Comments on: Rhetoric for Engineers You make a very persuasive argument, with a wide reach, and still it has depth in meaning. I think you're practicing on us with the very skills you're talking about; sneaky, very sneaky... ;) Really, this is a good article, and I like your use of the light cone, it makes the concept very easy to understand. While syntactics may initially appear to an engineer as a waste of time, the first time they lose an argument to a weaker position, should become a necessity for them if they value their work, because those that continue to ignore the value in the skill will be likely to repeat their failure as long as the people they are trying to persuade put value in it. You make a very persuasive argument, with a wide reach, and still it has depth in meaning. I think you’re practicing on us with the very skills you’re talking about; sneaky, very sneaky… ;) Really, this is a good article, and I like your use of the light cone, it makes the concept very easy to understand.

While syntactics may initially appear to an engineer as a waste of time, the first time they lose an argument to a weaker position, should become a necessity for them if they value their work, because those that continue to ignore the value in the skill will be likely to repeat their failure as long as the people they are trying to persuade put value in it.

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By: Chris Hargrove/2011/03/27/rhetoric-for-engineers/#comment-2083 Chris Hargrove Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:00:47 +0000 That's so true! There have been several times now where I found myself "losing" a discussion just because the other guy had much better rhetorical skills and less because he had the better arguments. It is very important <strong>how </strong>you explain something, especially to the management. Still, I'd wish not having to dive into politics when all I want to do is good work. But then, beware of this other guy who will step up and talk a bunch of $%&/ nicely packaged in bautiful words. Sorry if this sounds negative, but that's from bitter experience. That’s so true!
There have been several times now where I found myself “losing” a discussion just because the other guy had much better rhetorical skills and less because he had the better arguments. It is very important how you explain something, especially to the management. Still, I’d wish not having to dive into politics when all I want to do is good work. But then, beware of this other guy who will step up and talk a bunch of $%&/ nicely packaged in bautiful words. Sorry if this sounds negative, but that’s from bitter experience.

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