How to Speak Tech:
The Non-Techie’s Guide to Technology Basics in Business
Book proceeds support tech education
In a way that anyone can understand, How to Speak Tech: The Non-Techie’s Guide to Technology Basics in Business by Vinay Trivedi (Apress Media) spells out the essential technical terms and technologies involved in Internet startups and web applications. Nontechnical readers will find their digital literacy painlessly improved with each ten-minute chapter of this illustrative story of one successful technology startup building its web-based business from scratch.
Vinay Trivedi—entrepreneur, investor, tech enthusiast and Harvard grad—employs the startup story line as his frame for explaining in plain language the technology behind our daily user experiences, the successful strategies of social media giants, the bold aspirations of tiny startups and the competitive adaptations of ordinary businesses of all sizes and sectors. Along the way, he demystifies all those tech buzzwords in our business culture whose precise meanings are so often elusive even to the people using them.
“Success, creativity, and efficiency will lie with people who understand how to match the needs of users with the basics of technology,” said Joe Lassiter, Harvard Business School professor and Faculty Chair of the Harvard Innovation Lab. “Through the simplicity of his presentation, Vinay shows that the basics can be straightforwardly understood by anyone who puts in the time and effort to learn.”
The working premise of this book— Internet hardware, application software and business process—is that none of it is beyond the basic understanding of nontechnical readers. Trivedi peels back the mystery, explains it all in simplest terms, and gives his readers the wherewithal to listen intelligently and speak intelligibly when the subject turns to the Internet.
Readers of How to Speak Tech will acquire basic fluency in the language of all aspects of technology in business, including:
- Website hosts and programming languages for web apps
- Design and display on the front end
- Database Management, APIs, open-source programs, and feeds
- Performance and Scalability
The book is written for nontechnical business people who want to firm up their understanding of technology and their fluency with technical terms in widespread use in the business world, and mainstream readers who are looking for a short, accessible, and comprehensive treatment of technology in business to inform their personal experience as consumers and as passive and active generators of Internet content and value.
“Finally, [here’s] a book non-techies can use to understand the web technologies that are changing our lives,” says Paul Bottino, Executive Director of the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard. “Vinay shares his insight and passion clearly and joins the list of educational leaders driven to empower others to learn and take action.”
All proceeds from the book will go toward supporting tech education. Most businesses, organizations, policy makers, and economists understand that innovation is closely linked to technology. Innovation is highly dependent on investment, well-funded research, and an educated population. The US government has launched several initiatives in partnership with US companies to jumpstart science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs in recognition of the fact that no country can maintain prominence in the world unless it leads in STEM. How to Speak Tech is one effort in a larger movement to promote tech education and innovation.
For more information see SpeakingTech.com, and follow the book on Twitter @howtospeaktech and Facebook at www.facebook.com/speakingtech.
