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My crib sheets (1): what I ask myself when reviewing reports
Time to reveal my crib sheets, the ones I furtively run through during training days when delegates briefly review their own documents - and I review them too. Some of the crib sheets have previously existed only in my head, some surface throughout my book. In this email and the next, they're all together and in writing. Maybe they’ll help when you next review stuff, be it your report or someone else's.
Today you see what goes through my head when I review particular types of report, be it a plan, proposal, pack or pitch. Then in the next email (early June), you see how I briefly analyse particular bits of a report, e.g. its words, tables, summary, lists of pros and cons, etc.
The crib sheets aren't in any particular order. Also, none is rocket science. Some might even seem obvious – but then again, many reports are obviously bad or fail to answer obvious questions. Let's proceed.
If it’s an internal departmental plan, e.g. “HR Strategy 2025”: many plans spew out long lists of things that’ll be done this year. Which doesn't help much, it's akin to a Finance Function saying: “This year, we’ll pay staff every month, plus do a weekly payment run to creditors”. Wow, who’d have thought it, eh!
No. As a reader, what I want to know is: what will you do this year that you didn’t do last year? What won’t you do this year that you did do last year? And overall, is the plan evolution or revolution? Is it steady as she goes, or are you heading for the iceberg? Also, I want to understand your plan's scale and ambition… will you do the same stuff as last year but with fewer staff? Or more stuff with the same staff? What is this year's key issue? What was last year's, and how did it go?
A long to-do list leaves me to work this out myself.
If it’s an internal proposal for a ‘thing’ to help us compete (maybe it’s a product, process, app or whatever): often, such proposals talk grandly about how it's 'a strategic investment'... 'an investment opportunity', etc.
No. I want to know if the 'thing' is a must-do or a nice-to-do. So I ask: will the 'thing' help us catch up with rivals? Or get ahead of them? Or stay ahead? Or stay with the pack? Is it something we must do because everyone else is doing it? Has everyone else done it already? Once I know the answers to these questions, I'm better able to judge the 'thing'.
If it’s a monthly pack: packs often show high-level numbers in the summary, then drill down to detailed numbers in the following pages. But how are the numbers shown?
Too often, the detailed page shows a table that's constructed differently to the one shown in the summary. Different columns, different column order, etc. It forces readers to re-acclimatise when their eyes first land on the detailed page. Not easy.
Often it's even worse. The summary shows the numbers in a table, yet the detailed page shows them in graphs. Which isn't just tough. It's hell.
But didn't I do a recent email berating consistency in reports? Yes, but I was objecting to templates, i.e. prescribed section headings. When it comes to showing numbers, consistency is good. So, avoid unnecessary differences - strive for consistent numerical layouts. Your readers will thank you for it.
If it’s a monthly pack, part 2: does it help readers navigate? Often, the summary doesn’t even tell readers there's more detail on, say, page 3. Rather, readers must stumble across it.
No. To help readers, add an extra column to the table in the summary, and in it, show cross-references that tell readers where to go for more detail, e.g. "p.3". Grey it down, and do it in a smaller font. It's there when you need it, and not in the way when you don't.
Do these cross-references also for your summary's comments. If the summary has a paragraph of blurb on a particular topic - and you've more detail on that topic in section 7 - put a bracketed cross-reference at the end of that paragraph, e.g. "(section 7)".
If it’s a sales pitch: does it put clear blue water between you and your rivals? Or do you merely spout that you “put clients first”? Or that you’re “innovative” (yuk!)? Empty rhetoric achieves nothing, no purchaser ever says: “Let’s choose that supplier, they put their clients first!”.
No. Don’t state it. Demonstrate it. Show a testimonial or a case study. OK, it’s not easy to create a hard-hitting case study - but at least try, for it’s the gift that keeps giving, you recycle it every time you submit a proposal. Nice.
If it’s a pitch (internal or external): is it an open or closed door? If it’s an open door, keep it brief – and if it’s a closed door… keep it brief. The decision tree below might help you grasp this point.
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