Thread by @jamesmh_dev

Dev Tip 🔥: You want to convince management of something? (Tackling a certain problem area of your software code, issues with infrastructure, lack of team standards, etc.)

What do you do?

Tell a story. 🙂(Continued 👇)

Don't start by writing out a huge technical document showing all the places in your code that need to be changed.

Don't create a bunch of diagrams that show the complex relationships between the parts of your software.

Don't list out industry best practices and then argue that because they are "best practices" they should be adopted.

Do tell a story.

Start with where the business is at now. Right now, there's a villain.

Who's your business' villain?

Next, explain what that villain is doing and where not intervening will lead.

Then, introduce the hero of the story. Who or what is he/she? How will the hero capture and rid the world of the villain?

Explain what the world looks like without the villain. What potential future does this allow the business to create? What new opportunities does this allow for?

Think about any story that has a clear villain, hero and resolution.

Star Wars: In it, the hero isn't just "a hero". He has to learn and train to become a hero.

Many times that's part of the story - there's a process to becoming a hero.

Finally, explain the story as a slide-deck/presentation rather than a huge complicated document that nobody has the time to decipher.

Surprisingly (maybe not so much), you'll become respected and trusted for being able to clearly explain the essentials of these kinds of business problems.

Who knows where that will lead? 😋

Pro tip: Use images of well-known villains and heroes in your slides 😉

E.g. Make Darth Vader point to the issues he's caused 😋