Nancy Lyons of geekgirlsguide gives a real end-of-day pep talk about how failed communication and collaboration can kill projects. I’ll put in a few of her zingers and how I understand them:

• Learn how to talk about what you do to people who have no idea what you’re talking about.

Her evangelical zeal is very refreshing; I can imagine her listening to all these tech talks and thinking, “none of this is going to save you if your team can’t talk to each other.”

• Don’t drop truth bombs

She urges us to imagine what non-technical clients who haven’t thought about iterations and known bugs will hear when you talk about bugs.

• Don’t define scope in a consulting proposal

Instead, define the requirements collaboratively alongside the client. You have no idea what you’re talking about when you start!