing. This is surprisingly rare.

Well, that’s all I’ve got on that subject… I’d love to hear from you if you have any insight as the “ultimate solution” to the problem of communication within a small business still eludes me!