There is Value in Clear and Simple Business Writing

One of the longest projects I had ever handled involved overhauling the poor documentation practices of a technical support organization and introducing them to a set of writing guidelines based on web writing principles. It took over four years of very patiently hammering in the value of clear and simple writing into business communications, despite the challenge of people often returning to bad habits out of complacency. I knew that my work was finally done when I heard my own words being echoed by the majority even with my back turned.

This is what makes me fully agree with the points outlined in Harvard Business Review's article, "Bad Writing Is Destroying Your Company’s Productivity". These excerpts below especially made me nod with gusto:

"A majority say that what they read is frequently ineffective because it’s too long, poorly organized, unclear, filled with jargon, and imprecise."

"...the whole organization drowns in productivity-draining blather."

"Clear leadership, expressed in writing, creates alignment and boosts productivity."

Here are some points I would like to add, based on my experiences handling business communications in corporate environments:

• Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say (SWYM-MWYS)


I remember a friend asking her social network if they're also annoyed by how corporate folks often use the word "sync" (rough translation: meeting to agree on stuff that needs to be done). Some of the organizations I've worked with use "roundtable", "brainstorm", "cascade", "align", "cadence" (I can't stop rolling my eyes over that last one).


Call them quirks or company culture. This practice still isn't cute or even correct.  Words have specific definitions and those are recorded in the dictionary for common reference.  Using a word according to what it means promotes clarity and conciseness.  

• Unclear writing wastes Time


One of the exercises I use in my writing workshops comes from a tech support call (with the confidential info changed, of course), where the support engineer gave the caller's simple "yes or no" question an answer that didn't really answer anything -- not even "yes" or "no". Worse, it had "if then" instructions, which will usually be misinterpreted. As expected, the caller's simple issue escalated to something more complicated, which took two weeks to clear out before they could return to answering the original question.


The engineer had wasted both his and his customer's time. It could all have been avoided if he just straight up answered the question plainly and simply.

• Remember who you're talking with


And by that I mean that your audience is human. Communicate as you would in a normal conversation with another human being -- with a dash of respect and courtesy, of course :-)

As with most things, writing simply and clearly just takes practice.  The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) has a bunch of exercises that can help you hone that skill.

To end this post, I leave you with these words from the wise:

“When you wish to instruct, be brief; that men’s minds take in quickly what you say, learn its lesson, and retain it faithfully. Every word that is unnecessary only pours over the side of a brimming mind.” - Cicero 

“So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.” - Dr. Seuss 

“Never use a long word where a short one will do.” - George Orwell