Producing Persuasive Reports & Proposals

2020 COURSE HANDBOOK

Producing Persuasive Reports & Proposals

Facilitated by Mark Priadko

Insight – An accurate and deep understanding of the true nature of something

"… excellence is often found in simplicity of design and complexity of data." Edward Tufte (The Visual Display of Quantitative Information)

“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away” Antoine de Saint Exupery.

Producing Persuasive Reports Page 2

Inside Cover - Page intentionally left blank

Introduction

The intent and purpose of our writingTechnical leadership

- What decision makers want Organising our

information - narrative structure

How we go about writing Enhancing impact (incl. summarising and numbers)

We improve our writing to persuade others and get good

decisions made


Learning objectives: • Develop a structure and methodology for planning, developing and presenting

documents • Use data or facts in a persuasive way to inform quality decision making • Enhance the impact of reports to ensure they are engaging • Workshop and discuss real-life draft reports to apply the theories and

methodologies outlined • Appreciate the importance of presenting numbers to inform or persuade

decision making and take away tools and methodologies for doing this

Self evaluation My proficiency in preparing documents, reports, business cases is:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Low High

List of what I need to know to move up one point on this scale • .........................................................................................

• .........................................................................................

• .........................................................................................

• .........................................................................................

These course notes are designed to support the presentation of information in the module. They are based on the knowledge and experience of Mark Priadko. These notes are not designed to present comprehensive documentation of the requirements for reports. References are provided for those who wish to investigate matters in more detail. Mark’s view – Good writing in government is a function of:

• Clarity about the intent and purpose of our document • Our understanding of what our reader is seeking • How the writer organises their knowledge and research • How the writer manages their time to produce their document. • Rewriting, redrafting, reworking.

“The essence of writing is re-writing.” Willam Zinsser “Actually, the essence of the process is revision.” John McPhee


Table of Contents TableofContents.............................................................................................................................4 PersuasiveReports/BusinessCases.........................................................................................5 ThePurposeofOurReports...........................................................................................................................6 To‘Act’canincludetocontinue‘asis’aswellastochange............................................................7 Deccentricity.........................................................................................................................................................8

TechnicalLeadership..................................................................................................................10 Whatdecision-makerswant.......................................................................................................................11 HowweThink...................................................................................................................................................14

Transparency–Thestructure.................................................................................................16 NarrativeStructures......................................................................................................................................17 Purpose................................................................................................................................................................21 RecentHistory...................................................................................................................................................23 Analysis................................................................................................................................................................25 Insight...................................................................................................................................................................27 Strategy...............................................................................................................................................................29 Execution.............................................................................................................................................................31 Somecommonfaults:.....................................................................................................................................33

HowWeGoAboutourWriting.................................................................................................34 ContentandMethod.......................................................................................................................................35 Theconstructionprocess-GRACE2.........................................................................................................36 TheProductionprocess................................................................................................................................38 WritingGuidelines..........................................................................................................................................41

Impact-STARC..............................................................................................................................44 Simplicity............................................................................................................................................................46 Tangibility..........................................................................................................................................................48 Association(Analogy)...................................................................................................................................50 Roadmap(Readability)................................................................................................................................51 Consistency(AndCorrectness)..................................................................................................................52

Impact-Presentingnumbers...................................................................................................54 Differentsections,differentdata..............................................................................................................54 Excellenceinpresentingnumbers............................................................................................................57

DesignPrinciplesforpresentingnumbers..........................................................................61 Principlesofdesignintables......................................................................................................................62 Principlesofdesigningraphs....................................................................................................................68

References......................................................................................................................................72 Appendix1:UnderstandingYourAudience.......................................................................73 Appendix2:Therelationshipbetweensuccinctnessandcomplexity......................76 Appendix3:TheConstructionProcessinDetail..............................................................78 Appendix4:TheQualityandCorrectnessofDecisionMaking....................................84 Appendix5:Commonissueswithdocuments/reports..................................................87


Persuasive Reports/Business Cases What is the purpose of our Reports/business cases?

What are indicators of excellence in Reports/business cases?

Introduction






decisions made


The Purpose of Our Reports Documents and reports to leaders and executive groups will have one of three basic purposes:

1. To provide assurance 2. For discussion 3. For decision-making.

The distinguishing feature between these reports is the nature of change and action arising from them. No change required Change required but how

is not yet clear Change required and

understood Information Discussion Make the Decision Recommends - Noting Recommends – direction

for further work Recommends – action to

implement change

Information/Monitoring

Reports designed for this purpose let leaders know that previously approved projects or changes are on track. Reports designed to provide leaders with assurance will usually recommend that the reader note the contents of the report and will not demand any approvals or recommend any new action. Examples will include status reports on finances, operations, and compliance reports where progress is within acceptable tolerances and no decision making or action is required of the recipients.

Discussion Reports/Papers

When an issue has arisen that will ultimately require change in the way a service is delivered or in policy, but the detail of the change is not yet fully developed a discussion paper can be provided to examine current opinion and evidence on the issue. This type of report should make recommendations on what further work or steps are required to get resolution or to be able to recommend the specific changes that are required. Discussion papers may be necessary for controversial, complex or high risk issues where there is no clear solution apparent at the time or for issues that are of a large scale that involve careful consideration in the development of options and before a final decision is made. Examples will include reports on matters of strategic importance like changes in the business model, changes in policy, adding or cutting services or major investment projects that need to be discussed amongst leaders before a final decision.

Decision-making

If an organisation is dealing with problems where research has been made into the changes necessary, executive teams will rely on advice as to how to go about dealing with problems or making changes. In this respect, reports provide the information necessary to prompt and support decision-making.


Reports designed to prompt or support decision-making will make recommendations that seek approval to make change or undertake new work. Examples: Proposals for organisational initiative or campaigns, business cases to proceed with a project, recommended changes in policy, findings and recommendations from a service or functional review. Indeed, assurance can be reframed as the decision to stay the course and continue our current approach. Meeting agendas can be structured around:

• Items for noting - Monitoring performance where performance in line with targets (these could then be considered by exception)

• Items for discussion – where executive views are required to give an initiative direction or to resolve differences in view and opinions. These reports should provide readers with views about problems and with options for how to consider these. These reports have gotten to the point where it is recognised that change is required but there is not consensus on what form or direction that change should take.

• Items for decision making – Reports containing recommendations based on detailed analysis and understanding of problems or opportunities and with well thought through strategies that include the evaluation of relevant options and clarity around next steps.

Each category could further be organised into categories that reflect the importance of the item. Categories could make distinctions between matter of strategic relevance (relevant to the long term direction of the business) and operational relevance (relevant to the day-to-day workings of the business).

Key principles

It is my responsibility to have my message understood. I cannot control what others do. "All I can give or get from others is information." Dr William Glasser

To ‘Act’ can include to continue ‘as is’ as well as to change. Three ‘Whys’.

We need to answer three why questions in preparing persuasive reports and business cases:

1. Why is the subject matter important and relevant to the reader? 2. Why is change needed? 3. Why should we choose the recommended change?

INFORM DECIDE ACT DICERN


Deccentricity Deccentricity is a different way of looking at our work – from the perspective of decisions. It means seeing our work as revolving around decisions – the decisions of our customers, our stakeholders and our managers. Eccentricity means: unconventional; unusual; different. Similarly, deccentricity is a new way of looking at situations. Most words that contain "centric" suggest a world revolving or circling around something. For example, egocentric mean self-centred, seeing the world as revolving around us. Customer centric suggests seeing work as revolving around the customers. Similarly, deccentric means seeing work as revolving around decisions. Deccentricity is a different way of looking at the work of professionals. It is about looking at this work as revolving around decisions. In particular, we are looking at the expertise of professionals from the perspective of decisions being made by our clients, our managers and our leaders. There has been a strong movement in the last 30 years toward being customer focused or customer centric. Deccentricity is more specific than being customer focused. It is about being focused on the decisions of our customers. Deccentricity also has a broader focus than customers. It sees the world from the perspective of the decisions being made by our managers and leaders.

Reports

Proposals

Business cases

Research

Plans


So what does this new way of looking at things mean?

Firstly it means looking at the quality of decisions, not just the quality of our work. Good information does not guarantee good decisions and focussed action. Decisions link information and action. Strong decisions represent strong links – poor quality decisions are weak links. Secondly, it means putting our work and our projects into the context of decisions. This means seeing our work differently. This starts with a question. What is/are the decisions I am asking others to make in this project? A decision to buy, a decision to approve, a decision to sell, a decision to grow etc. These decisions then act as a focal point for the project. With deccentricity, our research, our problem solving, our ideas and our presentations have the decisions of others as our focus. Thirdly it means making an effort to make the decisions of others easier not harder. If we make decisions easier to make, they will get made and progress will occur. If a decision is difficult to make it will be avoided – indecision will result in inaction. Finally, deccentricity means looking at decisions as a means rather than an end. Much of my research into decision-making theory has revealed that a great deal of decision-making theory views the decision as the end of the process, and the ultimate goal. Leaders decide! However, not all of us are in positions where we are the leaders who decide. Many of us are in the position where we are providing leaders with the information necessary to make decisions or we are trying to influence these decisions. Just because we are not the leader, does not mean we cannot demonstrate leadership. Leadership is about getting quality decisions made. When we are providing information in order to help leaders decide, it is our responsibility to make the decision of the highest quality and it is our responsibility to make the decision easy to make.

