Lost in Translation: When Teams Don’t Speak the Same Language

This week, I found myself in a situation that started out deceptively simple: a request for a report.

What followed was a tangle of emails, misaligned expectations, and growing frustration between several teams and a software provider. And at the heart of it? Everyone was using the same term — but no one meant the same thing.

“We Just Need the File!”

To the requester, the file wasn’t just a report. It was a structured, detailed export, formatted to be imported into another system. To others involved, it referred to a simpler piece of data that already existed in the reports being generated.

From their perspective, the request had already been fulfilled.

What looked like a technical issue was, in reality, a classic case of miscommunication.

Same Word, Different Meanings

This is the trap we fall into all the time: assuming shared understanding.

Each team brings its own vocabulary, mental models, and operational context. When you layer in third-party systems that don’t share either side’s domain language, things break down — fast.

I stepped in and asked a few simple questions:

• “What exactly are you trying to do with this file?”
• “Can you show me what the final output needs to look like?”
• “What does this term mean in your context?”

Once the real requirements were clear, the path forward was obvious. This wasn’t a system limitation. It was a language barrier.

What Helped

To align everyone, I wrote a quick reference:

• Defined the actual data needed and how it would be used.
• Mapped what was available and what wasn’t.
• Clarified the expectations from each group.

A few conversations and a diagram later, we were unblocked.

Lessons Learned

• Never assume shared definitions. Even common terms carry different meanings in different domains.
• Clarify the “why” behind the request. Understanding intent uncovers the real need.
• Act as a translator. Sometimes the most valuable thing IT can do isn’t coding — it’s making sure people understand each other.

If you’ve ever been caught in the middle of a cross-functional misunderstanding, know this: it’s not a failure — it’s a chance to lead.

Helping people speak the same language might be the most underrated skill in tech.