A lot of "work" consists of large volumes of low information writing
At work, we're reading and writing all day—texts, emails (often with long chains), messages, channel posts, chats. We constantly monitor multiple streams of short, transactional, conversational messages, emails, and posts.
This is a huge amount of communication. Yet it has a low information density.
We're also talking on the phone, and going to meetings, where we talk some more. Sometimes, we get to read presentations. Really long presentations with lots of preamble, discussion, tables and graphs, and appendices. Sometimes there is a clear point.
This means we have to wade through a lot of texting and talking to chip away at our problem. That problem is trying to get a sufficient amount of the right information to do one of three things:
1. Define a business thing, problem, or opportunity
2. Decide to do the thing, and prioritize it against other efforts, or not do the thing
3. Understand what happened with a thing—Get a report of outcomes, progress, results, findings, and what to do about it
Low information density in our communications makes it difficult and time consuming to gain full understanding and then decide with confidence.
Break through the noise with a One Pager strategy
Win friends and influence people by adding a new tool to your communication strategy: The one pager. It's a single sheet—real or digital, but real is often better—that contains:
A clear, concise definition of the topic or proposal, or reporting of findings
A distillation and aggregation of all and only the relevant supporting information in an easy-to-scan format
Pros & cons
Costs & benefits, plus CODN (cost of doing nothing)
Implementation: Ease or difficulty, with remedies to possible problems
Dependencies, impact on others
Pro Tip: Take a stance in your one pager that will force the readers to react. Use the one pager to declare what you intend to do unless you hear otherwise. If there are choices, identify your recommended option and why. If there are priorities, stack rank them and identify which ones are for now and which ones will be backlogged. If there are multiple next steps, state the one you will take immediately. If you need action from others, make your ask.
Communication strategy with one pagers:
Send out 24-48 hours ahead of time
Meet
Present and/or distribute your one pager
Discuss
Take note of any adjustments, changes, and most importantly, the decision
Issue a revised one pager with the decision stated explicitly
One pagers are approachable and easy to deal with, yet their high information density cuts through the usual fog of business. They save time. They promote focused discussion. They clarify decision making. They promote consensus and action.