A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

Hi,

“A picture is worth a thousand words.”

I heard this proverb early on, probably for the first time during my school days. It’s a wisdom that we have carried forward for a long time.

Perhaps you associate this proverb more with areas like marketing, statistics, politics, or you think, like me, of the wisdoms of our teachers back then.

Something I’ve realized repeatedly in recent years is: It’s also relevant for us in software development.

Let’s consider the documentation

Which documentation did you last read? Did it span several pages? Did you really read it, or just skim through it?

But what if such a text includes a graphic?

A few boxes, some arrows between them, a few words. While scrolling, you surely paused briefly. You let your eyes wander over it. And even if you moved on quickly, you immediately grasped the connections.

This effect has been known for a long time. We are visual beings. It’s easier for our brain to sort patterns than to process sequences of complex characters. It requires much more energy. A graphic is always easier to grasp than a paragraph of text.

I use this effect in every documentation I write

Just make a quick graphic. For example, with draw.io. It’s fast. It doesn’t have to be big. It just needs to convey the core message. For the details, there’s more than enough space in the text - if necessary.

Another area where I’ve come to appreciate the power of graphics is in leadership

As a leader, your main task is to move people. Ideally in a direction that is profitable for the company. Often, it’s necessary for this task to achieve changes. But the changes that are needed are not entirely in your hands. They are the people you lead directly or indirectly. And that is more difficult than one intuitively assumes.

How often it has happened to me: I articulate an idea - or even a work instruction

I take time for my colleagues. I explain the background for my decision.

Then our paths separate again and after a few days…..

• Nothing has happened.
• Or it was implemented differently than I expected.
• Or it just fizzles out.

As a leader, you seem to have so much power. But if the instructions are ignored, then you have nothing. Except as a last resort the harshest form of escalation. But I don’t want to have to apply that. No one enjoys it. There are only losers.

But when I use a few pictures in my communication, I achieve better results

Most of the time, a simple slide deck with one or two slides and simple graphics is enough. A few arrows here. A few boxes there. And suddenly the spoken words can be processed better. Nice side effect: It is also weighed more heavily. As soon as something is written down, we give these words more weight. It doesn’t make sense - after all, it was oneself who just wrote down one’s own thoughts. But it works. A few simple slides and suddenly you set people in motion.

The power of images is tremendous. Use it for your work. You don’t even need to invest much time. Try it out!

Rule the Backend,

~ Marcus