A professor, to highlight the importance of communication, gave a simple exercise involving the whole class. He wrote a tongue twister
“Fred fed Ted bread and Ted fed Fred bread”
on a piece of paper and gave it to the first student sitting on the first row and asked him to whisper whatever he read in the next student’s ears. The second student was asked to repeat whatever he heard to the third student, and so on. This process was repeated till the student in the last row and finally, he/she was asked to say what he heard. He said,
“Fred said bake bread, Fred said eat bread”!
Talk about lost in translation!
This simple example helps us understand how much information and, importantly, meaning can be lost in communication. How difficult communication can be even in person, let alone through other mediums like digital. A similar predicament happens when business and I.T. communicate, particularly regarding requirements or expected outcomes.