The only three communication rules you need to follow

If you have non-tech friends and tell them you're working in a software company, they sometimes picture people with hoodies up, coding all day. Surprise: software development is not about coding all day.

It's about communication. All day.

Your customers (hopefully) tell you what they want. Sadly, so does management. You work with PM and PO colleagues. Multiple teams need to stay in sync. Your dev team hears what a user wants, but what pops up in their head is a shiny new technology they could use to build it.

And when you ship it at some point, you have to tell users what you built. Keep marketing, sales and support in loop. And learn if what you built is actually what they needed.

And then you repeat it. Or at least, that's what some people say.

So yes. It's all about communication.

Here are three rules that make it easier across that whole journey.

1. Define the outcome before you start

Before any conversation, meeting, email, or Slack message, be clear about the outcome. What kind of clarity, decision, or alignment do you want at the end? If you don't know that, the conversation will drift.

2. Keep it focused

Avoid conversations with multiple goals. They always escalate. One topic, one goal, one thread. If something else comes up, park it or schedule a follow-up.

3. Write down the result

If you don't write it down, assign responsibility, and define next steps and to-dos, you will have the exact same conversation again next week. Guaranteed.