How to talk to tech people (as a non-tech)?

The idea to write about how to talk to some group of people may seem peculiar at first. But those who have walked the path I have are already in an eager mode.

BeforeAll (Nope, you are not in Jest code)

The reason I am writing this is due to a prejudice. The prejudice that coders, developers (or whatever you'd like to call the people that spins up virtual environments) are may not be that easy to talk to. Now this idea is becoming an antique with each passing day. I also know that programmers are becoming more diverse and not all are the same. However, there are some parts which will guard their places and be relatable.

Assume Nothing

Now, when I was a PM, I was communicating often with programmers. With all my nontechincal background, both parties were having the time of their lives. I continuously got feature requests from clients that were urgent and important all the time. Some required hard work, some did not. Some seemed like that did not require hard work but that was not the reality. Third kind is the dangerous one. If you go them, and say this with all your smiling face:

Do you know what they will think instantly?

Now, they won't say this to your face (because, manners and whatnot) but they will definitely think about it. Because often even they don't know what they will encounter at that point. That feature may require backend changes, new libraries or some deep research on web. So for anything ,literally anything, start with

Hey! What do you think about this feature?

The Way To Criticize

When we criticize in our daily lives we often don't think What would the creator of this piece think? or we do and don't tell people that they have an ugly child (yes, I said it and it is out there now. I believe ugly babies exist). Remember that when you talk to a developer, perhaps you're talking about a piece they've worked on for hours. You don't want them to get defensive. You want them to cooperate and come up with a solution. When I was working at a toxic startup, I once heard a co-founder say Hey, why is this line swaying like an anchovy? to a developer. My god... The despair, the pain, the cringeness of that moment. You don't want to be that guy, trust me.

Be Open

My last advice is of a kind that goes for everything.To convey a message that make people know that you want to understand them, make their lives easier, take this one thing from me today

Be open. Speak up if you don't know about something, be eager to learn. Don't be afraid to ask stupid questions since there is none.