Last days I was preparing a gift for my friend. A lot of people were involved in this activity. I organized a whip round. I wrote to the people involved:
“Hi,
Twenty-five people confirmed their participation in the whip round. I paid X zł for the gift which subsequently was Y zł per person. Please make a transfer on account xx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx. In the title please write “Kasia”.
Thanks,
Magdalena”
After a few days I wanted to check on my account how many people paid me the money back.
In the search I wrote the word “Kasia”. As a result I received a few transfers. I thought to myself: “I will check it tomorrow”. Next day’s result wasn’t better. I decided to check all transactions.
What was the result?
Mostly I received transfers with the correct (for me) title (“Kasia”). But there were some cases that differ from this schema. I have seen entries with “dla Kasi”, “prezent dla Kasi”.
I wrote clearly that the title should be “Kasia”. Nevertheless, I hadn’t received it in 100% percent of transfers. I felt angry because my need for clarity wasn’t met. At the same time, it was so interesting for me – such a brief message, crystal clear for me, was interpreted in different ways.
Why? What was missing in my message?
I realized that there was a lack of my need – what I will use that title for. This information will provide another perspective to the receivers and probably will cause that my need will be met.
This example shows me that even the communication which initially looks clear in reality is not so obvious. The IT world is not an exception. When the development team does not get the client’s needs, it may increase the probability of incomprehension and consequently may cause that the implemented feature will not meet client’s expectations.