David Silverman is my hero for posting wonderful pieces (blogs.harvardbusiness.org/silverman) on business writing. In his April 14 post, he offers eye-opening advice on how many times a piece of communication needs to be revised according to its nature and purpose and the size of the audience. I highly recommend that item - and while you're there, check the February 10, February 19, March 6, and May 1 posts. Be sure to look at the reader commentary; it is entertaining and instructive.
The fast pace of work may make for limited opportunities to "smith" our prose as much as we might like - and soaring oratory may be unnecessary in many cases. After all, with our adoption of email and then the instant or twitter message, we have increased our tolerance for formulations that might otherwise be considered a bit rough. However, the common admonition "sleep on that email before you hit send" is a wise one; misunderstanding is difficult if not impossible to correct after the fact.
Here are two sets of questions I apply in creating or editing any non-casual text:
DOES THE MESSAGE "WORK"?
1. Having read the piece, are readers likely to know clearly what action is expected from them?
2. If the purpose is anything other than communicating low-risk information, is the tone appropriate and at the right level of intensity?
3. Is the level of formality appropriate for the topic and for the relationship between the writer and the readers?
IS THE MESSAGE FREE OF ERROR OR DISTRACTING CLUTTER?
4. Are there mistakes with real impact - e.g. "not" where we mean "now"?
5. Could plainer words convey the meaning, and did fad expressions sneak in - e.g. "operationalize" where "carry out" would do?
6. Is informal usage cluttering up the reading experience - e.g. "there are many people who believe" or (ouch) "there's many people that believe" where "many believe" would be crisp?
7. Is there ambiguity? Sentences starting "This ..." are especially likely to require reformulation: "A hacking incident uncovered a serious loss of data. This caused great concern and much extra work." (In my own writing I simply avoid beginning a new sentence with "this" - problem solved!)
Once such questions are addressed - we may each have a personal checklist of pitfalls to avoid - wait! Look at the item later, with fresh eyes and a bit of distance. I have been "saved" many a time just by planning ahead for inserting such a delay. So indeed, in the absence of a different set of eyes ... do sleep on it.
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