[jasonlotito]

While I can see how this can work for code reviews, it ignores general communication overall. I find that if someone comes across a certain way in code reviews that you need to adopt this, it's probably an issue with communication in general, and should be addressed. This doesn't mean the person is bad, but that they are probably poor communicators. This means training. We train in other areas where we are deficient, so it's not unreasonable to expect that if communication is critical to your business that you wouldn't also train people on how to communicate well.

However, while "strong communication skills" is something we say we look for, it's not something we actually test for. What does "strong communication skills" actually mean? Does it mean you know how to use a spell checker? A grammar checker? Read and write in your native language?

Personally, I've always taken "strong communication skills" as being able to communicate with other people to achieve the goals of the company. And if one of the goals of the company is creating a team of people that enjoy working at the company, then communicating in a way that doesn't achieve that flies in the face of a goal of the company. In other words, you are lacking in "strong communication skills."

tl;dr: Does "strong communication skills" really matter or is it just a platitude?