Some years ago, ‘speed reading’ was the “in” thing. It was supposed to save the harassed and overworked manager time that he could usefully use on other activities. I myself used the technique and I admit it did save time. Now, more than ever, it is not just managers who are bombarded with reading material, but all of us.
This ‘information explosion’ is a problem. If we miss reading something (whatever it is), we feel we are missing some (perhaps) vital piece of data that might be “important”. As an example, it is more than likely that it will take you less time to read this blog than it did me in creating it!
So how can we balance time spent against importance. I believe the answer lies with the sender. It is (in part) their responsibility to create and give us that information which IS of importance and not surrounded with “verbal artistry”. I am a firm believer in
“write to express, not to impress”
And in order to do that, we need to give the reader signposts so that his job is simplified – what I call creating word pictures that act as guides.
Next time you put pen to paper (or should that be fingers on the keyboard) consider the receiver and don’t expect him either to be a mind-reader or to read between the words you have written.
Until next time (clearly),
P.S.
If I may say, we also shouldn't be always mind-reading oriented too. Sometimes people really write what they mean :))))
ReplyDeleteJana - I agree (and I think what you write is a case in point). But if we can make things easier to understand, we SHOULD be in a position to get the right response.
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