Leaders decide, leadership is about getting quality decisions

made.

Discussion: What do decision makers want?

Put yourself in the situation of being asked to approve the allocation of money or a change in policy. What do you want to help you make a good decision?


Technical Leadership Technical leadership is getting decisions made based on substance by making friends with complexity. Three core elements to technical leadership:

• Transparency – others can see how we reach our conclusions and recommendations. Transparency is critical to others understanding how we have reached our decisions, what analysis we undertook, what judgements we made and what purpose our work serves.

• Substance – the quality of our thinking and decision making. How well our solutions, strategies and action plans are researched, analysed and thought through. Substance is where we get our credibility as subject matter experts. It is dependent on the depth of our analysis, the quality of our insight and the strength of our strategies, solutions and action plans.

• Impact – our work is noticed and impacts on others, making it easy for them to follow and understand. We live in a world where we are inundated with competing messages and information. For others to notice and to be engaged we need to ensure that our information, presented either in written or verbal form is enhanced for impact.

The remainder of the course will focus on each of these three elements: 1. Transparency will come from looking at the structure of a report. We will

use a model called PRAISE to do this. 2. Substance is what each participant brings to his or her workplace. We will

aim to download some of this substance when we introduce the structure. We will also look at the process of developing a report as being the process for adding substance. We will use a model called GRACE for this and will look at substance as it is presented in numbers and budgets.

3. Impact will come from looking at aspects of our report that ensure the reader’s attention is properly drawn. We will use an approach called STARC for this.

Introduction






decisions made


What decision-makers want Experience both as a senior executive, but also as an advisor to senior executives tells me that decision makers have a number of requirements when they consider our reports seeking approval to make some form of change.

• They are looking for alignment with the goals and direction of their business – they want the issue to be relevant to the goals and outcomes they seek.

• They want to have a sound foundation for making decisions that gives them confidence that the issue has been thought through – they want rigour in research and evidence

• They want to avoid biases and personal agendas - they want to see different perspectives being represented

• They want to know that we have gotten to the bottom the issue we are dealing with – we have properly diagnosed the issues before us and identified the root causes.

• They want to feel like they are deciding – they will want to see that there are options for them to consider even if there is a preferred option.

• They will want confidence that the preferred option or solution can indeed be implemented and has been thought through – they will want details about the solution including costs, timing and risks.

Decision makers will want to avoid accusations of poor decision making and will want to avoid expensive solutions, large scale changes and risky solution. I therefore conclude that what decision makers want includes:

• Context – where does this matter fit within my goals and objectives (strategic) and how has it come to this (historic)

• Evidence – The existence of a problem or opportunity is based on evidence • Different perspectives – a range of views have been taken into account to

reach the conclusions reached • Root causes – the evidence and the different views have gotten to the root

cause (or causes) or a problem or opportunity and it is the root cause that will be addressed.

• Options – the decision maker wants to know that alternatives have been considered and that they have choice. Options can occur in diagnosing problems and in treating problems

• Solution details - Finances and Risks associated with change have been considered.


Focus on quality

Accordingly, we will now focus more on the quality of a decision and a decision making process and less on the "rightness" of a decision. I will focus on how we make decisions with a high quality rather than make the right decisions. We judge quality based on the following five components:

1. Design – the structure 2. Components – the quality of what goes into it, the substance 3. Workmanship – how well we have fitted the components to the design? 4. Presentation/appearance – how the finished product appears and is presented 5. Functionality – its ability to be put to use and tested over time

So how do these apply to decisions? Quality attributes As they relate to decisions Design The logic and criteria to be used in making a decision –

objectives, plans, goals

Components The information, analysis and options used to inform the decision – information with substance and depth

Workmanship How well information is evaluated and fitted to the original design to arrive at recommendations or outcomes - rigour

Presentation and appearance

How well the package of information and outcomes is presented to the decision maker and to others – the decision's transparency

Functionality How well can it be converted into action

Self reflection

What is the story of my document? What purpose does it serve (what decision do I want made)? What judgment am I making about what, if anything, needs to change? What do I want the recipients to do?


Where to start? – Write a few sentences declaring what you know about your subject


How we Think System 1 and system 2 thinking Psychologists have developed a view that there are two distinct modes of thinking.

Recent research in thinking by Daniel Kahneman refers to two thinking systems.

1. System 1 operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no

sense of voluntary control.

2. System 2 allocates attention to the effortful mental activities that demand it,

including complex computations. The operations of system 2 are often

associated with the subjective experience of agency, choice and concentration.

Kahneman provides some examples of activities associated with each system.

System 1 System 2 Detect that one object is more distant than another

Brace for the starter gun in a race

Orient to the source of a sudden sound Focus attention on the clowns in the circus

Complete the phrase “bread and….” Focus on the voice of particular person in a crowded and noisy room

Detect hostility in a voice Look for a woman with white hair Answer to 2+2= Search memory to identify a surprising

sound Read words on a large billboard Maintain a faster walking speed than is

natural for you Drive a car on an empty road Count the occurrences of the letter ‘a’ in

a page of text Understand simple sentences Park in a narrow space Compare two washing machines for

overall value Check the validity of a complex logical

argument

System 2 requires attention and is disrupted when attention is drawn away.

System 2 has some ability to change the way system 1 works by programming the

normally automatic functions of attention and memory.

The following extract from Kahneman’s book Thinking Fast and Slow is useful to

understand the interaction between the two systems

“In summary, most of what you (your system 2) think and do originates in system 1, but System 2 takes over when things get difficult, and it normally has

the last word.

The division of labour between system 1 and system 2 is highly efficient: it minimises effort and optimises performance. The arrangement works well most of the time because system 1 is generally very good at what it does; its models of familiar situations are accurate, its short-term predictions are usually accurate as well and its initial reactions to challenges are swift and generally appropriate. System 1 has biases, however, systematic errors that it is prone to make in specified circumstances.


In the unlikely event of this book being made into a film, system 2 would be a supporting character who believes herself to be the hero. The defining feature of system 2 is that its operations are effortful and of its main characteristics is laziness, a reluctance to invest more effort than is strictly necessary.”

An important conclusion from Daniel Kahneman’s research is that both systems are

required for good decision-making. Too much reliance on system 1 will suffer from

fallacies and lack of evidence. Too much reliance on system 2 will be slow and not

make sense to people because it is shrouded in complexity.

A model - Thinking through complexity Thinking through complexity requires that we start from a high level and work our

way into the detail necessary to understand. We need to do this not just to understand

problems but also to develop appropriate solutions.

One of the traps in our thinking can be that we think complexity only needs to be

worked through once - to understand problems. However, in a complex environment,

in other words in nearly all organizations, complexity needs to also be worked

through in the development of strategies and solutions. Therefore, we can consider

thinking things through as moving from a high level into detail through complexity at

least twice.

The pattern of our thinking is to work through summary or high-level information and

through detail to understand problems and to develop proper solutions and strategies.

Complexity

Summary

Detail Past/present Future


Introduction






decisions made


Transparency – The structure Narrative Structures

“Narrative is the choice of which events to relate and in what order to relate them – so it is a representation or specific manifestation of the story, rather than the story itself.” Source: http://beemgee.com/blog/story-vs-narrative/

“The concept of narrative deals more with how the events are told. Narrative is the ordering of events into a consumable format. …… narrative is the method and means by which you construct the events of a story into a plot. It concerns itself with the sequence of the events, the medium on which they are told and the way these events are put together into one coherent unit.”

Sourced from: http://hacktext.com/2011/09/story-vs-narrative-vs-plot-1205/

Narrative is the way the author or speaker chooses to structure events — the

architecture of the story, comparable to the design of a building. Ultimately a

narrative is a way of organising the information of a story, strategy or proposal that

helps it engage a reader and make sense to a reader or listener. While a story is a

sequence of events, the narrative recounts those events in its own way to emphasise

some aspects of the story to enhance its impact.

There is a greater array of possibility for the fiction narrative structure to invoke the

imagination of the reader/listener, to create surprise, mystery and intrigue. For non-

fiction narratives, the variety of structures available to us will be more limited. There

will tend to be greater reliance on more straightforward and logical structures,

although surprise and intrigue can still be used, their use will be more limited.

Some examples of basic non-fiction narrative structures:

• Past – Present – Future • Beginning – Middle - End • Why, What, How and What’s next • Context – Discussion – Findings - Recommendation

Change narrative - Shawn Callahan In his book, Putting Stories to Work, Shawn Callahan includes a narrative structure

for telling stories of change. He calls them clarity stories. He states:

“Human beings like reasons, and the clarity story gives people a reason….

The clarity story has a simple four-part framework:

Part 1 ‘In the past….’ (how things were before the change happened) Part 2 ‘Then something happened…’ (the event/s that caused the problem or opportunity) Part 3 ‘So now…..’ (the decision/s made to counter the problem or take advantage of the opportunity

Part 4 ‘In the future….’ (the likely outcome)”.


The PRAISE narrative structure is designed for reports or briefings that require the

reader to be convinced of a need to change and act differently.

The centrepiece of this narrative structure is that a change is needed and the reasons to

support the change have been researched and understood.

In his book, The Organised Mind, Daniel Levitan details the human mind as having a

four-circuit attentional system – one of which is the attentional filter. It is the

attentional filter that sees us immediately focus on importance and change. The

attentional filter is the millions of neurons that are constantly monitoring our

environment to select the most important things for us to focus on (and not to focus

on) these neurons are collectively, the attentional filter. They work largely in the

background outside of our conscious awareness. Two principles used by this filter are

change and importance – the brain is a great change detector.

