Surface Control

I’ve been working through a tough situation with a client project. We’re working to close out the work early and move forward, which has required a lot of delicate email communication.

As the back-and-forth messages were exchanged, I noticed something:

The more words I added to an email, the more negative the responses. I was increasing the surface area of communication, which opened up more opportunities for misunderstanding.

Leveraging this knowledge, I started using less words. I contracted the surface area of communication to increase clarity and reduce misunderstandings. Doing so helped constrain the communication to specific points of feedback versus a mass of attack points.

When I say surface area, I’m referring to what others can see, touch, or react to. In this case, the words in the email are the surface area—the points of interaction.

While the email communication necessitated constraint to reduce the surface area, this isn’t always the case. Sometimes you need to expand the surface area. For example, in order to improve the quality of the emails, I solicited more opinions and feedback. This expansion created more feedback (inputs) to improve the fidelity of the emails (outputs).

Surface area is a variable. You can control it up or down, expanding to increase the signal, or contracting to create focus. Used wisely, you can control the surface to shape the outcome.

There are three steps to Surface Control:

1. Map the surface to see what’s exposed or hidden.
2. Set the direction and choose between expanding or contracting.
3. Shape the outcome through adding or subtracting the surface.

1. Map the Surface

The process begins by identifying all the interaction points at play. You’re looking for areas where you’re too exposed, or where something is hidden.

Either way, you’re introducing some level of risk.

You’re too exposed:

• Writing too much and confusing the message, as with the example above.
• Adding too much scope to a software project and introducing complexity.
• Trying to solve too many problems with separate and distinct attributes.

Something is hidden:

• Not having enough information or knowledge to communicate clearly.
• Focusing on one small part of the software when building the early functionality.
• Missing context required to effectively solve a problem the right way.

2. Set the Direction

Once you determine whether you’re too exposed or something is hidden, it’s time to set the direction.

Too exposed? Contract the surface.

Something hidden? Expand the surface.

This is where you strategically adjust the surface variable to your advantage. Pause and assess the situation, and adjust accordingly. Do you need to contract the surface area and reduce your exposure? Or do you need to expand it and reveal something hidden?

That gives you the direction.

3. Shape the Outcome

With the direction set, you decide how to expand or contract. In doing so, you affect the outcome of the work. This is where it’s helpful to work backwards from the outcome you want to achieve. Start there, and then adjust the surface area to shape the outcome.

In the email example, the outcome was increased clarity. I decided to contract the surface area (the words), and used that as the starting point to test. Sometimes the first pass works, and sometimes you have to refine further. Each iteration is a test.

Contracting to shape the outcome:

• Communicate a simpler message with less words that creates clarity.
• Reduce the scope of functionality to make it easier to test and release the software.
• Shrink the problem to make it easier to reason about and solve.

Expanding to shape the outcome:

• Capture inputs and information to increase the quality of communication.
• Move through a larger user flow to see all points of interaction in the software.
• Collect more context to improve the fidelity of the decisions and the output.

Pay Attention

Before you can adjust anything, you have to notice it first. Be a mindful observer. Pay attention, specifically, to how much information is being filtered. Is there enough data to generate a strong signal? Too much?

Surface area is a variable. Like all variables, it has different effects depending on the situation. And while each situation is unique, you’ll find common and repeatable themes. I suspect that the next time I encounter a problem like too much surface area in my email communication, I can repeat the same steps to contract it.

Control the surface to shape the outcome.