Speak No Geek Blog Series

Explaining technology without the jargon, the ego, or a slide deck.

A seven-post series. Bring coffee. Leave your acronyms at the door.

Part 1: Why Nobody Understands You

(It's Not Them. It's Your Acronyms)

Let me describe a meeting you've been in.

A smart tech person stands up and says: "We need SDWAN to build the foundation for SASE. Then enforce ZTNA and identity-aware policy for hybrid access to cloud and on-prem ecosystems."

The room nods. Nobody understood a word. The nodding is a survival mechanism, like a possum playing dead. The speaker walks out thinking, nailed it. The audience walks out thinking, I hope that wasn't important. How did I know all these  — I was that tech person.

Here's the thing nobody tells technologists: people aren't confused because they're not smart. They're confused because you explained it in Klingon.  Experts explain from the inside out — parts, protocols, alphabet soup. Normal humans need the outside in: what is it, why does it exist, and why should I care before my coffee gets cold?

The five ways tech explanations die

Autopsies of failed IT explanations reveal the same five causes of death, every time:

1. Starting too deep. You began at layer 3 of the OSI model. They needed you to begin at "so, computers talk to each other."

2. Assuming background knowledge. Every "as you know…" is a small act of violence. They do not know. That's why you're in the room.

3. Acronyms before meaning. An acronym before a definition isn't communication. It's a hostage situation.

4. Explaining the tool instead of the problem. Nobody has ever woken up craving a firewall. People wake up craving not being robbed. Sell the not-being-robbed.

5. Confusing detail with value. More facts ≠ more clarity. Past a certain point, more facts = fog with footnotes.

And here's the plot twist: the problem is almost never complexity. It's sequencing. Same facts, better order, completely different meeting. It's the difference between a joke and a joke told punchline-first.

The three-question seatbelt

Before explaining anything technical to anyone, buckle up with three questions:

1. Who is listening?

2. What decision are they trying to make?

3. What's the minimum useful context?

That third one hurts, I know. You have SO much context. You've been marinating in context for fifteen years. But your audience needs the espresso shot, not the whole plantation.

Take this with you: People don't reject complicated ideas. They reject badly ordered ones. Fix the order, and suddenly everyone thinks you got smarter. (You didn't. You got kinder.)

PS: This is part 1 of a 7-part blog post. I also built a "No Geek Speak" AI tech explainer assistant below. Its mission is to explain any complex tech concept in 3-folds: the technical perspective, the perspective of a 12-year old, and the perspective of your CEO. Please feel free to use it, its not perfect but definitely useful.