The PRAISE narrative structure is designed to support decision making by guiding

the reader towards insights that reveal the need for, and the reasons for, change in an

organisation. Change can include:

• New investments • Changing a business or service delivery model • Decommissioning a site or service • Adding products or markets or eliminating products or markets.

PRAISE is shorthand for a narrative structure with six components:

1. Purpose 2. Recent History 3. Analysis 4. Insight 5. Solution 6. Execution Plan (next steps)

The PRAISE narrative structure is derived from the psychology of supporting people

in thinking through and identifying change and from marketing, and its focus on the

central insights behind campaigns.

This structure and model has been influenced by three sources:

1. A counselling method that is designed to help people reach meaningful decisions that translate into action

2. A system used for developing advertising campaigns designed to influence others and

3. Approaches for decision making developed by Daniel Kahneman (Thinking Fast and Slow) - we employ two thinking systems.

The counselling methodology is attributed to Dr William Glasser. It is a method that

is based on the principle that a person will act with conviction when they make their

own well-informed decision. A decision that is related to a purpose they believe to be

important, analysis of what is happening now, their own evaluation of whether that is

working, some ideas about what can be done and a commitment to specific action.

The system used for marketing campaigns can be found in the book – One Great Insight is Worth a Thousand Good Ideas by Phil Dusenberry. In that book, the author

details his system – RAISE – Research, Analysis, Insight, Strategy, and Execution

around a brand. PRAISE is a variation to this.


The two thinking systems popularised by Daniel Kahnemann are:

1. System 1 operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no

sense of voluntary control.

2. System 2 allocates attention to the effortful mental activities that demand it,

including complex computations. The operations of system 2 are often

associated with the subjective experience of agency, choice and concentration.

The structure is designed for readers to be able to follow a flow or logic that makes

high quality decisions easier to make based on the substance of the evidence that we

have brought together. The structure is also designed to address our three questions:

1. Why is this subject matter relevant and important? 2. Why is there a need to change? 3. Why has the recommended change been selected?

The structure combines the fast/high level thinking with the slow, more detailed

thinking about how the situation has come to be (past and present) and how we

propose to resolve it. The PRAISE narrative structure can be presented as guiding our

readers through the thinking process in the following diagram.

PRAISE summarises the readers’ journey through our report My experience with leaders emerging from a technical background is that they have

no trouble with the recent history, analysis and strategy elements of PRAISE.

However, consistent with the expert’s curse they fail to get back the basic principles

of why their issues are important (Purpose), they fail to summarise the conclusions

they have reached (Insight) and they struggle to make clear how to execute the next

steps (Execution). Sometimes these deficiencies are symptomatic of having not

thought things through thoroughly. But even in cases where a technician has thought

things through, the purpose, insight and execution tend to be underdone.

The PRAISE model shows that there is a balance between problems and solutions and

between summary/high level information and detailed information.

High level

Detail

Purpose

Recent History

Analysis

Insight

Strategy

Execution

Proceeding decisively

Problems or opportunities

Solutions


The purpose and insight section of our presentation should ensure that the receiver

understands the high level importance of what we are presenting and can draw some

basic conclusions with respect to these high level conclusions.

The analysis and execution sections are where we present details and specifics

regarding the evidence we have gathered and how the recommended response should

be executed.

Insight is at the heart of our reporting. We lead with our insights. These are what our leader relies on to help them make

decisions about their organisation - Insights from experts who have deep knowledge

and experience.

Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect in a specific context.

How we structure our report around the insight section will depend on answers to the

last two of our three why questions.

• Why change is needed ?

• Why should we choose the recommended change?

If the reader has not yet accepted the need to change (the second why), this is what

needs to be addressed in the insight section. Our analysis will need to lead the reader

to this conclusion.

If the reader(s) has accepted the need for change, it is the third why question – why

should we choose a recommended change that will be the main insights of the case.

The analysis section before it will therefore be an analysis of options and the history

section will be background that recaps and reminds the reader of the need to change.

ANALYSIS Evidence we considered in reaching our judgement

STRATEGIES What we think needs to be done as a result of our judgements

INSIGHTS Light bulb moments – judgements or conclusions we’ve reached


Purpose We answer the first Why – Why is this subject matter relevant and important?

What’s at stake for the organisation?

This section of the paper should provide the reader with a “Sense of Purpose” or

aspiration regarding our project. This can be best stated in terms of outcomes that the

project aims to deliver that matter to the reader. In effect, we are putting these

outcomes and aspirations “at stake”. The Purpose section will attempt to link our

project with stated goals and outcomes of the decision-makers and their constituency.

In storytelling terms – this is a quest or goal that matters to the reader. This is an

important means by which to involve them in this story. It will impact on their goals.

We are using the goals and outcomes to engage with our reader and decision maker.

The purpose section will also operate as a frame of reference for the document and is

the section where we position our project into “the bigger picture” to give it context

and highlight its systematic importance. It can include references to relevant

standards (e.g. best practice or benchmarks) relevant to our topic.

We can also use the Purpose section to outline what success and excellence look like

for our project.

This section could be titled as:

• Strategic Context • Strategic Drivers • Future State • Our Reason for Being • Goals and Objectives • “The Why”

Our intent – is to engage, inspire and aspire the reader

Report elements • Strategic and organisational impact – the impact of the project, issue or asset

on the objectives of the organisations • Relevant policy or legislation – any federal or state legislation or policy

relevant to the initiative • Recognised Standards of excellence – Are there standards or requirements that

need to be upheld relevant to this initiative • If necessary, include clarifications regarding definition and scope in the

purpose section.

Activity On the handout write what should be in the purpose section of your report.


Purpose Example – A Basic Case for Infrastructure The Office for Case Management exists to meet legislative requirements to process

cases on behalf of the Government. The processing of these cases is important to

maintaining public faith in this public system (e.g. health, housing, legal).

Containing waiting lists is critical to achieving good public outcomes and

Government policy outcomes.

The Government has made strong policy commitments to ensuring excellence in

the management of cases and to maintaining public faith in the system. There are

accepted Australian benchmarks for the size of the waiting lists being managed by

the Office. There are well documented standards of excellence in managing cases

and there are well documented standards guiding the use and age of case

management infrastructure.


Recent History Give the reader some historical background as to how the situation that we are trying

to address has arisen. When did we start drifting away from the aspirations

established in the previous section? When did we become aware that there was a gap

between our goals and reality?

This will help the reader understand why an issue has evolved necessitating a change

in approach and requiring a new project.

This section provides some time-based detail behind the subject matter. If the subject

matter is an organisation, this section will present details of the organisation’s history

– when it started, how it has changed, and specific events that are relevant to the

business case for this project. If it is a business case for new infrastructure, there will

be history to provide context for the age of the infrastructure, the activity and service

it supports and its utilisation.

It is important that the recent history is provided with a sequence of events in a

chronological order.

May also be titled:

• Background

• Historical Context

• How we got here

Our intent is to build tension with credible evidence

Report elements • Historical context behind the initiative – where has it emerged from. • Trends that have led to the need for this project being contemplated (trends in

activity and workload, trends in technology, social and demographic trends) • Recent events that highlight an issue or opportunity • The age of existing assets, technology or outdated approaches may be

relevant.

Activity On the handout write what should be in the recent history section of your report.


Recent History Example – A Basic Case for Infrastructure There has been significant growth in the number of cases being processed by the

office, evidenced by trends in case numbers. In the last ten years, there have been

changes in policy that have served to further increase the number of cases. Several

measures have been put into place in to improve the way cases are processed through

the system and they have made the growth lower than it would otherwise have been.

However, the growth in the number of cases is greater than the growth in processing

cases.

Data has been collected on the trend in the size of the waiting list compared to the

benchmark. This data is summarised in the graph below.

The graph shows there has been trend growth in the backlog of cases from around 100

(the benchmark size) in the early nineties. The growth in the waiting has been

consistent since that time.

Infrastructure is a critical ingredient to the processing of cases. Infrastructure

capacity necessary to support the processing of cases was created over 25 years ago.

There has been no material growth in this infrastructure capacity over that time.

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Num

ber

of c

ases

in th

e wa

iting

list

Waiting list compared to benchmark

SA's waiting list Benchmark waiting list


Analysis This section of the document presents facts and data to show the extent of current

issues or opportunities that are the drivers for change. The analysis section can detail,

with evidence, the issues and opportunities that exist.

The analysis builds the case for justifying change or for further investment. It should

alert the reader to the gap between their aspiration and reality or alert them to the

nature of what might be needed to take advantage of an opportunity.

Types of analysis that can be included are:

• Financial analysis – current (and projected) costs

• Analysis of activity and workload

• Analysis of performance and conditions

• Variance analysis

• Benchmarking analysis

• Risk analysis (identify key risks associated with the subject matter)

• Audit findings

• Customer usage and feedback

• Staff issues and feedback

• Utilisation (activity vs capacity)

This section could also put forward some projections to show what the status quo

scenario is for our topic.

Beware of too much detail in this section. Keep data to a summary level with more detailed data being provided in Appendices.

Can also be titled as:

• The Current State • Where are we now? • Issues • Discussion

Our intent – provide credible and appropriate detail that reveals a need for change and the reasons behind the current situation.

