xi
Introduction
SCENARIO 1
A short while ago, you were hired by an internationally known agricultural
products firm that is planning to enter the highly competitive robotic market
with a revolutionary system they are calling a farmbot. As a software engineer
fresh out of college, you were hired to work in the Software Systems Laboratory,
designing and coding the new AI system and embedding it into an autono-
mous learning scheme that will be transparent to users, while concurrently
permitting the bot to adapt to environmental conditions as it encounters
them. Initially thrilled at such a revolutionary opportunity and challenge that
has the potential to change agriculture world-wide, you have discovered that as
much as 40 percent of your time is spent communicating to others what you
are doing—writing specifications and weekly status reports, making presenta-
tions in company meetings, interviewing people in marketing, and talking on
the phone. Not only is this work not what you were led to expect while you
were in one of the country’s leading technological institutes, but also you real-
ize that freshman English—which you struggled through and frankly hated—
did nothing to prepare you for the rigors of on-the-job communication.
SCENARIO 2
You have worked in the high-tech industry for several decades, rising to the
upper levels of management in the corporate communication division. You’ve
seen a lot of changes, including the dot-com boom and bust, as well as the
Great Recession. A lot of people have come and gone; there have been tremen-
dous advances in the field, and periods of economic uncertainty. Your
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