When you have mastered numbers, you will in fact no longer be reading numbers, any more than you read words when reading books. You will be reading meanings.
–W. E. B. Du Bois, American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist
As project managers, numbers and the information they convey are the glue that holds the process of delivering value to the customer to together.
These numbers are plans, estimates, measures of Effectiveness, Performance, Risk, Value. There units of measure must always be meaningful to the decision makers. This is a fundamental issue when the units are useful only to a specific group.
Story Points or Stories are not units of measure found on the balanced sheet. The primary unit of measure for the business decision maker is Dollars and Time. All deliverables have a value measured in some form in Dollars and the time when that value will be available to start accruing that value.
When we speak in units of measures not meaningful to the decision makers, we obfuscate conversation, and become frustrated when those we should be informing don't understand what we are trying to convey.
When we hear you don't understand what I am telling you, it is not the obligation of the listener to understand in the presence of meaningless units. It is the obligation of the speaker. Classroom teacher know this, flight instructors know this, baseball coaches know this. Any mentor, coach, advisor, or consultant knows this.
