[himynameisdom]

i think now more than ever, there needs to be a bridge mindset between technical and non-technical. i learned that very early on, and even spent some time in a customer-facing, non-technical role to hone my bridge mindset. the ability to have empathy for the end user, and everyone else upstream who will touch your logic, is paramount and takes care of a lot of issues.

it's up to us as technical professionals to care about both the "what" and the "how". the ability to pan in and out on a particular need was learned early on and i cannot be more thankful of that.

[busterarm]

Some of us technical people like to be client-facing. The key is to make room for us to do that. Let us handle the client/user and then take meetings with us so we can filter what's appropriate to you.

The biggest problem with "technical people" is the desire to retreat to a pair of headphones and not communicate with anyone all day. Set aside some consistent portion of your day where that's the only time you'll take meetings and we'll work around your schedule.

[himynameisdom]

I agree. I enjoy speaking to prospects and clients, but I know not everyone feels the same way. I would say instead of letting technical people handle the client/user, it should be done in a collaborative way. Filtering shouldn't be necessary as that has the potential of keeping possible problems/solutions in the dark.

Technical and nontechnical people should collaborate face-to-face on a daily basis. That includes customer interactions.