🔑 4 Tips on Explaining Technical Concepts (to Non-Devs)

Explaining technical challenges or features to a non-developer is often frustrating, but done right it is rewarding.

We use condensed jargon like "race condition" or "side effect" to express complex concepts. However for most people, those terms have no meaning. Which means explaining them out into non-technical terms.

Here are four tips to help you do just that

Tip 0: Determine the common ground

Start by defining the known common ground.

Ask questions like "What is your understanding of" whatever core concept you are trying to explain. This show you where the gap lies. And how to fill it.

And it means you don't waste the time of the people you are communicating with.

Tip 1: Use analogies to connect complex ideas to familiar concepts

Technical concepts have physical world equivalents people can relate to.

A database is a library of ledgers. A network message is a letter. A program is a recipe. A commit is a record of which lines in the code were changed.

Once you have your analogy, tell a story with it. With diagrams if need be!

Tip 2: Simplify language and avoid jargon

Jargon permeates our language.

Among people who understand it, it speeds up communication. With a non-speaker, it kills it.

Use everyday words.

Tip 3: Highlight the business value and relevance

How does what you are doing translate in terms of time and money for the business?

How will it help have time, or make money? How does it help better meet the end-user's needs?

How can it benefit the people you are communicating with?

And remember: one of the better ways to ensure you understand a concept fully is to explain it to someone who is new to it. In other words: You too can benefit from the exercise.

Found on the web

Tanstack is now in Beta

TanStack, the full-stack framework created by the people behind React Query, is now in Beta. It follows a similar structure (i.e. using Vinxi and Nitro) as Solid Start, the SolidJS fullstack framework.

Tailwind v4

Tailwind, the leading CSS framework, is releasing a beta version of their v4 update with lots of cool updates including rust based tooling.

That’s all folks

Thanks for getting all the way down here. Let me know what you thought of all this newsletter issue so I can better meet your needs via this very short survey or simply by answering this email!

David from Kodaps