Report elements • Analysis of the current or default state – what will happen without change • Analysis of opportunities that have arisen that warrant change • Evidence of activity, utilisation, workloads that highlight the need for change

Activity On the handout write identify what should be in the analysis section of your report.


Analysis Example – A Basic Case for Infrastructure Projections for case management growth will see South Australia performing well

below benchmark with the growth in cases continuing to exceed the processing of

cases. There will be a major growth in waiting lists that will materially impact on the

effectiveness of the system and public faith in it.

There has been analysis of the current case management process that can improve

processing times slightly but will not address the growth in waiting lists.

There has been analysis of the utilisation of existing infrastructure assets. It is

difficult to increase utilisation of existing infrastructure given the constraints on its

use. These constraints occur due to the age of the infrastructure and due to need to

ensure basic quality standards in the processing of cases.

Alternate methods (e.g. 24-hour use of infrastructure and 24-hour processing of cases)

have been considered but are not feasible.

Projected growth in the waiting list compared to benchmark is presented in the graph

below.

The graph shows that, based on the current growth in cases and the current rate of

clear cases, the waiting list will continue to grow well above the benchmark level for

the foreseeable future.

050

100150200250300350400450

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

2027

2028

2029

2030Nu

mbe

r of

cas

es in

the

watin

g lis

t

Projected waiting list compared to benchmark

SA's waiting list Benchmark waiting list


Insight Insight is the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things.

This section should reveal why there is a need for change based on the understanding revealed in the previous sections of the narrative.

This section of the documents brings together the materials presented in the previous

three chapters (Purpose, Recent History and Analysis) by summarising the main

conclusions for the reader. It does this to serve as a “bridge” between the current and

historical view of the subject and the future recommended view of the subject.

The need for change or further effort should now be evident to the reader from the

gaps between the aspirations and goals put forward in the Purpose section and the

realities of the Recent History and the Analysis sections. This section should also

point out the root cause(s) of the difficulties or shortcomings being experienced.

There can be cases where the conclusion from previous sections is that no change is

required. This is made clear in the insight section.

Types of insights:

• A truth confirmed and restated – old information confirmed, truism

• Revelation – A discovery of why things are like they are - acceptance

• A realisation of the need to change

• Realisation of an opportunity

• A diagnosis

• The end-result of the evaluation of options or of evidence - judgement

• An ‘Ah ha’ moment – When several thoughts thread together and make sense.

Can also be titled:

• Findings • Assessment/Evaluation of…. • Root Causes • Diagnosis

Our intent – provide the reader/decision maker with a breakthrough(s) that leads naturally towards to the solution section establishing strong links between what is wrong and what will be proposed as a strategy or solution.

Do not be afraid to be blunt with your insights. Good insights should be succinct.

Activity On the handout write what should be in the insight section of your report.


Insight Example – A Basic Case for Infrastructure To meet waiting list targets there needs to be an increase in the number of cases

processed. Changes of policy and changes of practice have been implemented but

have not addressed backlogs. Alternate ways of increasing case processing have

been explored but will not address backlogs.

Increased infrastructure capacity and a commensurate increase in staff to process

cases are required to achieve the goal of reducing the backlog and maintaining

public faith in the system.


Strategy This section of the report/document directs the reader to consider solutions to address

the conclusions and root causes presented in the previous section. It introduces our

project as a solution, as a means to achieving changing. Our projects could be one of

several options.

This may require some options to be put forward and compared with a recommended

option emerging from the section. Such an approach will require options to be

described and the basis for comparison to be made clear.

The Strategy section can include estimated costs for each option and for the preferred

option. This section of the document could include an evaluation of these treatment

options to reach a preferred solution. It could use quantitative evaluation techniques

like cost-benefit ratios, net present values or qualitative evaluation techniques against

business drivers. The criteria used to compare options should be linked with business

drivers presented in the Purpose section.

In this way, we address the third ‘why’ question - Why has the recommended change been selected?

Can also be titled:

• What needs to be done?

• Measures required

• Plans to address Gaps

• Proposed approach

Our intent – provide the decision maker with the changes and approaches necessary to resolve the tensions presented earlier in the report.

Report Elements • Options to proceed • The preferred option • Resource requirements – Financial and skill requirements • Assumptions and constraints being made • Risk assessment of the solution or required project.

Activity On the handout write what should be in the strategy section of your report.


Strategy Example – A Basic Case for Infrastructure Modelling has been done of the growth in cases and the growth in the number of

facilities (e.g. operating theatres, beds, rooms, offices) required. This modelling has

estimated that to increase the number of cases processed to eliminate the waiting list

gap from benchmark, three additional facilities are required, along with extra staff to

operate and process cases in these facilities.

Results from modelling of additional rooms is shown in the graph below.

The graph shows that adding one or two rooms does not correct the backlog by 2030.

Three rooms will serve to reduce the backlog gradually by 2027.

There are options for increasing processing capacity:

• Build the capacity (new building) • Renovate existing assets to create capacity • Rent or lease capacity.

Each of these options has been evaluated based on cost, timeliness, feasibility and

risk. The recommended option is for a new building, nearby to existing

infrastructure, with three new rooms.

050

100150200250300350400450

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

2027

2028

2029

2030Nu

mbe

r of

cas

es in

the

waiti

ng lis

t

Waitinglist- NumberofFacilitiesrequired

Projectedwaiting list OneRoom TwoRooms ThreeRooms Benchmarkwaiting list

one room

two rooms

three rooms


Execution The Execution section of the document provides the reader with details of what they

can expect to happen should they approve our recommendations.

The Execution section contains more detail on the recommended strategy/solutions

put forward in the previous section, and demonstrates that the recommended approach

has been thought through in some detail.

It would not be unreasonable for the Execution section to have an instructional tone

about it where the reader is being instructed to follow a sequence of steps to

implement the recommended solution(s).

This section could also include:

• A timetable or summary Gantt chart • A project budget • Project Governance arrangements

Can also be titled

• Next Steps • Where to from here? • Details for the Preferred Option • Implementation/Action Plan

Our intent – provide the decision maker with an instruction based guide on how to proceed showing the solution we propose has been thought through.

Report elements • Project execution plan • Calendar of events and stages • Work Breakdown structure • Change management plan

Activity On the handout write what should be in the execution section of your report.


Execution Example – A Basic Case for Infrastructure A major infrastructure project is proposed with the outcomes detailed in the previous

section. To ensure continuity of service, it is proposed that a separate project team be

established within the agency to undertake these works.

The immediate work of the project team will be to:

• Procure more detailed designs and costings • Navigate a range of government approval processes (Cabinet, Parliamentary

Works) • Seek specific planning approval for this initiative.

The purpose of these steps is to have this project being able to go to market to establish a construction contract and detailed construction plans for the new facilities.


Some common faults: • Defeating the purpose - lack of clarity or conviction in the purpose section.

This fails to enthuse the reader

• Paralysis by analysis – an imbalance in reports where the amount of time and

energy devoted to analysis is disproportionate. In particular, the author

wanting to show the reader their methodology, and how they did their analysis

• Leap of faith – going straight from analysis to an action plan

• Lack of creativity in the solution – same ol' same ol'

• Impractical - Actions that are difficult to follow or to put into practice.

Evaluate A checklist for decisions and business cases. Convince the decision-maker of:

1. The subject in question is relevant and important

2. There is evidence of and there is a need for change

3. The right type of change is selected from among options

4. The extent of change proposed is proportionate to the extent of opportunities

and problems

5. The steps toward change have been thought through

6. The risks associated with change have been thought through.

Reflection What has been my most important learning and why?


How We Go About our Writing Activity There is a team operating within an organisation. The roles and responsibilities of the

team are well defined. The work they do is: Case management, investigations and

attending to public enquiries.

The team and their leaders are struggling with their work and are experiencing high

levels of stress. They have raised this with senior management and made a plea for

additional resources to address their situation. Senior management is not convinced

that additional resources are required and believe there could be other reasons why the

team is struggling with their work and experiencing high levels of stress.

We are asked to review the team and produce a report on the resource adequacy or

otherwise of the team.

How would you go about defining this project and your approach to the review and

report?

Introduction






decisions made


Content and Method It is worth distinguishing whether our document is designed to inform our audience

about the content of the work we are doing or on our method or process.

The content of our work relates to the research and the findings of the review being

undertaken into the Office of Case Management. Content relates to the details of our

work – the data, the outputs and the findings.

The method of our work relates to why and how that review has been undertaken and

where it is at in terms of the process that the review has followed. Method relates

more to the process that we follow in our work.

Analogy - Anablep Anableps are a genus of four-eyed fishes. They have eyes designed to see below and

above the water surface at the same time. In our work, we need to have an eye above

and below the surface of our work. Above the surface is the content. Below the

surface is our method or approach.

Discussion Construct a list below of what we need to allow time for in the development of our

content and in the production of our document?

What the report should contain

How you would go about preparing it

‘Above the surface’ Content

‘Below the surface’ Method


We need to consider the management of our time from two perspectives

1. Time to build content by getting to the bottom of the issues and solve them –

GRACE

2. The production process for the document.

The construction process - GRACE2 This section of the notes will introduce the process of how to work with the report

structure introduced in the first module.

In the previous model, the PRAISE structure was introduced. For me, the process for

developing reports involves following the GRACE process twice.

