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How to Be Clear

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Re: How to Be Clear

#21

Post by hinkley »

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #11
munificent wrote: post #10

I'm personally not a fan of the author's writing style. You can fetishize minimalism and clarity to the point that it undermines your goal. But the content here is good. In TODO list form, I suggest anyone writing something think through: 1. Who are you writing to? 2. Why are you writing to them? 3. What do you want them to know? 4. What do they already know? 5. What style of writing is most effective for this audien…

> I'm personally not a fan of the author's writing style. Agreed. The paragraphs are too short and are not as freestanding as they should be. For instance the following should have been folded into the preceding paragraph, which provided the vital context: > But that’s often the cause of the failure. I also find it jarring to read a sentence beginning with and or but , although not everyone agrees with me that it's p…

There is a specific case where you start a sentence with 'but': when you want to give someone time to accept the previous statement before demolishing it. This is what we all know, and we all agree that we see it. But what we know is not right, and here's why.

If a person is using And and But equally, they just like the mental pause between their statements. The period is more of an ellipsis. If your reader needs a mental pause before an And, before a second piece of information, maybe your information is too dense and you should free the new information to stand alone. Possibly in a new paragraph.

As in, "The other thing that's cool about this process is that it also does blah. Which is useful for these reasons..."

I don't know how other people develop a theory of a system, but if you want to change mine, if I want to change mine, I have to 'walk into it' see what's wrong with it, deconstruct it and put it back together the new way. If you don't bring me through this, I'm going to make you stop talking, back up, and walk me through it anyway. Otherwise your next best outcome is that later than night when I'm brushing my teeth I realize you're right and we pick it back up tomorrow. If it's in writing, I can only make you back up by skipping back a few paragraphs, or writing a response that you may or may see. If your proposal is too woo, I'll just be writing you off entirely.

Re: How to Be Clear

#22

Post by FPGAhacker »

MauranKilom wrote: post #18
foobarbecue wrote: post #14

Is "PLEASE REMEMBER TO PARTIALLY CLOSE THE SHARPS BIN" supposed to be an example of doing this correctly, or incorrectly? I find the notice unclear, but it's also unclear what point the author is trying to make by using this image.

The fun part is that this depends entirely on the audience. Not only the demographic, but also what prior instructions they received. Seeing that sign without further context, I assume this is a bin full of sharpies (could be wrong), and that it is supposed to be left slightly open. How closed "partially" closed is I would have to guess. But if this is for a group of students in an art class that have all been clearl…

I know this is beside the point... It’s a bin for medical waste in the form of things that can break the skin. Used needles etc. It’s a special bin that once completely closed is intentionally quite difficult to open again.

Re: How to Be Clear

#23

Post by 50 »

Clarity in (argumentative, essay, etc) writing is taking upmost care of your reader: you want to hold the hand of the reader and guide them towards a new understanding with little to no strain.

Re: How to Be Clear

#24

Post by sylvainr65 »

Excellent post. I should add that text formating is almost as important as what you want to say.

11 short sentences addressing 4 points packed in a single paragraph is really painfull to read.

Use paragraphs, new lines and bullet points as much as you can.

Let the reader breath.

Re: How to Be Clear

#25

Post by layer8 »

wtetzner wrote: post #19
munificent wrote: post #10

I'm personally not a fan of the author's writing style. You can fetishize minimalism and clarity to the point that it undermines your goal. But the content here is good. In TODO list form, I suggest anyone writing something think through: 1. Who are you writing to? 2. Why are you writing to them? 3. What do you want them to know? 4. What do they already know? 5. What style of writing is most effective for this audien…

> 4. What do they already know? Yeah, I've found that this is what's most commonly overlooked when communicated with people at work. They either spend too much time explaining things you already know, or assume context you don't have.

It’s not always easy though to get a good idea of where people currently are on a potentially decades-long multidimensional learning curve. You need a back-and-forth dialog to home in on the right level.

Re: How to Be Clear

#26

Post by wtetzner »

layer8 wrote: post #25
wtetzner wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 4. What do they already know? Yeah, I've found that this is what's most commonly overlooked when communicated with people at work. They either spend too much time explaining things you already know, or assume context you don't have.

It’s not always easy though to get a good idea of where people currently are on a potentially decades-long multidimensional learning curve. You need a back-and-forth dialog to home in on the right level.

It may not be easy, but I think it's the area that needs the most focus, at least at my company.

Re: How to Be Clear

#27

Post by FPGAhacker »

tzmudzin wrote: post #2

„Clarity of writing usually follows clarity of thought. So think what you want to say, then say it as simply as possible.” (from: The Economist Style Guide) I recommend the whole Guide wholeheartedly.

Not really commenting on the guide, but for me, clarity of thought follows writing. Not the reverse.

Re: How to Be Clear

#28

Post by pattisapu »

cambalache wrote: post #5

"Resist the urge to appear smart"

"I quite agree with you," said the Duchess; "and the moral of that is -- `Be what you would seem to be' -- or, if you'd like it put more simply -- `Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.'" -- Lewis Carrol, "Alice in Wonderland"

Re: How to Be Clear

#29

Post by wombatmobile »

munificent wrote: post #10

I'm personally not a fan of the author's writing style. You can fetishize minimalism and clarity to the point that it undermines your goal. But the content here is good. In TODO list form, I suggest anyone writing something think through: 1. Who are you writing to? 2. Why are you writing to them? 3. What do you want them to know? 4. What do they already know? 5. What style of writing is most effective for this audien…

Your list is a much easier read, and consequently a far more effective communication than the article.

The last two sentences are not required and could be omitted for clarity, or at least truncated beyond the conjunction "and" in sentence two of your last paragraph.

Re: How to Be Clear

#30

Post by munificent »

FPGAhacker wrote: post #27
tzmudzin wrote: post #2

„Clarity of writing usually follows clarity of thought. So think what you want to say, then say it as simply as possible.” (from: The Economist Style Guide) I recommend the whole Guide wholeheartedly.

Not really commenting on the guide, but for me, clarity of thought follows writing. Not the reverse.

Yup. For me the process is something like:

1. Think that I know something.

2. Write about it. Realize I didn't know it anywhere near as well as I thought.

3. Reflect on and actually understand thing.

4. Edit writing now that I actually know what the hell I'm talking about.

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