As testers and test managers, we often find ourselves needing to communicate project status to high level managers. Unfortunately, we most often need to communicate bad news. This can be especially difficult when we don't all speak the same lingo. Testers think in terms of software defects, stability, reliability, usability, and overall software quality.
Executives think in terms of business strategy, revenue goals, profitability, and market share.
These two dialects are incompatible without some translation. However, there is a significant risk that the product is not of the quality demanded by our market. In order to meet both our quality goals and schedule, it's imperative we have more resources in the form of headcount. In addition to speaking in a different language, executives often have the attention span of squirrels. Information that takes more than 30 seconds or 1 page to explain is ignored.