--- title: "What is Proximity inter-communication" url: "https://osherove.com/blog/2003/11/25/what-is-proximity-inter-communication.md" canonical: "https://osherove.com/blog/2003/11/25/what-is-proximity-inter-communication.html" published: "2003-11-25T17:11:00" updated: "2003-11-25T17:11:00" tags: ["Off Topic"] author: "Roy Osherove" description: "I find “ Paper prototyping “ a good technique. For some odd reason, it also bugs me that people sell a book that talks about how to draw dialogs on paper and move them around. Therefore, I've created an introduction to…" usage: "Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page)." license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" --- # What is Proximity inter-communication By Roy Osherove November 25, 2003 In [Off Topic](https://osherove.com/blog/category/off-topic) **Historical article** · Originally published November 25, 2003; technical details may be outdated. I find “[Paper prototyping](http://www.paperprototyping.com/)“ a good technique. For some odd reason, it also bugs me that people sell a book that talks about how to draw dialogs on paper and move them around. Therefore, I've created an introduction to the next “ground-breaking“ software design philosophy: The following is based on the [Paper Prototyping “what is it“ homepage](http://www.paperprototyping.com/what.html)  **What is Proximity inter-communication** Definition: _“__Proximity inter-communication is a variation of human interaction where participants perform day to day tasks by interacting with other participants that are standing near by, using voice and various gestures to express what they want to do”_

The "participant" stands or sits in front of the other “participant” and performs hand gestures and smiles or utters words in order to do Proximity inter communication with the other person. Other “participants” may or may not be sitting or standing close by or far away from the second participant. They may listen or they may not. Notice that you must breathe in and out before speaking long sentences or you will run out of air and communication will fail

**What kinds of software can you communicate about?** Proximity communication can be used for virtually any type of software design – Web site, hand-held device, or even hardware. Its purpose is to get quick feedback from other people while the thought in your mind is still "fresh." Some communications take place near the kitchen, while others use a crowded street or a restaurant. **How is Proximity communication related to software design?** The above definition of Proximity communication does not overlap with programming. The two concepts are not quite the same. It’s possible to do software design without needing to proximity-communicate with anyone. And Proximity communication can be used for purposes other than software design– some product teams find it helpful in ordering pizza and telling various technology related jokes.. **What skills do you need?** You do not need to be a graphic artist or software engineer to do proximity communication, though those skills might come in handy when you’re ready to actually start programming. If you have ideas that you can express by uttering them in words and sentences – then you can do proximity communication.. ## More in Off Topic [All posts in Off Topic](https://osherove.com/blog/category/off-topic) - Nov 27, 2003 ### [I need to learn how to write a review](https://osherove.com/blog/2003/11/27/i-need-to-learn-how-to-write-a-review.html) - Nov 26, 2003 ### [\[OT\] make them sing it!](https://osherove.com/blog/2003/11/26/ot-make-them-sing-it.html) - Nov 25, 2003 ### [GDN Release download stats](https://osherove.com/blog/2003/11/25/gdn-release-download-stats.html) - Nov 25, 2003 ### [Nevertheless](https://osherove.com/blog/2003/11/25/nevertheless.html) --- ## About the author **Roy Osherove**: Senior Solutions Architect at AWS working on AI for production and AI-driven development; author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership, with about 20 years of consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery. ### Sites - [RobotPaper](https://robotpaper.ai/): This blog: AI patterns and anti-patterns, AI and coding agents, and engineering leadership. - [osherove.com](https://osherove.com): Roy's personal site. Author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership; consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery, plus about 20 years of blog posts. - [The Art of Unit Testing](https://www.artofunittesting.com): The Art of Unit Testing, 3rd Edition (Manning): readable, maintainable, trustworthy unit tests, plus TDD workshops in C#, JavaScript, Java and Kotlin. - [5whys.com](https://www.5whys.com): Roy's writing on software team leadership: self-organizing teams, surviving chaos, learning mode and the Elastic Leadership model. - [Pipeline Driven](https://pipelinedriven.org): Continuous delivery and DevOps practices: build patterns, pipeline-friendly testing, DevOps metrics and enterprise DevOps. - [Elastic Leadership](https://www.elasticleadership.com): Elastic Leadership, Roy's framework for software team leaders (survival, learning and self-organizing modes). ### Social - X: https://x.com/royosherove - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osherove/ ### Contact - Contact form: https://forms.gle/jQSx5KoXvrVA1JCK7 ### License Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page). License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/