Jul 22

WRITTEN BY: Mark Scott
Thursday, 22 July 2010 

‘But it’s 118 pages long!’ exclaimed the project manager. ‘We can’t expect a service provider to read this when they turn up to do work for us.’

Picture this: I’m at a meeting with a client (a big Aussie company), presenting the draft of a document I’ve just completed for them. We (that’s me and the team I wrote the document for) are now socialising the document within the organisation. Considering what was presented, I was somewhat taken aback (to put it mildly) that the comment about the document’s length was the first piece of feedback we received.

The document—a combination of policy and process—is not introducing anything new. It’s presenting the policies and processes in a new way (rather gorgeously, I might add), replacing four existing documents (which, by the way, total 89 pages), and formally documenting another process that isn’t written down. 

Obviously, not everyone is happy that it’s 118 pages long (and, gasp! … growing as the review cycle continues). The issue is that the document has different audiences. Some of the information is applicable to everyone; a lot of the information isn’t.  But all of the information is applicable to someone, and so all of it has to be written down.

I know that people just want the information that’s applicable to them … on one page … but seriously, do they really think that’s possible and that they’re the only ones who’ll be using the document? Clearly, they do. 

Lengthy documents immediately set expectations for readers—negative expectations. Let’s face it, policy and process documents aren’t generally a riveting read. As writers, it’s our job to make them as interesting and usable as possible. It’s not practical to create separate documents to satisfy the needs of various audiences (even when they petulantly insist upon it).

Yes, this document’s long, but we don’t expect it to be read cover to cover. It’s a reference document to be used when needed. (Ironically, and despite complaints about the length, the same PM is upset that certain information is not included, which would make the document even longer! The reason the information isn’t included is because it’s stuff the service providers are expected to know.)

The documents that explain the way our businesses operate—the ones that contain policies and processes—potentially have enterprise-wide audiences, and they’re living documents which evolve as the organisation evolves. They’re not like project documents which have specific audiences who use the documents for a finite period of time. Nor are they like business reports where there’s generally a wider, but still fairly specific, audience and period of usefulness.

Process and policy documents need to be written for the whole organisation with consideration of their longevity.

The client manager I report to, loves the document, but for a reason he described as ‘shallow’. He loves the colour-coded sections and the general look of the document. I used colour and layout to make it (hopefully) more enjoyable to use and to make information more accessible. I believe it’s those very things which engage users, make content easy to navigate, and lessen any negative perceptions related to a document’s length.

A great-looking (and well-written) document is going to be used more than one that is just page after page of black and white … no matter how well-written. As I’ve said in my blog before, valuable content is lost when it fails to address the needs of its audience.  What’s the point of writing a document if it’s just going to become shelfware?

A while back, my colleague Don Boyd wrote in his blog about time debt. Poor documentation is a classic example of time debt. It might make sense to keep a document brief to get it written and make it palatable to read, but is it actually going to explain everything it needs to?

There’s no magic formula to determine how long these types of documents should be. What’s important is developing well-structured documents that present engaging content, in varying levels of detail, with various ways to navigate to that information; and socialising the document and explaining how to use it to its audiences.

It’s all in the zhuzhing.