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Maybe this is a cultural difference but I find this method of communication very confusing. Without context “the bull is dead” is so useless as to be meaningles

Maybe this is a cultural difference but I find this method of communication very confusing. Without context “the bull is dead” is so useless as to be meaningless. I’m OK and safe, there’s been a car accident, I am at this location, there’s no rush. This the most important and actionable detail for a parent. Bulls and their mortal status are irrelevant. This just reads like two robots trying to sound succinct but failing to communicate. Again might be a cultural difference.

gostsamo 3y ago
Quite agree. The example given is bad because we don't know about the bull and we don't care about it. Lots more, we are not given the final details about the accident, so the report looks rather incomplete at the end.
- philipswood 3y ago
  The example is good storytelling, but bad reporting. When telling a story you want to introduce the maximum meaningful uncertainty into your telling to attract the listener into listening attentively to try to resolve it. "The bull is dead." immediately introduces clearly important information that tells the listener they need to focus, but at the same time makes it clear that more context is needed. i.e the subtext is "listen up important details to follow". For status reporting you want to allow the listener to stop as soon as possible to free up his/her/its limited management focus "bandwidth". "I was in an accident, but I'm fine" would fit his paradigm better. (But would make a less notable/memorable story)
- piecerough 3y ago
  The example is brilliant and leaving it hanging for the reader is the intended purpose (e.g. a far-away third-party like me reading a team's report doesn't have a reason to care past that)
WesolyKubeczek 3y ago
> Bulls and their mortal status are irrelevant. But it’s India where they are pretty big on bovines in general and their mortal status in particular.
- lolinder 3y ago
  Is it India? The author was residing in California at the time of writing and the bull was a Texas longhorn [0]. Given those details and the fact that the author didn't bother specifying India as the location (even though he was writing for an American magazine), I would assume the United States as the location. [0] https://www.computerworld.com/article/2567290/no-more-bull.amp.html https://www.computerworld.com/article/2567290/no-more-bull.a...
bee_rider 3y ago
Using “the” in this case almost seems (probably unintentionally) misleading or confusing. It is a definite article, it implies that there’s a particular bull that we’re talking about. Since there isn’t a bull already introduced in the conversation, I think most people would begin searching their memory for a bull that both parties are familiar with. It is discombobulating.
pfannkuchen 3y ago
> Without context “the bull is dead” is so useless as to be meaningless. It’s possibly because you live in a location where bulls wandering on the road doesn’t ever happen, and where the author lives it does happen? If, for example, the call was instead “I’m okay, the deer is dead”, I wouldn’t find it confusing at all.
crazygringo 3y ago
No it's not cultural, it's a truly terrible example. It's actual quite ironic that a blog post about emphasizing clear purposeful communication, uses a main example that is anything but. "The bull is dead" is indeed totally meaningless and irrelevant here. Assuming nobody else was harmed, the status of the car is the next important thing here.

gostsamo 3y ago

Quite agree. The example given is bad because we don't know about the bull and we don't care about it. Lots more, we are not given the final details about the accident, so the report looks rather incomplete at the end.

philipswood 3y ago
The example is good storytelling, but bad reporting. When telling a story you want to introduce the maximum meaningful uncertainty into your telling to attract the listener into listening attentively to try to resolve it. "The bull is dead." immediately introduces clearly important information that tells the listener they need to focus, but at the same time makes it clear that more context is needed. i.e the subtext is "listen up important details to follow". For status reporting you want to allow the listener to stop as soon as possible to free up his/her/its limited management focus "bandwidth". "I was in an accident, but I'm fine" would fit his paradigm better. (But would make a less notable/memorable story)
piecerough 3y ago
The example is brilliant and leaving it hanging for the reader is the intended purpose (e.g. a far-away third-party like me reading a team's report doesn't have a reason to care past that)

WesolyKubeczek 3y ago

> Bulls and their mortal status are irrelevant. But it’s India where they are pretty big on bovines in general and their mortal status in particular.

lolinder 3y ago
Is it India? The author was residing in California at the time of writing and the bull was a Texas longhorn [0]. Given those details and the fact that the author didn't bother specifying India as the location (even though he was writing for an American magazine), I would assume the United States as the location. [0] https://www.computerworld.com/article/2567290/no-more-bull.amp.html https://www.computerworld.com/article/2567290/no-more-bull.a...

bee_rider 3y ago

Using “the” in this case almost seems (probably unintentionally) misleading or confusing. It is a definite article, it implies that there’s a particular bull that we’re talking about. Since there isn’t a bull already introduced in the conversation, I think most people would begin searching their memory for a bull that both parties are familiar with. It is discombobulating.

pfannkuchen 3y ago

> Without context “the bull is dead” is so useless as to be meaningless. It’s possibly because you live in a location where bulls wandering on the road doesn’t ever happen, and where the author lives it does happen? If, for example, the call was instead “I’m okay, the deer is dead”, I wouldn’t find it confusing at all.

crazygringo 3y ago

No it's not cultural, it's a truly terrible example. It's actual quite ironic that a blog post about emphasizing clear purposeful communication, uses a main example that is anything but. "The bull is dead" is indeed totally meaningless and irrelevant here. Assuming nobody else was harmed, the status of the car is the next important thing here.