Writing clear documents and clear emails is essential. I have spent hours and hours trying to understand what people mean to say. Often people do not take the time to write clear texts nor to proof-read them. And I get it, we are all busy and try to cross tasks off our list. Any yet, you might gain time if the reader does not need to get back to you several times to double check if what they understood is also what you actually meant.
By following these simple rules you will considerably improve the quality of your texts:
1) Subject, verb, object: you might think that this is needless to mention, since we all learned this basic rule in school. But trust me, I have seen many sentences where one of these elements is missing.
2) Write short sentences.
3) Use active sentences as opposed to passive sentences. The only exception is if you do not want to specify who is responsible for something: e.g. The document was lost. This was an oversight.). Use this technique when you apply neutral thinking.
4) Create an added value: comments like: "this should be changed", "this is not correct", "please update" are not helpful. What you mean, may be clear to you, but the reader will need to try and understand what you mean.
Write clear short sentences.: you do not gain any time if the reader has to come and ask you for clarifications all time.
Comments