October 2021

Minimally Viable Communication

Min Viable Communication

Matt Abraham

Inspired by MVP from prod design. Stanford prof. This guy has a great podcast too Think Fast, Think Smart, Website: NoFreakingSpeaking.com

This blog has notes from this video. When I find a great video I usually take notes and add them to the YT comments. But since comments were disabled, I’ve put them here. Hopefully it helps you.

Verbal jijutsu

Think about:

  1. Audience
    • Understanding their level of understanding
    • Empathize
      • How much do they like you
      • Will they be concerned about time/$/effort..
    • Their position in the organization, their seniority
    • Psychological distance b/w you and them
  2. Context of communication:
    • Time. Mornings are more collaborative.
    • Sequence. What was the last meeting for this group. How are they feeling when I go in.
  3. Goal
    • Goal is not to do the PPT, but to leave listener with a certain sense.
    • What should the listener:
      1. Know
      2. Feel
      3. Do
    • Defining a goal lets you evaluate success too.
    • Be creative about the communication challenge:
      • time-boxed brainstorming (design thinking)
      • mind maps
      • How do analogous situations do it. Eg: - ER docs looked at F1 pit-crews - Apple genius bar inspired by hotel concierges
    • 6 WORD STORIES: Distill what you want to accomplish into a 6 word mantra
  4. Structure
    • Proven to lead to more retention. Set expectations at the start.
      • What? (what am I talking about?)
      • So what? (why should you care?)
      • Now what? (what do we do next? when do we meet?)
    • Sometimes there are expected structures. Like investors looking for 7 viewpoints to be considered. Ask around and use them.
  5. Feedback

Physical presence:

  • Pull shoulder blades back (puffs chest) to show confidence. Nervous people shrink or sit back. Confident people have a large presence
  • In 1:1 interactions leaning your head is better. But in 1:many delivery, looking straight ahead shows confidence. Above shoulder blades trick naturally causes that.
  • Standing > Sitting. Better non-verbal comm.
  • Swaying sucks. If sitting lock your chair, don’t swivel. If standing, don’t sway foot-to-foot. Consider keeping one leg on a box. That way you will not sway.
  • Virtual communication:
    • Be well-lit.
    • Fill half the screen, don’t be far. Face is important.
    • Overhead camera, not under like laptops
    • Watch your recording. Best teacher. Speaking
  • Insert emotive words to cause natural voice modulation

Published: October 2021

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