Word Up!

We are exposed to a landslide of content being published every second: social media posts, tweets, newsletters, emails, reports...the list goes on. We rely almost exclusively on software solutions for quality assurance and on the rare occasion, usually within the professional scope, a willing soul will volunteer.

But just what makes good proofreading, helpful reading?

I initially started collating a list of key actionable topics, batched into themes.

But the question behind it was much bigger than "How to proofread someone's work?" but rather "why did I have so many colleagues over the years who would ask me to "QA" their work, emails, cover letters and publications?" and more importantly "why did have an intense, borderline emotional aversion to some specific individuals looking at my work?"

Please note that whilst this is specifically to help us all become better at proofreading and QA'ing someone else's work, the article below is also aimed at improving the quality of our deliverables.

Empathy

When we are the ones working on a brief we make the same mistakes as anyone else. We sometimes fall behind deadlines to deliver, we miss obvious insights.

Ask questions, unassumingly and with the intention to help, not to showcase how brilliant we are at the cost of putting someone else down.

Create Solutions

When QA’ing I aim to truly help the other person get the best possible work delivered. Time is always a constraint, so if I am able to, I do not just simply point out what is not so good or what needs changing, but I give them my point of view on how I would do it and how we could fix it together.

This is not the time to give yourself a pat on the back or get a confidence boost. This is about selfless action.

Get curious

To me this is key. If you’re halfway through a brief and the data indicates that something else could be happening that a few extra reports could help clarify or build the case – even if you were not asked – suggest it to your colleague or run the report, go after the extra data yourself and (dis)prove the hypothesis. This is a great way to go the extra-mile.

Assume the other person knows something you do not

This is actually inspired by rule 9 in Jordan Peterson's book 12 Rules for Life and our proclivity for simply not listening and making assumptions. When proofreading someone's work, assume you know nothing and that there might just be something you could learn from the author of the piece, whether contextual or intentional. ASK questions and listen to understand the rationale behind their choices of words, sentences, data, charts or whatever the case may be.

Less is More (Coco Chanel)

Just because it is there, it does not meant it has to remain that way. It is easy to be overwhelmed by data and information and lose the connecting pieces to tell the story and draw insights. If two slides, sentences, paragraphs convey the same message, ruthlessly discard one (maybe pop the second in appendix if needed). When proofreading it is often helpful to stop and go do something else. Then come back to it, review it and keep asking yourself what else can or should be removed.

Make the Complex, simple. (Steve Jobs)

Data can be as complex as we make it. Punchy Call Outs, Actionable Insights and get the “So What?” throughout your work.

If you look at it and you cannot understand what key the message, then remove it.

Too many words and data reeks of lack of confidence.

Headlines and and CTAs need to be two things: Punchy and succinct.

Often too much content will not help us put the story together. Big complex charts, tables can look impressive and might make us seem brainy, sure... but remember:

If you can’t explain it to a 6-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself” (Albert Einstein)