Term to define the phenomenon of explaining poorly by assuming your audience is more knowledgeable than it is on a subject [duplicate]

Question

Before I get started, I am not looking for "layman's terms". That involves "dumbing down" concepts to make them simple to understand, but often result in the analogies and descriptions being inaccurate.

What I am referring to is the phenomenon of a subject matter expert writing a poor or unclear explanation due to not realizing that some aspects of what they are describing are not obvious. or common knowledge in the target audience. It is something that I see repeatedly happening when reviewing software documentation and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) but am unsure if a word to describe the whole thing without having to explain it every time exists in english.

For example, you may write extensive documentation on how to resolve Alert 1875 on System X. Your document goes into extensive detail about what logs you are looking for in order to establish the root cause of the alert, etc. And a neophyte to the team raises their hand and asks "Ok, how do I check the logs?" because the expert took for granted that people reading the document would be familiar with what convention/system/application is used to access said logs.

If such a term exists in english, I would want to use it when telling someone I want my SOP to be reviewed by a person who is my contemporary but is not knowledgeable on the subject in order to catch myself being guilty of <insert-word-here>

Or "Dan hasn't touched System X yet, be sure to have him review your SOP to avoid <insert-word-here>"

Answer 1

There's an idiom talk over someone's head that describes the situation well

To talk about things that one cannot follow, understand, or comprehend.

This may be because the speaker doesn't realize that the audience lacks some basic knowledge of the subject matter, or because the speaker simply doesn't care to bring their explanation down to the audience's level.

In your sentence, you could say

Dan hasn't touched System X yet, be sure to have him review your SOP to avoid talking over people's heads.

Answer 2

This is related to Dunning-Kruger effect...

Most users here are aware of this phenomenon and its terminology.

Dunning and Kruger called this pattern the ...

false consensus effect.

-Wikipedia

A nice explanation from the article When The Highly-Capable Don’t Understand That They’re Highly-Capable

Simply put, these participants assumed that, because they performed so well, their peers must have performed well likewise. The highly-capable group only has themselves to go by, so they assume everyone is at a similar level... [emphasis mine]

Byrdseed.com...

In context:

"Dan hasn't touched System X yet; be sure to have him review your SOP to avoid 'false consensus effect'".

Answer 3

Caviar to the general

Something of an exceptionally high quality or intelligence not befitting or appreciated by those who consume, see, or partake in it. "General" here refers to the general population, not a military general.

This phrase comes from Shakespeare 's Hamlet, where Hamlet commends a play with the words: ‘the play, I remember, pleased not the million; 'twas caviar to the general’.

I wrote several novels earlier in my career that were very well received by academics, but they were caviar to the general and never achieved popular success.

[The Free Dictionary]