What does “Non-Technical” mean?
I recently re-read Cristina Cordova’s blog post “On Non-Technical.” Its a short post in which Cristina notes how we are no longer in a time where “Non-Technical” works. The post struck a chord with me.
Every aspect of your company is inherently involved with your technology, whether you are the actual “builder” or “seller” of the technology. As Cristina tersely points out, every “non-technical” part of a startup directly impacts your technology.
“Marketing impacts how you describe your technology.”
Marketing needs to show your technology to the customer. How will you portray your technology. How will you show to the potential customer the ways in which your technology can help them?
“Sales puts your technology in the hands of customers”
Just like marketing, the only way to make a sale will be by understanding the ins and outs of the technology you are selling. Without this proficiency, you will fail to sell the product. Every salesperson is selling their technology to the product. How is this technology better than the current product they may be using? How will this improve their efficiency and happiness?
The term technical comes from the Greek “technikos meaning art, skillful, from technē art, craft, skill akin to Greek tektōn builder, carpenter.
If we take these words literally, one who is “non-technical” is one that is not involved with or not in the class of one who is skillful in the art of building. Obviously the definition has evolved over time to become synonymous with having the understanding of how machines or technology works, particularly with regard to the highly specialized details. However, I think we should begin to rethink this definition that builds upon the roots of the word as the current usage of technical has begun to take its own meaning.
We all must be technical. For a company to succeed, each employee will need to have the skills to describe, sell, and pitch the technology. The term non-technical should not be in our vocabulary. You may not need to know what framework your engineers are using but you must know how the technology that your engineers built will help the customer.
The level of our specialized skills with regard to technology will all be different. If a company wants to succeed, each employee needs to have a great understanding of their technology and how that will change the world. Their title should not impact their understanding and labeling one technical or non-technical is useless. As Cristina ends perfectly, “We’re no longer in a time where “Non-Technical” works.”
UPDATE:
I emailed Cristina my post and she added several great points that I wanted to share.
“Too often, companies often want to group engineering and non-engineering into two separate groups. I think this would happen less if those in engineering, product and design knew what those in the “other” group (marketing, sales, etc.) actually did. As Stripe gets bigger, I meet newer folks on the team who ask me, “So, what exactly do you do and how is that different from sales or marketing?” If you took the mystery away, it wouldn’t be so hard to precisely define and would prevent engineers from grouping all of those functions together.”
