Make Technical Language Work for You: An Antidote to Technobabble

By Matthew Hale   All industries and sectors have special language. Words and phrases that convey meaning to the experienced, but might sound like utter nonsense to the uninitiated.   For some industries, the esoteric jargon has become a common source for comedy. You may have heard of “Blinkenlights” or “The Turbo-Encabulator”. We as consumers have all been in a situation whereby somebody trying to provide information, but sound more like they are speaking a dead language or quoting stats for a sport you’ve never heard of. There’s even a word for it; Technobabble. Not to be confused with word salad.

There are few industries with larger glossaries than Information Technology. It could be argued that the AV industry has more crossover with the I.T. sector than any other. This puts a huge responsibility on the AV sector to learn and understand these terms. Nobody is immune or exempt. If you’re working in, hiring for, or communicating with the AV world, you need to have at least a basic understanding of the fundamental terms. But all too often, queries will come your way that baffle and disorientate a technical mindset. Not always because of its complexity, but sometimes because of its simplicity or complete lack of useful information. I’m not here to list a bunch of technological words and tell you what they mean. But I would like to state a few fundamentally important things about technical communication and getting the most out of your connections by communicating complex terms effectively. Ultimately everyone benefits. Written or spoken, these tips will help.

The first rule of troubleshooting applies: always try the easiest thing first. Whether it be an end user asking for advice on using certain functions, or a seasoned AV wizard firing off acronyms like a machine gun. Always start simple. PC or MAC? LAN or serial? Video or audio? Don’t get too technical too soon. Find out if the person you are speaking to is receptive to techy talk by creeping up on the subject. I use terms like “power cycle” instead of “turning it off and on again”, or “reseat” instead of “unplug it and plug it in again”. You’ll soon figure out if the person you’re talking to is on the same level as you. Be descriptive. Help them to follow your mindset by guiding them through it. Tell them what you’re thinking before telling them what to do, or what you’re going to do. Ask them if it makes sense to them. Guide them physically to your goal, be it a button to click or a device to approach. Use colours and shapes. Talk directions, positions and distances. Be accurate, even if you’re not correct. Troubleshooting often requires a process of elimination and something as simple as quoting the wrong audio channel number can introduce uncertainty. “Did we test number 5”? Emphasise the variables and reiterate. Tell them what you’re going to do. Tell them you’re doing it. Tell them what you did. Ask them to do the same for you. Use economy of words. Think about how to phrase a sentence before saying or typing a word. Stall if you need to with a “standby”. I once hastily started typing an email reply to a vague query that began with the phrase “What exactly is your problem”? Needless to say, that’s not a good economy of words, nor sentiment.

State your assumptions and allow them to correct you. It’s always best to continuously check that you’re operating on the same page. State the obvious, often. It might not be obvious to them. Be comfortable with failure. Tech support is driven by it. Some problems are really difficult to solve, but that’s the challenge. You only have to succeed eventually. Be flexible. Try to talk in the direction of signal flow if it helps. But if the conversation deviates it’s up to you to keep up, or drive the conversation to your goal. I often start with phrases like “so working back from the display…” or “so in terms of the signal flow…”. Persevere. Exhaust all resources that you have at hand. Your client needs to feel confident that you have provided the highest level of support available. The only way to do that is to actually provide the highest level of support that you can. No shortcuts. Lean on your colleagues. Use Teams or Skype to reach out directly to people who may have quick answers. They might respond with “RTFM BRO”, but at least you’ll know who not to ask next time. Don’t be ashamed to admit defeat, but never presume the task is impossible. Perhaps you failed to rectify an issue more than a few times, and the case is dragging on. Don’t beat yourself up. There is always a chain of responsibility and ultimately there’s always someone more capable than you. Put them on the case and follow up. No biggie, right? After all, the second rule of troubleshooting is: never trust the engineer that came before you, they couldn’t fix it. That’s not a dig at bad engineers. Just good advice. It also assumes that you will not be the last person to try.

All that being said, words are hard. Big words are harderer. And if both parties don’t share the same understanding of the terms being used, communication breakdown is inevitable. For instance a ceiling is not a roof, but I hear people referring to ceilings as roofs every day. Correct them before they start asking for roof access and starting a management crisis. Cat5 is not the same as Cat6 and it needs to be stated so. There are hundreds of examples like this. It’s up to those who know, to educate others. If you want to be as efficient as possible in troubleshooting technical issues with AV systems, start with the right words in the right order. Inspire clarity and accuracy in others by being utterly methodical and thinking out loud. They did contact you, so they had better be ready for you!