Why can't they just talk to each other?

Communicating is more than sending messages

Maybe it’s that both teams say they agreed on a decision, but they have different ideas of what the decision was.

Or maybe one team thinks they’ve solved the problem while the other team thinks it’s only gotten worse.

Both teams are completely reasonable, intelligent and well-meaning.

And both teams think they’re communicating.

So why aren’t they?

Messages get their meaning from our understanding of the broader context: What’s our goal? What tools can we use to accomplish it? When and how can we use them?

This is your mental model and you probably take it for granted.

So does everyone else.

Even if it’s not the same.

So you may not notice when someone’s different mental model causes them to understand the message you sent completely differently than you meant it.

Those two teams that can’t communicate, no matter how hard they try?

That’s what they’re doing.