I think part of the issue is that developers and engineers tend to think in concrete terms because to make things work, they must be concrete. People in sales, marketing, and management often speak in jargon and metaphors that cover for a lack of substance... though, to be fair, many of them don't know they're doing it because they don't really implement things themselves.

Years ago, I worked at a company where the head of marketing gave a 40-minute presentation to management about the new marketing strategy to drive growth. Her presentation was such a success they told her to present it to engineering, thinking it would whip up enthusiasm about what great vision the company had and how fast we were poised to grow.

The woman presentated to a sea of bewildered faces. None of the software devs could figure out what she was saying, and that's a problem, since marketing's job is to convey a clear message.

Finally, we started peppering her with questions. Not in a rude way. We were genuinely trying to pin down some concrete meaning behind the flood of jargon. After ten minutes of questions, one dev finally summed it up: "So we're going to run more ads and let people know we offer a broad selection and good prices?"

"Yes," the woman said. She seemed frustrated and defeated, though all the devs were happy to finally understand a message that made sense.

Then she blurted out, "God, I hate talking to developers!"