How to Explain Technical Concepts to Non-Technical Stakeholders
A step-by-step guide to explain technical concepts in a non-complex way
As engineers, we often dive deep into the technical details of our work - data structures, system architectures, or debugging strategies. But when presenting to non-technical stakeholders like managers, clients, or marketing teams, those details can overwhelm them. Your ability to translate technical concepts into clear, relatable language can transform how effectively your ideas are received and implemented.
In this newsletter, I am trying to create a step-by-step guide to explain technical concepts in a non-complex way. This skill becomes really important as you grow to senior and staff levels
Why Clear Communication Matters
Non-technical stakeholders often care less about how something works and more about why it matters.
For example:
A product manager needs to understand how a delay in feature delivery impacts the release timeline
A marketer needs to know how a new feature will affect user engagement and user experience
A business leader wants to see how a technical change impacts the bottom line
By aligning your explanations with their goals, you become not just a technical expert but a trusted collaborator. You establish yourself as a point of contact for people from different domains and become the subject matter expert.
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The Step-by-Step Framework to Explain Technical Concepts
1. Start With the Stakeholder’s Goals (The “Why”)
Before diving into the technical details, establish why the concept or change is relevant to them. Connect it to their priorities, such as faster delivery, cost savings, or better user experience.
Example:
Instead of: “We need to migrate the database to a NoSQL solution to make it more scalable and robust”
Say: “Migrating to a NoSQL database will help us handle larger amounts of user data, ensuring the app runs smoothly even during peak traffic.”
2. Use Relatable Analogies
Analogies help simplify complex ideas by comparing them to everyday objects and experiences.
Examples:
Database Indexing:
“Imagine searching for a word in a dictionary. Without an index, you’d have to check every page. An index helps you jump straight to the right section.”APIs:
“Think of an API like a menu at a restaurant. It shows what’s available, and you can make a request (place an order). The kitchen (the backend) prepares it and sends it back to you.”
3. Cut the Jargon, Use Simple Language
Avoid overly technical terms unless they’re essential. If you must use them, define them briefly.
Example:
Instead of: “This module has high latency due to inefficient I/O operations.”
Say: “The system is taking longer than expected to process requests because the way it reads and writes data needs optimization.”
4. Break It Into Digestible Steps
People can only process so much information at once. Divide your explanation into small, logical parts.
Example: Let’s say you are explaining why Microservices is better suited than monolith, you can use simple statements like
“A microservice architecture breaks a big app into smaller, independent parts.”
“Each part handles one specific task, like login or payments.”
“This makes it easier to update or fix one part without affecting the others.”
5. Focus on the Business Impact
Always connect technical work to tangible outcomes. Stakeholders care most about how it affects their work, customers, or goals.
Example:
“By implementing caching, we’ll reduce page load times by 40%, which improves user satisfaction and reduces server costs by 30%.”
6. Engage Your Audience Actively
Pause for Questions: After each key point, check if they’re following.
Ask for Input: Involve them in the discussion to ensure alignment.
Practical Tips for Better Explanations
1. Know Your Audience
Adapt your language to their familiarity with technology
For highly non-technical audiences, avoid unnecessary detail and stick to high-level explanations.
For slightly technical audiences, you can include some intermediate concepts but still avoid deep dives.
For highly technical audience, you can deep dive into the technical aspects
Pro Tip: If unsure, start with a simple explanation and add details only if asked.
2. Use Visual Aids
A diagram, flowchart, or even a quick sketch can make abstract ideas concrete.
Explaining data flow? Show it with arrows and boxes.
Demonstrating system architecture? Use layers to represent components.
Example Tool: Tools like Excalidraw or Draw.io are great for quick visualizations.
3. Practice Conciseness
Time is precious, especially in meetings. Practice summarizing your explanation in one or two sentences before diving into more detail.
A Quick Exercise to Master This Skill
Pick a Technical Topic You Know Well
Choose something you’ve recently worked on—e.g., fixing a bug, optimizing a feature, or deploying a new tool.Write Two Explanations
For a Developer: Use detailed technical terms.
For a Non-Technical Stakeholder: Simplify it with analogies, plain language, and a focus on outcomes.
Test Your Explanation
Share the non-technical version with a friend or family member outside tech. If they can repeat the gist back to you, you’ve nailed it
Final Thoughts
Clear communication isn’t about dumbing things down, it’s about showing that you understand your audience’s perspective. When you explain technical concepts in a way that aligns with their goals, you build trust, foster collaboration, and make better decisions together.
Your Turn:
What technical concept have you struggled to explain in the past? Reply and share—it could inspire the next edition of The Hustling Engineer
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Explaining technical concepts to non-technical people can be challenging, but it's essential. The key is helping them understand how the technical aspects impact the business. To do this effectively, use simple terms and examples they can relate to, making the explanation clear and meaningful. That's where the real collaboration happens.
Thanks for this great article!
Great article. It’s very important skill in the journey to lead or above levels.
These days I am observing a trend of C level and product people knows technical detail because of cultural shift.