In my opinion, communication should be tailored to the stakeholder’s knowledge level and decision needs. Simplifying technical details into clear outcomes helps stakeholders stay engaged and aligned.
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Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
I fully agree with your point, and I would add one important layer.
When a stakeholder says an update is “too technical”, they are usually not rejecting complexity. They are signaling that the communication is not serving their role in the system. The real adjustment is not simplification, but reframing.
Effective stakeholder communication starts by answering four questions, in this order: What has changed. Why it matters now. What risk, opportunity, or decision is emerging. What is expected from the stakeholder, if anything.
Technical detail should remain available, but as a secondary layer, pulled when needed, not pushed by default. This respects both transparency and cognitive load.
From a leadership perspective, this is also an integration skill. The Project Manager acts as a translator between delivery reality and decision reality. When that translation is done well, stakeholders feel informed, respected, and engaged, without being overwhelmed.
In practice, this shift often transforms the conversation. Instead of asking for simpler updates, stakeholders start asking better questions. That is a strong signal that communication is aligned, purposeful, and doing its real job. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
You right. That´s because Stakeholder Analysis is a must. Business Analyst is on charge of that. Just to put it in terms of the PMI you will find about that inside the Business Analysis documentation.
Program Manager| HARPER SRLSanto Domingo / Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic
When a stakeholder says updates are “too technical,” it’s usually a framing issue, not a capability issue. The adjustment is to shift from technical detail to decision-focused communication:
What changed
Why it matters
Impact or risk
What’s needed from them (if anything)
Keep technical details available, but as a second layer. Effective stakeholder communication translates delivery reality into decision-relevance. Saving Changes...
When a stakeholder says updates are too technical, it signals a gap in language, not in effort. I frame updates around impact, decisions, and what it means for them. Technical details stay in the background unless needed. Clear, outcome focused communication keeps everyone aligned and avoids confusion. Saving Changes...
Updates seeming too technical may be an indication that a workstream isn't delivering end-to-end value regularly or frequently enough. In the case of software/data/cloud engineering, teams should generally aim to deliver iterative "vertical slices" of functionality with demonstrable business value rather than just tech components. Tech components are the "horizontal slices" that contribute to business outcomes but can't deliver anything by themselves.
It's a common problem in software and data engineering that teams can too easily drift into building systems in layers rather than focusing on valuable user-stories. The way to address that problem is to refine their backlog and split purely technical stories into more realistic deliverables that stakeholders can appreciate. Saving Changes...
I agree with that perspective. When a stakeholder says updates are “too technical,” it usually means the information isn’t aligned with how they make decisions.
What tends to work is shifting updates away from how work is done and toward what has changed, why it matters, and whether anything is needed from them. Technical detail can still be available, but it doesn’t need to lead the conversation. Saving Changes...
Syed Ashir Riaz I would also like to consider the reverse situation. What happens when your understanding of the project and your communication skills are weaker than the depth of knowledge of the stakeholder you are engaging with? How would you frame and deliver project updates to meet the expectations of a subject matter expert?
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