The GRACE process is:

1. Goals

2. Research

3. Analyse

4. Create Strategies

5. Engineer Action Plans

Goals

Research - Dive into detail

Analyse & Reflect - insight that identifies change

Create Strategies & develop the plan

Engineer Action Plans

Straightforward

Less

More

Time

Launch & implement


The process of developing a report will see me go through the GRACE process twice.

In doing so, I will be following a path similar to that outlined below.

Goals

Establishing direction Defining high quality, success & excellence Outcomes from customer perspectives

Research

Gathering facts and data Understand the business Understand the external environment

Root causes Singling out critical success factors Identifying changes required Get to the bottom of this issue

Analyse Create Strategies

Engineer action plans

Strategies to achieve necessary changes and achieve goals Targets and goals for core services Package of solutions

Timetables,action plans and project plans

Meetings with project stakeholders Access Strategic plans

Interviews Surveys Financial data Background papers Reports

SWOT Portfolio analysis Gap analysis Trend analysis

Critical success areas Options for change Option evaluation

Annual timetable of events and processes Gantt chart Next steps

Phase

What does it try to achieve?

Methods

Straightforward

Less

More

Time Decision date

Mid point review

GRACE (first time) GRACE (second time)


The Production process The Process of producing a report or briefing is largely a matter of time management -

How we divide up the time we have for the preparation of a report or briefing.

Managing Time – Author as Project Manager To manage our time, we need to think like a project manager.

• Break our work into chunks

• Plan the sequence of events and the dependencies between events and

• Be explicit about how we are allocating our time

I will typically divide the time required to produce a report or briefing into halves:

1. The first half is to establish clarity on the narrative structure and the primary insight(s) involved in the briefing. This half of the production process includes information gathering, research, and drafting recommendations. The main intent of this section is to be clear on the conclusions I have drawn and the conclusions that I want the reader to draw. For larger reports and projects, I will use the half way point to test my findings and report outline with the client or with my superior.

2. The second half is the drafting, editing and polishing of the report or briefing. This allows time for wordsmithing, spell and grammar checking, consistency of formatting and to receive feedback from superiors on draft versions.

I need to actively manage the time necessary for both. The typical experience is that

we spend too long on the first part, and rush, or don’t do the second, leaving it for

others to do.

Handout 2a - Review/Plan scheduleOutput (Report or Plan)

Week 1 or Month 1 Week 2 or Month 2 Week 3 or Month 3 Week 4 or Month 4 Week 5 or Month 5 Week 6 or Month 6 Week 7 or Month 7 Week 8 or Month 8 Week 9 or Month 9 Week 10 or Month 10 Week 11 or Month 11D/W1 D/W2 D/W3 D/W4 D/W5 D/W1 D/W2 D/W3 D/W4 D/W5 D/W1 D/W2 D/W3 D/W4 D/W5 D/W1 D/W2 D/W3 D/W4 D/W5 D/W1 D/W2 D/W3 D/W4 D/W5 D/W1 D/W2 D/W3 D/W4 D/W5 D/W1 D/W2 D/W3 D/W4 D/W5 D/W1 D/W2 D/W3 D/W4 D/W5 D/W1 D/W2 D/W3 D/W4 D/W5 D/W1 D/W2 D/W3 D/W4 D/W5 D/W1 D/W2 D/W3 D/W4 D/W5

Goals - Project InitiationTerms of ReferenceOutcome Sought & LogicReview or Plan parameters and scope establishedIdentify data sources & documentsIdentify interviewees and stakeholdersIdentify authors

Research and ConsultationInitial data gathering and familiarisationData analysis and manipulationReview existing and historical documentsConduct interviews or workshopsSecond wave research and consultation (after outline report)Third wave research and consultation (after first draft)

Analyse, Create, Engineer - Outline reportEstablish report/plan structure and style guideStoryboard the narrativeDraft known aspects of the reportOutline report for mid point review - feedback meeting

Detailed DraftingCapture thoughts and information from research into initial documentFollow up from the outline reportDevelop the First DraftEdit and reviewCirculate and feedbackSecond draftEdit and reviewCirculate and feedback

Final documentFinal draftingFinal Edit and reviewPresent Final ReportInternal meetings to present and discuss the reportUpdate and publish the final reportStakeholder consultation on final reportFeedback from stakeholder consultation

Project management & governance

LegendPreparation and ResearchDraft versionsApproval requiredMilestone (completed)


Create Volume It starts by establishing the structure.

Capture as much information as is available for each of the sections in the structure.

In the early stages of the writing process we do not need to be fussy. There is no need

to be too discriminating. More is better.

The amount of information you need to include depends on the quality of your

insights. If your insights are clear and strong, you will need less information than if

your insights are still being formulated as you write. By the way, it is OK for your

insights to develop and evolve as you write.

If your insights are still developing, grab and include as much information as possible.

The development of a clear and strong insight(s) will see a good narrative develop.

The narrative will be helpful in developing key themes and layers of information that

will be included with each section. From this you will be able to form the sub

headings that will go into each chapter.

Productivity for this component will be enhanced by:

• Touch typing • Using dictation applications to get material into your notes • Writing in sections – when you hit a block on one section, start writing

another • Beware of perfection, it can be the enemy of production - Being careful to

strive for perfection early by over editing material as you are creating it. I focus on volume first because the best pieces of writing come out with the bad

pieces of writing. Some might say, the more bad stuff we write, the more good stuff

we’ll write.

Writer’s block seems to occur when you only want good stuff to come out and

therefore allow nothing out. The good and the bad usually come out together.

The initial stages of drafting start with more information than will be in the final

version. As the process goes on, it is one of deletion through reallocating information

from the body of the briefing to attachments or to a discard file.

Switch from Volume to Quality After a mid-point review where I establish clarity about the main elements of the

briefing structure, I will work towards producing a minimum viable product. This is a

switch from volume to quality. In the second half of the project I will need:

• Time to continue to write raw material • Time to wordsmith • Time to format the report, tables and graphs • Time to edit our writing and quality assure the material including the data • Time to quality assure the document – checking spelling, layout, grammar,

headers, footers, footnotes, table of contents, Appendices, style consistency and numbering on the tables and charts.

• Time to produce an executive summary (for reports only) • Time for feedback from the client/recipient on draft copies.


It will often be the case that at the end of the first half of work, I will have too much

information to include in the final briefing. The second half of the process will be

cull information so the final briefing is succinct.

If you have too much information, do not delete information – reallocate it.

Once you have greater clarity on your insights and your narrative you can start to

weed out information that is peripheral to your main points. Do not delete them,

move them as they may come in handy later.

The information we have gathered will end up in one of three places:

1. In our final document

2. In an appendix to the document

3. In a ‘discard’ file that we establish to capture what we no longer require.

Information that may be more detailed and that has contributed to us reaching our

insights but could distract the reader (including detailed history) can be relegated to

attachments of our briefing or report.

Information, data and ideas that we have had along the way that have now proven to

be not relevant can be reallocated to a discard file. They may become relevant later.

In the second part of the process, we are improving our briefing, report or document

through relegation and reallocation rather just by creation.

Activity “One of the best things you can do for yourself to improve your writing is to learn

how to cut out words that are not necessary.”

Can you summarise the message of this sentence into seven words or less?


Writing Guidelines Plain English Plain English roughly equates to the standard register introduced earlier on.

Some plain English guidelines:

• Use more familiar and everyday words • Be precise by removing unnecessary words – this requires time • Vary sentence lengths • Prefer active voice to passive voice • Use verbs in preference to constructions based on nouns derived from verbs

(e.g. explain rather than provide an explanation; apply rather than make an application)

• Break up dense strings of nouns • Avoid cliché’s • Use simpler sentence construction.

Use of Style Manuals or Guides And important part of writing is to understand different style requirements that we

have to address. In many organisations, there will be style guides or style manuals

that are designed to guide the choices we can make about writing.

A comprehensive style guide is this style manual published by the Australian

government. The style manual covers a variety of topics that are relevant to our

writing.

The Australian style manual is broken into five parts:

• Part one planning the communications • Part two writing and editing • Part three designing and illustrating • Part four legal and compliance aspects of publishing • Part five producing and evaluating the product.

The section on planning the communications has been addressed today by us talking

about our content and method, the Construction process, and our production process.

The section on writing and editing includes a range of different elements of writing

and editing for which we might need guidance. Relevant subject matters include:

• Effective and inclusive language – looks at the extent of formality or informality in our writing and requirements for inclusive treatment of cultural and ethnic differences, of gender differences, diversity in disability and references to age ranges

• Grammar – the “rules” of language that dictate the order of words, the associations between them and the meaning they create. The ordering of words within our sentences matter. Grammar failures

A tailor's guarantee: If the smallest hole appears after six months' wear, we

will make another absolutely free. The failure is ambiguity in the subject of

the sentence.

Should be:


If the smallest hole appears in your garment after six months wear, we will

make another garment absolutely free.

Lost: Wallet belonging to a young man made of calf skin. Again, we need to

better link clauses to subjects. Should be, Wallet made of calf skin, belonging

to a young man.

• Spelling and word punctuation – use of standard dictionaries (we are recommended to use the Macquarie Dictionary), and the use of word punctuation (e.g. apostrophes and hyphens).

• Sentence punctuation – punctuation is used to help readers appreciate meaning and understand the relationship between components of a sentence. Sentence punctuation includes full stops, question marks, colons, brackets and quotation marks.

• Capital letters – when to use capital letter within sentences, in names, for organisations, geography, in titles and with references to time.

