Hearing the scent

For me, the hardest kind of communication is cross-sense communication.

I can’t make you hear the scent of a flower—no matter how beautifully I describe it, or even sing about it. If you’ve never smelled that fragrance before, you’ll never truly understand what I’m trying to say.

And in teamwork, sense goes far beyond sight, sound, taste, touch, or smell.

Even when a team shares the same goal, each function often operates through a different sense of reality. A Product Manager (PM) might not understand a designer’s design sense, and likewise, a designer might not grasp a PM’s business sense. We’re trying to make others hear a scent they’ve never smelled.

Before communicating, it helps to understand which sense the other person uses to perceive their world—so we can adjust our approach and speak through the same sense, not across them.

For example, if my PM is operating through a resource-management sense, I’ll present my design with clear scope and milestones—so they can sense that their resources are being managed effectively.

Whenever possible, I like to design in front of them (live sessions). That way, they can see how I structure ideas, make trade-offs, and prioritise details. They begin to understand my design sense more intuitively.

I’ve learned that working side by side is the fastest way to tune our senses together. Once our senses align, communication becomes effortless—and harmony becomes the by-product.