Cut the small print
Matt HallWe received a contract for a new piece of work recently. This wouldn't normally be worth remarking on, but this contract was special. It was different. It was 52 pages long.
It was so comically long that the contracts analyst at the company that sent it to me actually called me up before sending it to say, "The contract is comically long. It's just standard procedure. Sorry." Because it's so long, it's effectively all small print — if there's anything important in there, I'm unlikely to see it. The document bullies me into submission. I give in.
Unfortunately, this is a familiar story. Some (mostly non-lawyers) like Alan Siegel are trying to change it:
Before we all laugh derisively at lawyers, wait a second. Are you sure that everyone reads every word in your reports and emails? Do they look at every slide in your presentations? Do they listen to every word in your talks?
If you suspect they don't, ask yourself why not. And then cut. Cut until all that's left is what matters. If there's other important stuff — exceptions, examples, footnotes, small print, legal jargon — move it somewhere and give people a link.
Reader Comments (3)
In keeping with the topic, my comment with no small print.
Great post Matt: interesting, provocative, and fun to read. Thanks.
For prime examples of "less-is-more" just watch the original theatrical cuts of Blade Runner and Apocalypse Now, and then their respective Final Cut and Redux editions. One trims and removes and finely tunes a good film to make a masterpiece, and the other takes a long, slow and surreal masterpiece of a journey through war and the human soul to make a longer, slower and more surreal mess of a journey through a filmmaker's fever dream, complete with more playboy bunnies (not as good as it sounds) and a french plantation (better than it sounds).
I've found time and time again that the most effective way to work, whether it's a meeting, a memo, a drawing, or an anything else is to be more simple, more direct and more concise. Think of it as having a conversation, even if that conversation is taking place in the form of a contract. Pick a topic and stick to it, and try not to talk about your plans for the weekend, the weather, the latest gossip on TMZ (all metaphorically speaking of course - but OMG did you see those pictures of Prince Harry?).
When things become too bloated and long winded people's eyes do glaze over, you lose their focus and they stop paying attention.
I just thought of this (and since I don't take my own advice to just stay on topic): beware any document with an "Executive Summary" or something similar. If you can express all you need to in a couple paragraphs, just do that and save the paper. If you actually need all that extra verbage, then what use is the summary? I know, Business Administration 101 says that you need one for every document ever so everyone does them, but maybe just write better reports...
@Reid: When I think of memorable talks, papers, meetings, books, anything, there's almost always just one thing I remember. There was other stuff in there, but it was supporting evidence for that one thing. I think perhaps that's the key to a good report. I suspect one can't necessarily give convincing advice in one paragraph, even if the central idea can be summed up that way. But I also believe that most people find it really hard to put things the right way around:
1. What's my thesis?
2. What's the least amount of evidence I need to convince someone of my thesis?
What we do instead is:
1. What the heck did I spend the last week/month/year doing?
2. What's the least amount of evidence I need to convince someone that I am not overpaid, overrated, or lazy?
3. How many appendices is too many?
4. Oh yeah, what's the point of all this?
I find it helps to stay focused on the thesis, and constantly remind myself: "No one knows what you leave out."