• Textual contrast – using different page layouts, different fonts and weights to help readers.

Passive vs Active To explain the difference between active and passive verbs, we need to look briefly at

how a sentence fits together. There are three main parts to almost every sentence:

• a subject (the person, group or thing doing the action); • a verb (the action itself); and • an object (the person, group or thing that the action is done to).

To give an example, in the sentence 'Peter watched the television':

• the subject is Peter (he is doing the watching); • the verb is watched; and • the object is the television (it is being watched).

There will often be other words in the sentence. For example: 'Peter, the boy from

number 13, watched the television every Friday night'. But the subject, verb and

object are still there.

Active – Peter watched the television.

Passive – The television is watched by Peter.


Some thoughts from Writers that write about writing

Use active verbs more than passive verbs. Active verbs push the reader along.

Passive verbs tug or drag.

Example Active – Joe saw him. This is short and direct.

Example Passive – He was seen by Joe. This longer and more likely to be

ambiguous.

Beware overusing Adverbs and Adjectives Adverbs help describe verbs. He walked. How did he walk? Adverbs quickly or

slowly can be added to describe the walk.

Adjective describe nouns. I met a man. What type of man? Adjectives like tall,

short, rotund, cheery or sad describe the man.

William Zisnner states: “Most adverbs are unnecessary…. Most adjectives are also unnecessary.”

Most verbs and nouns have specific meanings that require no elaboration by adverbs

or adjectives. Adverbs and adjective can clutter and elongate our sentences.

Beware of Little Qualifiers Qualifiers include terms like ‘a bit’, ‘a little’, ‘sort of’. These dilute our

persuasiveness. Zisnner states:

“Don’t say you were a bit confused or sort of tired and a little depressed and somewhat annoyed. Be confused. Be tired. Be depressed. Be annoyed. Don’t hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident.”

Credibility and overstatement Don’t overstate points as they will impact the reader and will impact your credibility.

Further, Zisnner states:

“Credibility is just as fragile for a writer as for a President. Don’t inflate an incident to make it more outlandish that it actually was. If the reader catches you in just one bogus statement that you are trying to pass off as true, everything you write thereafter will be suspect. It’s too great a risk, and not worth taking.”

Prefer short sentences and short paragraphs over long The writers’ life is to craft good sentences that fit together to make good paragraphs.

Good sentences can be short and to the point, especially with non-fiction. Short

sentences can have authority and boldness. They exclude qualifiers and

overstatement.

Be aware of how we were taught to write Most of us were taught to write at school without regard for the future contexts in

which we would write. We were taught to write to prove ourselves – to pass the test

to get a good grade on the essay.

At work we write to advise and to persuade. We do not need to prove ourselves. At

work we write with the authority that emerges from our expertise and research. We

lead others with our writing. We can stop proving ourselves.


Introduction

The intent and purpose of our writingTechnical leadership -What decision makers

want Organising our information - narrative structure



decisions made


Impact - STARC Aside from essential presentation issues discussed above, there are other methods we

can employ to help improve the impact of our report.

Using the analogy of a diamond, these methods are designed to increase clarity, to

eliminate ambiguity, to create succinctness and enhance engagement.

Approaches to enhance impact include STARC and SUCCESs.

SUCCESs Another approach to improving the impact of our plan comes from the book Made to Stick (authors Chip and Dan Heath). The book outlines the key components that

explain why some ideas stick better than others. The authors present an acronym that

summarises the components of sticky messages: SUCCESs.

• Simple – A core message that is reinforced throughout he report

• Unexpected – The message gets attention with an element of surprise and

holds attention by interest, intrigue and mystery.

• Concrete – Links to practical reality and concepts that are easy to associate

with

• Credible – based on facts and data

• Emotional – Helping people care about the issue and the power of association

• Stories – linking with live examples and giving examples of how this may be

carried out.

STARC This section will present each of the STARC components in more detail.

• Simplicity – finding the core of your message and presenting it simply

• Tangibility – linking your report to real and tangible outcomes and events

that others can understand quickly

• Association (and Analogy) – creating emotional links and associations for

people to ensure they are engaged

• Roadmap (and readability) – ensuring the audience or reader to our work

(either written or verbal) is able to follow where we are going and where we

are taking them so there are no surprises

• Consistency (and correctness) – ensuring consistency is our message

across our work


Simplicity Simplicity can be achieved by ensuring there is a core to our message. The core will

consist of a small number of key points that, above all else, the audience needs to

understand. Our main source of simplicity should come from a summary of our key

findings that summarises not only our analysis, but also that links it with our strategy.

Ways of ensuring simplicity include:

• The commander’s intent - getting the core intent or message of our plan

• Prioritising your messages

• The lead - using the analogy of journalism, the lead requires that the most

important information comes out first that it comes out in the lead

• Use of schematics or models - a picture can simplify your presentation.

“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away” Antoine de Saint Exupery.

One method of developing core message of work is to ‘change scales’. Changing

scales relates to presenting our message in short form as well as long form.

Scalability relates to the ability for a plan or report to be presented in various lengths

and varying levels of detail while maintaining the core of its message. The executive

summary and the presentations are exercises in working across scales. I don't know

of a report or business that I have not had to explain to an audience in a short

presentation (20 minutes or less). In many cases, this work has had to be presented in

five minutes. With this knowledge, it is wise to prepare our work at varying scales.

Producing an executive summary or a short presentation is a great test for our report.

They force us to bring out the key components of the report and to eliminate less

important items.

Moving to more summarised information will mean losing information while

maintaining our key points and the thrust of our message. This demands that as we

prepare our report and presentation, we have a sense of the varying levels of

importance of the different issues that we confront.

In summarised cases we do not have the luxury of being able to provide detailed

explanations to make a point. This sometimes demands creativity in presenting

information.

NOTES


Ways of working across scales that involve scaling down:

• Commence work early on the executive summary

• Summarise key findings - As you create a report, at the end of each section

include a summary of key findings for that section. When put together, these

can become a shortened version of the report

• Point reduction – for each section list 7 key points and then prioritise them in

order to be able to produce 5 points, then 3 points and finally one point

• Branding – we can think of famous brands that have as one of their aims the

communication of a number of messages using a short tag line, musical tune

or by an image or logo. In the same way we may identify tag lines or a key

image that can summarise work and be effective in communicating a range of

messages to our readers. Beware not to compromise substance through this

process.

Examples:

• Mid-Point review – bringing your work into six Powerpoint slides

• Building an Executive Summary that is a scaled down version of the report.

To construct this, at the end of each of the PRAISE sections, summarise the

section into one paragraph. Bring those single paragraphs together into one

page for an executive summary.

Using PRAISE to produce an Executive Summary The case study distributed uses PRAISE as a narrative structure. To produce and

executive summary we could work through each section of the report to summarise it

into four or five sentences.

Please read the Purpose section of the review case study and write four short

sentences that capture the most important points from the section.

1 -

2 -

3 -

4 -


Tangibility

We will enhance the impact of the presentation of our information when what we are

proposing is relevant and real. In many cases, we will be making reports on technical

matters that our audience may not understand as well as we do. We have to make our

topic real and tangible for them.

We can demonstrate that what we are proposing is real through the use of a case

study, an example or an object that our audience and readers know and understand.

Tangibility demands that we can put some value or the costs and benefits of our

report. Tangibility also demands that what we recommend be specific and do-able.

Tangibility can occur in different ways in our work with the use of:

• Pictures, including maps and photos (for an IT development, show example of

screens or images)

• Examples or case studies

• Quotes from stakeholders

• Graphs and numbers

• Use timetables or calendars to present plans

• Physical props

When we present the plan in person, we get the opportunity to use physical props or

to share case studies that link the plan to people and events. For a new building, a

valuable physical prop is a prototype or model. When people can be physically linked

to an initiative, they feel more intimately involved and develop a sense it is possible.

Example I was involved as a Treasury officer with an agency that organised a field trip to

introduce a number of Treasury officers to some major redevelopments both in the

plan phase and works in progress. The tour gave us first hand experience with the

sites, the issues they faced and the likely costs associated with the redevelopments. It

certainly enhanced the passage of the submissions and proposals through Treasury

because there was a greater appreciation of the issues related to the developments and

a greater sense of transparency of decision-making.


Case Study –

Gloves on the Boardroom Table From Jon Stengor

We had a problem with our whole purchasing process. I was convinced that a great deal of money was being wasted and would continue to be wasted into the future, and that we didn't even know how much money was being thrown away. I thought we had an opportunity to drive down purchasing costs not by 2% but by something in the order of $1 billion over the next five years. A change this big meant a big shift in the process. This would not be possible, however, unless many people, especially top management saw the opportunity which for most part they did not. So nothing was happening.

To get a sense of the magnitude of the problem, I asked one of our summer students to do a small study of how much we pay for the different kind of gloves used in our factories and how many different gloves we buy. I chose one item to keep it simple, something all the plants use and something we can all easily relate to.

When the student completed the project, she reported that our factories were purchasing 424 different kinds of gloves! Four hundred and twenty four. Every factory had their own supplier and their own negotiated price. The same glove could cost $5 at one factory and $17 dollars at another. $5 or $17 may not seem like a lot of money, but we buy a lot of gloves, and this was just one example of our purchasing problem. When I examined what she had found, even I couldn't believe how bad it was.

The student was able to collect a sample of every one of the 424 gloves. She tagged each one with the price on it and the factory it was used in. Then she sorted the bags by division in the firm and type of glove.

