Communication: Are you the king, or a guard?

Occasionally I like to take an objective look at the relative strengths and weaknesses of my blog, and during a recent moment of introspection, I came to the realization that one of Practical Analyst’s major shortcomings is the lack of a Monty Python reference; a matter I intend to rectify with this post.

The clip below is from a fun scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I personally love the movie, but it’s one of those ones where you either laugh ’til you cry, or you just don’t get it at all.

When the scene came up during a recent career-related conversation I had with a former co-worker, I knew I had a great idea for a blog post. But I can’t claim to be the first to blog about it in an IT/Communication context. It appears that credit goes to Nari Kannan with his IT Toolbox blog post from last year.

So I thought I’d provide my variation on the theme, and enhance it by showing the video clip as well. I “got”  Nari’s post because I’ve seen the movie, but I think much of the fun is lost in plain text.

In any case, in the scene the king is giving the guards orders to keep an eye on his son, and not to let him leave the room. Sounds simple enough, right?

Go ahead and watch. I’ll catch up with you in a couple minutes.

If you can’t view the video for whatever reason, here’s a link to the  scene’s transcript.

Although it’s somewhat exaggerated, you can probably see the similarities between the the provider and the executors of the “requirements” in this situation, and in the real world of projects and analysis and software, etc.

The king seems to be stating his needs pretty clearly, but for some reason the guards just aren’t getting it. It seems like they’re talking right past each other. Before long, it’s obvious the king is getting frustrated with the whole affair, and as the king leaves the room, it’s with no real sense of whether the guards ever understood their instructions.

So, who does the king represent in the solutions engineering parallel? How about the guards?

As a BA I might watch and commiserate with the poor king (who’s obviously the analyst, right?) and his hardship in dealing with the designers and developers that just can’t seem to understand requirements in plain English.

On the other hand, if I were to consider the scene from the business stakeholder’s perspective, I might see the guards as the darn business analyst or the IT department in general who just can’t seem to understand/articulate and deliver what the business needs.

Takeaway? Sometimes effective communication is just hard. And if you think the guards are pretty dumb, just remember that for every instance where you think of yourself as the king, there are likely as many where you look like a guard to someone else!

Anyway, I’m not going to wax any more philosophical than that on a Monty Python video. I just thought it was a fun illustration of a frustration we all have at various times in our line of work.

So, are there scenes of any other movies or shows that you see and immediately equate to stuff you have to deal with in the world of requirements and projects? If so, please share them in the comments below. It’d be fun to hear about them.

But please, no references to Office Space. I am still repressing memories from my consulting days that come a little to close to the surface when I watch that one..

Related posts:

1. How hard could it be to design the stop sign?
2. Advantages of E-mail Communication
3. Weaknesses of E-mail Communication