What Google Maps Can Teach Us About Business Writing
When you give someone directions, what’s the first thing you need to know? Scratch that. No one gives directions anymore. Okay.
What’s the one thing your navigation app needs before it can find the route to your destination? Your starting point, of course. The directions to any given place depend on where you are right now.
It’s the same with business writing.
So often, my coaching clients are mystified that their emails and reports aren’t getting the response they want. Here’s how that conversation goes:
Writer: “How was he confused? I spelled it out right here!”
Me: “Let’s take a look.” I read a little. “You mention a project but you don’t name it. Is it the only one your reader works on?”
Writer: “Well, no, but it’s obvious which one I mean.”
Me: “How?”
Writer: “Because these are the next steps!”
Me: “So he knows about these tasks already?”
Writer (sighing): “No, that’s why I’m writing. I need to tell him.”
Me: “Okay, so this is all news to him?”
Writer: “Yes!”
Me: “But he should somehow know what you’re talking about?”
Writer: “Um…”
How to orient your reader
If your reader doesn’t know where you’re coming from, he’ll have a hard time following where you’re going. The good news is, it doesn’t take much to orient your reader.
WHEN IT’S SIMPLE – JUST SPIT IT OUT
For more straightforward messages, you can get away with one simple sentence that lays out your main point and places it within the context of your ongoing work. Remember to name things—projects, deliverables, etc.—and spell out dates whenever there’s a deadline.
“Can you help me with task X…”
“I wanted to share an idea I had for program Y…”
“I wanted to confirm our next steps for the meeting on February 19…”
“Can you please review deliverable Z and send me your input by Friday?”
WHEN SIMPLE WON’T CUT IT – TELL A STORY
Maybe you’re presenting recommendations for a more complex project or your reader hasn’t been very involved and needs more direction to meet you where you are. That’s when you tell the story of what led up to this piece of writing. To do that, you need four parts:
Your main point. What are you recommending, concluding or otherwise highlighting? For example, “We should begin using software X to eliminate unnecessary work and improve scheduler efficiency by 15%.”
The question. What question does your main point answer? This can be a question your reader asked you, or it can be one you took it upon yourself to answer. “How can we make our schedulers more efficient?”
The trigger. What brought that question to light? If your reader asked it directly, say so. “You asked me to look into…” If not, what triggered that question? What made it important to address right now? “The schedulers currently waste time evaluating requests that are already complete.”
The previous scene. What was the status quo before the trigger? “Our team has been focused on cutting costs this fiscal year.”
Now put those four parts into your document in reverse order: 1) previous scene, 2) trigger, 3) question and 4) main message:
As you know, our team has been focused on cutting costs this fiscal year. I noticed that our schedulers currently waste time evaluating requests that are already complete and decided to investigate ways to address the issue. We should begin using software X to eliminate unnecessary work and improve scheduler efficiency by 15%.
In just a few sentences, your reader has all the context she needs. She knows exactly what you’re writing about and why.
Now all you need to do is convince her to move forward with your recommendation.
Note: The pieces of the "story" framework are based on Barbara Minto’s introduction framework from her book, The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking.
