Business Writing: Speed or Depth?

Is it better to be quick and facile with words, or to be deep and thoughtful in your written communications? When writing, are you slow and steady like the tortoise or quick like the hare?

Of course, we want to embody both. But one or the other will always take priority: speed or depth.

After pondering this question, I ran a quick LinkedIn poll about what people valued most in their business writing: speed, productivity, or depth.

I theorized that speed would win.

We spend a lot of time firing off emails or throwing together quick responses on messaging environments like Slack or Microsoft Teams. Add social media commenting and posting on LinkedIn and beyond, and simply keeping up requires agility. Surely the modern world values speed. Or so I assumed.

My theory wasn’t quite right. Productivity is in the driver’s seat.

Sure, it wasn’t a huge survey, and my audience may not represent your work environment. But it sparked fascinating conversations and comments. Here are a few insights.

Productivity presses all of us (fast and slow)

Some people write quickly, others take their time.

It’s like the contest between the tortoise and the hare, except that they are on treadmills that never stop. The need for productivity drives both.

Social media contributes to the sense of urgency. Toni Serofin writes, “If I had to pick one it would be productivity for social media posts, with depth (and clarity) a close second.”

Erin Lebacqz, a business writing instructor, notices that the balance of her work has changed over the past couple years. “While I still value depth the most, I know that in today’s world, it helps to have speed because we’re writing so often, and on so many platforms.”

We long for depth

The second most-critical skill isn’t speed, but depth. (Speed came in last place, just like the hare in Aesop's fable.)

The faster the world gets, the harder it is to dive deep and produce something thoughtful. Even amidst the flurry of quick content, we value depth.

We crave deeper connection in our reading, our writing, and our thinking. Brad Farris states the issue clearly: “I feel the biggest pain around productivity, but what I spend my time thinking about is how to go deeper!”

How can we do it all?

Writing a short post isn't the same as creating an in-depth project proposal. You're probably better at one or the other.

Being able to come up with words quickly (verbal agility) doesn't necessarily translate into an ability to create longer, thoughtful pieces.

Perhaps you love to ponder the world and polish your prose. If you’re pressed to be productive ("publish daily or else!"), you either have to spend more time than your peers or sacrifice the deep thinking that you cherish.

We need to make room, in our lives and our workplaces, to value and nurture both types of writing. We should stop expecting people to embody both the tortoise and the hare.

Until that time, here are a few ideas.

Advice for the tortoise

Remember that the world longs for your ability to go deep. Prioritize and protect the deep writing work over the quick stuff. Set expectations with others. People will value your deep writing skills if you let them know that’s where your strength lies.

For example, “I can deliver one substantive, 2,000 word post for this week-long event. Someone else should do daily updates from the conference.”

Then, focus on streamlining your process to improve your overall productivity. Don’t sacrifice deep thought, but schedule the work in chunks of uninterrupted time. Consider using tools like WordRake or ProwritingAid to speed up revisions.

Slowing down the hare

If you’re quick with words, you might spend your day churning out emails, posts, and messages — and miss the opportunity to dig a little deeper. Carve out time to work on something longer or more substantive, if only to explore this part of your writing life.

As an exercise, take that extra moment before you hit send to look through your words again.

• Is there anything you could add that would spur deeper thought?
• Does it express what you want to say?

Taking even a moment to slow down can start those deeper thinking processes. If nothing else, it may prevent you from making errors in haste.

Ask your team

My survey was small, and the results skewed based on my LinkedIn community. Consider running a similar poll in your own team or workplace. For example,

• How do people see themselves as writers? A tortoise? A hare? Both?
• Do you put boundaries around productivity to protect the deeper work?
• What does “productive” really mean for your content? What are your goals?

This might start fascinating conversations!