Part 4 (1/2)

We'll meet briefly to go over the process on Monday at 10 a.m. in the conference room. Ask any questions about it then, and follow up with me personally if necessary. It's important to get this right because your check won't be issued if you don't follow through properly.

Thanks for handling this change efficiently.-Jim Note that we added a few things to the plan when we came to the actual writing: announcing the meeting, and the ”thanks” at the end. Why? Because neither idea had occurred to us before. As we wrote the simple memo, the meeting seemed like a good way to go in the circ.u.mstances outlined, and the closing carries both conviction that the new rules will be followed and a touch of appreciation for accepting procedural change (which, face it, n.o.body likes).

When the ”technical” part of an e-mail needs to be long or complicated, it might better be delivered as an attachment; or you can make it the final section of the e-mail and head it clearly (How to Use the System). Otherwise, readers may get lost in the details and miss important parts of your message.

Writing helps you think.

Here's something else that is important about writing effectively when you give it a chance: What you write reveals the quality of your thinking. When you really understand what you're writing about, you can describe it clearly. If Jim describes the new system but is hazy about how it works, that will show up in his memo.

To reverse the idea, consider that the reason so much bad writing exists is probably because there's so much bad thinking.

This is all too true in today's business world. Fuzzy, confused writing results from fuzzy, confused thinking. Overinflated claims for a person, product, or organization backed by little or no evidence-what we call ”empty rhetoric”-lacks substance and fools no one.

In fact, if you want to be sure you understand a new product, service, or technical procedure, try writing about it (or teaching it to someone else). When you hit gaps in your knowledge or thinking, take the time to remedy them. You can do research, ask a colleague, think some more, review your notes: whatever it takes. Most writers we know have one eye on their writing, the other on a search engine as they work so that they can look up terms and references they don't understand.

You can't fake good writing because it's built on good thinking. But take the trouble to try to write well, and the process will lead you back to your thinking. Improve your thinking, and you'll write better-a win-win situation.

Many professionals-from scientists to artists to business leaders-use writing as a way of crystallizing their thinking. Attempting to articulate ideas helps you figure out what you know and what you don't know, and points up what you need to find out.

With relatively short doc.u.ments, you can choose to just write it all down organically and see what you've got. If you followed the first four steps of our strategy, your material will probably be reasonably organized. Then you can take a closer look and start s.h.i.+fting around sentences, paragraphs, and sections to improve the logical flow of your ideas, facts, and arguments.

Truth 12. How to organize is a personal choice.

While mapping the content leads you to a natural organization for relatively short and simple kinds of writing-memos, letters, and such-longer and more complicated materials make organizing more of a challenge.

Here are some approaches professional writers use to organize their work when it's complex. These approaches can be adapted for proposals, reports, articles, and other writing projects where you have a substantial amount of information to pull into shape. Some approaches give you ways to build in the organization early on, saving you lots of time later: 1. Divide and conquer-List your major project components that are likely to make up sections in the final doc.u.ment, and give each a separate piece of ”paper” (a file) on your computer. For example, if you're a.s.signed to a.s.semble a company history, you might have sections such as Founding and Early History, Important People, Product Development, Current Financial Picture, and so on. Then, as you're a.s.sembling information, add the relevant information to the appropriate page or file. Thanks to the computer, you can shuffle the pieces around after collecting them, too. People used to do this on index cards-and some still do-so try that if you're a tactile learner.

2. Create a master list-Skim your pile of raws notes and make a list of the most important ideas or elements. Review the list and see what order seems most logical and rearrange as necessary. Then for each idea or element, find the backup information in your material and add it in directly under the right heading.

3. Color code-Print out your ma.s.s of material and go through it with colored markers, matching up the color with a section-green for financial information, for example. You can also mark a piece for great quotes, possible leads, endings, and more so that they're easy to find later. You can color code on your computer screen, too, but because it's hard to do a lot of reading on screen, many people prefer to work with printouts.

4. Bubble it-Some of us learned this method in school. It works best with pen and paper. Put each major idea on paper with a circle around it, leaving plenty of room among the circles. Then draw lines between the circles of those ideas that connect, or logically follow, the other. This gets messy, but you can see the whole complicated picture on one sheet. If you're a visual thinker, it might be the technique for you. The Visual Thesaurus () is an example of this technique. Thinkmap () describes it as creating ”word maps that blossom with meanings and branch to related words.”

5. Don't look now-Without referring to your ma.s.sive pile of notes, and preferably after you haven't looked through it for a day or so, think about what comes to your mind as important (or interesting) about the information you've collected. Many of us find our subconscious has been hard at work figuring this out while we weren't actively focused on the project. Write down the points that occur to you, and then review your material for backup in each category.

6. Tell somebody-Suppose you're reporting on a research project. Ask yourself, what would I say if X (my boss, girlfriend, cubemate, whoever) asked me why I did this, why does it matter, what did I find? Your answer gives you the kernel of the report and a structure that works.

7. Let your computer do more of the work-There is a lot of project management software available, ranging from open source desktop and Web-based programs to proprietary programs for desktops and the Web. They vary in difficulty and in the learning curve required to use them. Many are collaborative, which means you can work with others who are not sitting next to you but are continents away.

Try some of these systems out and see if they help. If not, don't use them-they are not ends in themselves. Everyone works differently, and there's never only one way to get where you want. Thanks to modern technology, the tools for organizing, reorganizing, s.h.i.+fting material, and making big changes are easy to use.

We won't talk in detail about editing yet, because we have to get the words down first. But here's a liberating thought: You're never-well, hardly ever-stuck with your initial version. In fact, writers label that version ”the first draft,” then review it to see what's not working, and fix it.

That means you can experiment with your first draft and not get hung up on details and missing pieces. Will you have to schedule time for editing a major writing project? Yes, but ultimately, you can get the work done with surprising efficiency.

Truth 13. Every message you send has a psychological impact.

Which of the following e-mails start well? Which do not? Which versions would you keep reading, and how you would feel about each?

#1 Subject: Share a good idea, win a prize.

Colleagues: Do you have an idea about how the company can do something better? Improve a system? Reach more customers? Tell our story more effectively?

CEO Jack Martin wants to know, so on March 18...

#2 Subject: Introducing a new suggestion system.

Colleagues: Our CEO, Jack Martin, has asked this department to develop and implement a new system designed to encourage staff suggestions, so I'm writing to tell you that on March 18...

a.s.suming that you prefer alternative #1, notice how much energy it picks up because the writer thought through the goal (to generate good usable ideas) and the audience (busy, cynically inclined employees) and then connected the two with a prize. If you try to imagine the reasoning behind #2, it would probably be something like, ”I'm required to make this announcement but expect no results.”

#1 Subject: The McAllen account.

Dear Joe: As you know, at this time of the year, we review responsibilities for individual members of the team, considering general workload and record of accomplishment, and have decided to ask you to take on an additional responsibility...

#2 Subject: New a.s.signment for you-the McAllen account.