Be great at distilling your communications.

Writing is thinking (Sinofsky; Boz). The true process of writing involves not just putting something down, but also iterating, refining, and editing. This is also true for most other forms of communication. Refinement and crystallization make them much more effective.?

Almost universally, technical communication needs more of this process. We’re adept at thinking of all the considerations around an issue, and applying rigor to work through them. We surface options and key variables, and compile all of that information into a detailed plan.

What we’re mostly not great at is distilling the story to only the most critical information. Most of what I know about effective communication I learned from my time at Apple, so I’ll start there.?

A lot of the decision-making at Apple involves the Industrial Design team. When you work with them to solve an engineering issue, they constantly question the constraints, assumptions, process, and dig to find what really matters. (That’s the process you use as a designer.) On the engineering team, if you don't have the answers to those questions, you come back when you do. This repeats until the most pivotal and fundamental considerations are so clear that there’s no more digging to be done.?

Over time, the engineering teams learn to do the digging and critical reflection proactively. The most efficient decisions end up involving just one or two pages of information that anchor on a problem’s most critical aspects. You get straight to the heart of the issue, start the discussion there, and end up with more durable decisions since you have eliminated distractions from the beginning.?

This process of crystallization in our technical communication is really important – and not applied consistently enough. Most documents or decks should start as an outline that describes the story you’re trying to tell. They should only turn into actual content once your outline and story flow are right.?

Once you’ve compiled your content (based on your outline), ask if you’re telling the story as clearly as you can. The answer will probably be no. Then comes the hard part: Go through your content several times with a few different people. Remove as much information as possible without jeopardizing what you need to say. You will remove much more than you think. Could you use visuals instead of words or be more direct? Does the data stand on its own without an added explanation? This process challenges you to think even more critically about the problem and how you’re addressing it.

If you’ve really crystallized the information, one page or slide should be sufficient to cover most issues. This applies to work besides decision documents and decks as well:??

• Program review update slides are way more effective if they have fewer words.?
• Hardware design review decks get better feedback if they crystallize around the trickiest open areas.?
• FA reports will be easier to quickly digest if you ask: “Could I say less?”?

Here’s a question bank that I find helpful as I build a narrative:

• What is the essence of what I’m trying to communicate??
• Who is my audience? What’s important for them to know?
• What happens if I omit this piece of data??
• Is this the right balance of opinion and data??
• How many words or images are fluff or filler??
• Can I say this more directly or with fewer words? Would an image or table work better?
• If I had one minute to explain this to an exec, what would I focus on??
• Did I connect this to the customer/user/bystander? What will they care about in the outcome??
• Did I simply state the next steps? Are the forward-looking timeline and critical points clear?
• Why should we not do what I’m recommending??
• Does this sentence support, add clarity, or detract from the previous or next sentence?

Engineering’s broad, collaborative culture necessitates many documents that we need to create and consume efficiently. Distilling that communication effectively is a major win on both sides. If you have other resources, tips, or great examples of how to iterate and simplify content, please share them in the comments. I’d love to see them.