Re: Understanding verbal communication in a team

[kcronin -at- daleen -dot- com]

John Posada wrote:

> The problem is that while each person (there are 7 people on the
> team...manager, application 2 SMEs, 2 database SMEs, 1 network
> infrastructure SME, and me, the writer-SME) can be understood with minimal
> effort, one of them has such a strong accent that less than 10% can be
> understood even with dedicated effort.
...
> I don't have a specific question...just looking for ways that other people
> have addressed this.


If you're in a network environment, can you try funneling most of your
exchanges with this SME via e-mail, as opposed to face-to-face or phone
interviews?

This puts more of a burden on you in terms of how carefully and thoroughly
you'll need to express your questions, but the spared frustration might be
worth it.

Also, it gives you a paper trail of your interactions, which will save you
note-taking and transcribing. I usually tape my interviews, and the tapes
I made of SMEs whose primary language differed from mine took a LONG time
to transcribe...

Good luck! Been there, definitely.


-Keith Cronin
____________________

Ethernet (n): something used to catch the etherbunny.


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