An unexpected takeaway from the OnePlus Nord launch

‍🚀Improving one of the key skills for any engineer and aspiring tech superstar

Getting way too technical when saying something. Does this sound familiar? Whether you’re a software engineer or a business stakeholder, you probably encountered this issue more than once. Time and time again, we find our way back to it, either in simple daily status updates or in high-stakes pitches.

Every now and then, someone solves this problem in such a beautiful, elegant way, that it’s just worth appreciating out loud. Which is why we’re here.

OnePlus Nord was revealed yesterday, in the first ever AR smartphone launch. It was great in so many ways, but I just want to stop and appreciate how their storytelling craftsmanship can help software engineers level up their skills.

1️⃣ When talking about the protection ring around the back cameras they say “The outermost ring has a PVD coating”.

I’m sorry, what? PVC coating? They lost me. When we get information that’s too far out of reach for our brain, we stop listening. I didn’t make that up, but maybe Paul Grice did.

In our day to day reality, the equivalent of this could be something like “I worked on issue number 627 and I have a pull request up”.

And then they continue:

“which, in simple terms, protects the sensor array and preserves its finish when placing Nord down on a flat surface. Which you only do with your phone 250 times a day, on average.”

Now we’re talking. That information is now digestible, it means something to me. And it also shows they actually care enough to be data driven.

Its equivalent in our previous example could be something like “I worked on the issue regarding refresh rates, fixed that annoying glitching we discussed and I’m currently waiting for a code review”.

2️⃣ Here come the skeptical voices: so, what? Of course they explain it in simple terms, it’s their launch. Or maybe it was just a stroke of luck.

Was it though?

“We’ve also fitted the Nord with up to 12 GB of RAM. Not just because it looks good on a specs sheet, although it does look good on a spec sheet. Instead, that amount of RAM allows Nord to preserve the status of your favorite apps so they don’t have to reload when you jump from one to the other.”

Is 12 a lot? Oreo cookies, no. Months of pandemic, yes.

12 GB of RAM makes a lot more sense explained as something tangible that you can relate to — your apps not having to reload when you jump from one to the other.

3️⃣ Being able to properly articulate your message, especially your why, can be crucial when you’re trying to defend your timeline or budget. Here’s a great example of putting things into perspective, when talking about one of the 280 OS optimizations they worked on. Oh, and yes, it does help to have the data backing you up.

“We spent several months perfecting our unlock animation. Sure, this might seem like a trivial detail. After all, they only last 3 seconds in total. But when you’re unlocking your phone over 100 times a day, having great animations suddenly becomes fundamental”.

Always be on the lookout for growth — learning opportunities are everywhere, even in your next youtube feed scroll. Just, never settle.

Pun intended 😉