We gathered them all up and put them in our boardroom one day. Then we invited all the division presidents to come visit the room. What they saw was a large, expensive table, normally clean or with a few papers, now stacked high with gloves. Each of our executives stared at this display for a minute. Then each said something like, "We buy all these different types of gloves?" Well as a matter of fact yes we do. "Really?" Yes, really. Then they walked around the table. Most, I think, were looking for the gloves that their factories were using. They could see the prices. They looked at two gloves that seemed exactly alike, yet one was marked $3.22 and the other $10.55.

It’s a rare event when these people don't have anything to say. But that day, they just stood with their mouths gaping.

This demonstration quickly gained notoriety. The gloves became part of a travelling road show. They went to every division. They went to dozens of plants. Many, many people had the opportunity to look at the stacks of gloves. The road show reinforced at every level of the organisation a sense of "this is how bad it is."

Through more research, again done quickly and inexpensively by one of our students, we discovered what some of our competitors were doing. The "competitive benchmarking" was added to the road show. As a result we were given a mandate for change. People would say, "We must act now," which of course we did and saved a great deal of money that could be used in much more sensible ways. Even today, people still talk about the glove story.


Association (Analogy)

Decisions are not made based solely on logic and reason. Emotion plays a big part in

engaging others and in getting others to make decisions and choices. It is therefore

important that our presentations include some emotional links that our audiences and

readers can associate with.

This can include making associations between what we are proposing and what is

important for our audience. Association can include the use of stories and analogies

that help people engage with an issue at an emotional level. Stories are a strong

source of association. They help people see a situation or topic by associating

emotions and links with stories.

Other methods for creating associations include:

• Photos and images that evoke emotional responses

• Music

• Engaging the senses – creating links with smells and tastes that are well

understood.

• Truisms – linking with universal truths that most people accept as a means of

engaging our audience.

“The most basic way to get people to care is to form an association between something they don’t yet care about and something they do care about.”

The most important association we want to create is between our initiative and the

goals and outcomes of our decision-makers.

Beware over using associations, including comparisons between businesses and

sporting teams.

NOTES

How can I use association to enhance the impact of my report?


Roadmap (Readability) If we compare reading a document or listening to a presentation as a form of journey,

it is important that we give the participants a sense that the journey will be well

signposted and smooth. This aspect of enhancing our presentation relates to the

guidance and grammar we use through our presentation and documents.

We want our audience to focus on the substance of our work and not worry about

being lost or distracted in their journey. This demands that we give our followers a

guide along the way so they don’t have to worry about the journey. When someone is

lost in our presentation or when reading our document, they will not be enjoying (our

substance) the scenery. They will be worrying about where to next. Lack of

signposts can lead to our audience getting lost. Keep them informed along the way of

where we are at and where we are going next.

A key aspect of this is to avoid surprises in content. In particular, recommendations

should be linked with strategy, which should be clear from insights that should be

made from analysis. If a recommendation, or strategy, arrives ‘out of the blue’, the

audience can get confused or lost.

We need to include in our work and presentations road signs and the markers to show

readers how they are progressing through that journey. We can improve the quality of

presentation by our use of headings, dot points, and footnotes. It has often amused

me that the most sophisticated analysis can be presented as a great lump of

information that is hard to digest because it is not broken up or because the

information is presented in tiny and intense font. This is done through the use of

headings. Includes signs (headers) monitor journey through a document or

presentation.

The most important markers and road signs will be the headings we use to distinguish

one section from another. Other markers will be the use of dot points, tables, charts,

and page numbers.

In our documents, the journey of the reader will be made smoother by ensuring

consistency in fonts, paragraph spacing, and indentation. Also beware of jargon that

will act as a speed hump or at worst, as an arrester bed in our journey.

Examples

• Overview slides used in presentations that guide us through each session

• “Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them and tell them what

you told them”

NOTES

What road-mapping will I use to enhance the impact of my report?


Consistency (And Correctness) It is important to refer consistently to the same word or same concept and avoid using

different terms to describe it. A speaker, Michael Grose, is an expert in parenting.

Michael uses an example of the importance of consistency of language in his

approach to writing about parenting. Michael would often be asked about when he

was referring to kids, children, youth, teenagers or adolescents whether he was

referring to different groups of people or to the same group of people. Michael had

learnt that when he referred to teenagers, he would only ever use that term, teenagers,

for all his references to that group of people all the way through his written material

and in his presentations. Rather than creating additional confusion or

interrelationships by referring to teenagers as adolescents, young adults or children or

mischief-makers, by using the one term consistently, teenagers, the audience knows

what you mean when you use that term.

Correctness in our presentation and reports refers to the correct use of grammar and

accuracy of data. Deficiencies on both will impact on the credibility of our work.

Achieving correctness requires that we spend some time editing our written material

and practicing our presentation material.

In a ten-day project, it is not unusual to spend around one day focusing on editing and

improving this aspect of the final report.

Consistency across scales In the section on simplicity, I referred to changing scales as a method to achieving

simplicity. Having changed scales and been able to reduce and grow our message, it

is important that we have consistency in the messages that occur across the different

scales. It is critical that elements in the executive summary and in the summary

findings can be found in either the same or increasing levels of detail within the

report.

Consistency of numbers between tables and text

Source: SA Government Budget Papers

General government expenses by function ($m)2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12

Outcome Outcome OutcomeEstimated

result BudgetHealth 3,687 4,000 4,374 4,615 4,715Education 3,180 3,347 3,862 3,952 3,947Housing and community amenities 1,021 1,330 1,870 1,349 1,349Public order and safety 1,151 1,293 1,391 1,448 1,515Social Security and Welfare 812 927 954 1,048 1,146Transport and communications 805 784 829 892 894Recreation and culture 371 284 289 325 483Other economic affairs 195 226 259 300 274General public services 187 277 313 402 413Agriculture forestry, fishing etc 212 243 211 190 180Mining and mineral resources 100 48 70 74 84Fuel and energy 43 52 50 53 43Other purposes 650 953 875 866 948Total expenses 12,414 13,764 15,347 15,514 15,990

Growthsince

2007-0827.9%24.1%32.1%31.6%41.1%11.1%30.2%40.5%

120.9%-15.1%-16.0%

0.0%45.8%28.8%


Links between text and figures It is one thing to ensure that the presentation of tables and the presentation of charts

facilitate clarity in reading. However, it would be tragedy to see excellence in tables

and charts offset by confusion created by poor linking to data in accompanying text.

When using text to discuss a table, ensure that data referred to in the text is consistent

with that included in the table.

A bad example when discussing the table above

Total government expenses have increased by over 7% per annum since 2007-08. There has been large growth in General Public Services (by around 30% per annum) and Social Security and Welfare (by around 10% per annum) while expenses on Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing have fallen by nearly 4% per annum since 2007-08.

A good example when discussing the table above is:

Total government expenses have increased by 28.8% between 2007-08 and the 2011-12 budget. There has been large growth in spending on General Public Services (120.9%), Social Security and Welfare (41.1% growth) and Health and Education (27.9% and 24.1% respectively) with declines in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (-15.1%) and mining and mineral resources (-16.0%).

If you wish to discuss annual growths or dollar increases and decreases, include them

in the table so the reader can quickly reconcile the data with the text. If they have to

do the calculations to confirm their reading it will slow up their reading.

Where possible put commentary and explanation of data with the data in the tables or

charts. If this is not possible, put data explanations immediately above or below that

data or chart. These suggestions are designed to stop unnecessary reading

interruptions for the reader.

NOTES


Impact - Presenting numbers It is difficult to imagine a convincing report that does not present numbers relating to

the subject. Numbers are a universally understood means of presenting quantities,

targets, money and changes.

Just as there are principles and theories relating to the use of the written word to

communicate, so there are principles and theories regarding the use of numbers.

The presentation of numbers is critical to decision making. Numbers can help you

make your case succinct and more tangible.

This section will include:

• Different sections, different data – a section details the what sort of numbers

are likely to be presented in each section of the structure

• Financial evaluations – a section outlining types of financial evaluations that

may be necessary as part of your report

• Presenting numbers – a section outlining when to use tables or graphs, and

some principles in presenting numbers for clarity.

Different sections, different data The case study report provided will show how numbers have been used to support the

PRAISE narrative.

Different parts of a report include the presentation of numbers.

Purpose – the presentation of goals and targets many of which are expressed using

numbers. For example, seeking 10% growth in passenger numbers, 50% growth in

the use of the internet, 20% reduction in our maintenance backlog, or an extra 30 staff

to achieve 10,000 extra medical procedures.

Recent History– the presentation of observations and facts that can be quantified.

This will include presenting existing volumes of activity, trends showing growth and

changes, results of surveys or the current level of revenue and expenses associated

with the subject of the report. Examples for our case include:

For investigations, we can consider the table below

Employee work breakdown

30-Jun-06 30-Jun-07 30-Jun-08Chief Executive 1.0 1.0 1.0Lead Case Manager 1.0 1.0 1.0Case Managers 2.0 3.0 4.0Investigator(s) 1.0 1.0 1.0Enquiry officer(s) 1.0 1.0 1.5Outreach programs 1.5 1.5 0.0Administration 2.0 2.1 2.2

Total 9.5 10.6 10.7

Structure reported as at

Average 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Growth % Growth pa %

Open cases - beginning of year 150 170 190 200 240New cases 100 110 100 130 125 25.0% 6.3%Number of cases closed 80 90 90 90 100 25.0% 6.3%Open cases - end of year 170 190 200 240 265 55.9% 14.0%

As at 30 June


Analysis – data that demonstrates the current state, including projections that show

what may happen if trends continue with deliberate change. Examples from our

report include:

Workload

Interstate comparisons

Insight – summarised data that more bluntly confirms our findings. For our example:


Investigations during the year 136 195 227 226 255 87.5% 21.9%

As at 30 June


Open cases - beginning of year 150 170 190 200 240New cases 100 110 100 130 125 25.0% 6.3%Number of cases closed 80 90 90 90 100 25.0% 6.3%Open cases - end of year 170 190 200 240 265 55.9% 14.0%

As at 30 June

NSW VIC QLD WA SA

Number of open cases 1,700 550 500 230 265Number of new cases in the financial year 500 550 250 90 110

employees devoted to cases 50 28 14 7 4

Indicative case load 34.3 19.5 35.7 32.9 66.3

targeted case loads 35 30 35 35

new cases per case manager 10.1 19.5 17.9 12.9 27.5

As at 30 June 2008

As at 30 June 2008 NSW VIC QLD WA SA

Indicative caseload 34.3 19.5 35.7 32.9 66.3New cases per case manager 10.1 19.5 17.9 12.9 27.5Indicative investigation case load n/a n/a 75 123 255

Case management $ per case 3,138.29$ 5,318.39$ 3,840.31$ 4,612.77$ 2,340.83$ Other services ($ per 1,000 people) 79.55$ 448.18$ 415.20$ 678.60$ 246.68$


Solution – forward looking data that can show the impact of the solutions on activity

or cost. For our example, projections were made for the additional resources required

as per the table below:

Execution – data showing who will do what by when with how much. Example

below shows the timing associated with different tasks or projects.

Reflection

2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2010-11 2011-12$ $ $ $ $

Salaries and wages 20,014 799,312 811,298 823,924 837,203ongoing 13,014 799,312 811,298 823,924 837,203once off 7,000 0 0 0 0

Supplies and services 5,442 158,920 118,045 122,708 127,469

Internal expenses -3,730 11,732 12,367 13,014 13,674

Capital expenditure -4,000 1,100 1,100 1,100 1,100

Total expenditure 17,726 971,064 942,810 960,747 979,446

Additional budget requirement

Business planningD January February March April May June July August Sept31 7 14 21 28 4 11 18 25 3 10 17 24 31 7 14 21 28 5 12 19 26 2 9 16 23 30 7 14 21 28 4 11 18 25 1

Training teamFinance module

AdvertisePrepare materialsDeliver

Business casesAdvertisePrepare materialsDeliver

Company leadership programAdvertise and select participantsLaunchModule 1 Review of assignmentsModule 2Review of assignmentsModule 3Presentation of assignmentsFinal assessment

Finance teamEnd of month processes

JournalsReports

End of year accountsPrepare templatesjournals and accrualstrial balancereconciliationsauditing report production


Excellence in presenting numbers

From Edward Tufte Excellence in statistical graphics consists of complex ideas communicated with

clarity, precision, and efficiency. Graphical displays should:

• Show the data

• Induce the viewer to think about the substance rather than about the

methodology, graphic design, the technology of the graphic production, or

something else

• Avoid distorting what the data have to say

• Present many numbers in a small space

• Make large data sets coherent

• Encourage the eye to compare different pieces of data

• Reveal the data at several levels of detail, from a broad overview to the fine

structure

• Serve a reasonably clear purpose: description, exploration, tabulation or

decoration

• Be closely integrated with the statistical and verbal description of a data set.

Principles of Graphical Excellence:

• Graphical excellence is the well-designed presentation of interesting data – a

matter of substance, of statistics and of design

• Graphical excellence consists of complex ideas communicated with clarity,

precision and efficiency

• Graphical excellence is that which give to the viewer the greatest number of

ideas in the shortest time with the least ink in the smallest space

• Graphical excellence is almost always multivariate

• And graphical excellence requires telling the truth about the data.

Principles of analytical design In his book Beautiful Evidence, Edward Tufte outlines some key principles for

analytical design. What his principles outline is what we should aspire for when we

undertake analysis, whether it is financial analysis, political analysis or scientific

analysis. These principles are shown below.

Principles of analytical design - from Edward Tufte

Principle 1 - Comparisons - show comparisons contrasts and differences

Principle 2 - Causality, mechanism, structure, explanation

Principle 3 - Multivariate analysis - show more than 1 or 2 variables

Principle 4 - Integration of evidence - integrate words, numbers, images and diagrams

Principle 5 - Documentation – detailing the sources of information, good presentation

of tables and charts.

Principle 6 - Content counts most of all - analytical presentations ultimately stand or

fall depending on the quality, relevance and integrity of their content.


From Stephen Few “The purpose of quantitative tables and graphs in business is to communicate

important information effectively. That’s it. Not to entertain, not to indulge in self

expression, not to make numbers interesting through flash and dazzle that you would

otherwise deem boring.”

“As providers of quantitative business information, it is our responsibility to do more

than sift through the data and pass it on; we must help our readers gain the insight

contained therein. We must design the message in a way that leads readers on a

journey of discovery, making sure that what’s important is clearly seen and

understood. The right numbers have an important story to tell. They rely on you to

give them a clear and convincing voice.”


From Sally Bigwood and Melissa Spore To create lucid, intelligible data graphics, we suggest the following:

Reduce the data: Designing useful data graphics requires decision-making, judging

what data is relevant, and what can be ignored. Too much data swamps, confuses and

misleads. Think of the needs of your readers. Provide selective, edited demonstration

tables – focusing on a specific point – rather than comprehensive tables. Similarly,

graphs should focus on an explicit story.

Present refined thought: Persuasive data graphics are the product of time and

thought. Serious communicators need time to analyse the data and design it

appropriately for the intended audience. A resulting table or graph may look simple

but is the result of knowledge, experience and commitment to communicating with

others.

Don’t overestimate graphs: Graphs are fundamentally simple. Bar graphs show that

one thing is larger than another, lines show changes over time and pies show the parts

of a whole. Graphs that look complex almost always do so because of overelaborate

presentation, not intellectual rigor. The fact is, graphs cannot explain complex

messages and complex graphs do not communicate effectively.

Use a table: Saying the public prefers graphs to tables is like saying someone prefers

a hammer to a saw. Both are useful tools but they do different jobs. Graphs excel at a

single storyline, at high contrasts and broad trends; they are less good at detail. Tables

are more versatile and can present complex stories. Additionally tables hold detail

conveniently and, when well designed, are easy to read. Yet communicators are

sometimes pressurized into using graphs when a table is appropriate. People who are

interested in your subject will be interested in relevant, readable data however

presented.

Remove debris: Gratuitous decoration – data labels, gridlines, shading, borders, tick

marks, embolding, etc. – detracts from the message. Emphasize the data, not the

decoration. To make your tables and graphs authoritative, keep them simple, small

and stripped of clutter. Look at The Economist: it serves a highly numerate, serious

readership and illustrates articles with small, succinct data graphics with scarcely a

gridline or data label in sight.

Steer clear of pie charts and 3-d graphs: The public may like pie charts but they

force readers into the mental jugging of comparing triangles arranged in a circle. Most

of us think linearly and a simple bar chart presents this data more conveniently.

Equally, 3-d graphs may be popular but they tend to distort data – readers do not

know which point of the image they should measure from. Avoid them.

Extract from the Article “Designing persuasive tables and charts”.


Options for presenting data

Tables “A table is a structure for organising and displaying information; a table exhibits the following characteristics:

• Data are arranged in columns and rows

• Data are encoded as text (including words and numbers).”

Source: Page 40 of Show Me the Numbers, Stephen Few

Graphs “A graph is a method for displaying quantitative information that exhibits the following characteristics:

• Values are displayed within an area delineated by one or more axes

• Values are encoded as visual objects positioned in relation to the axes

• Axes provide scales (quantitative and categorical) that are used to assign values and labels to the visual objects.”

Source: Page 42 of Show Me the Numbers, Stephen Few

To use tables or graphs? A common dilemma is whether or not to use tables or graphs in the presentation of

quantitative information. Below are some simple principles that can help make us

determine whether we use tables or graphs.

• Tables are the best way to show exact numerical values. Graphs are the best

way to show indicative numbers.

• Tables are preferable to graphics for many small data sets. "Tables usually

outperform graphics in reporting on small data sets of 20 numbers or less. The

special power of graphics comes in the display of large data sets."

• Tables also work well when the data presentation requires many localised

comparisons (e.g. when showing many electorates in an election)

• Graphs are best when making comparisons over time

• Graphs are best for showing shapes, trends and relationships in and between

data.

If in doubt – use a table, they are more versatile and data rich.

Writing about numbers Some conventions regarding the inclusion of numbers among words include:

• Spell out numbers one to ten. Begin digits at 11

• If a series has numbers above and below ten, use digits for consistency

• Mixing words and numbers in a single concept helps the reader make

distinctions, for instance, nine 6-inch rulers

• Use digits for most units of measure: 7 grams not seven grams, 6 inches not

six inches. Years are the exception

• Readers prefer sentences that start with words rather than with digits.

Seventeen monkeys were captured rather than 17 monkeys were captured

• Consistency in use of fraction and decimals

• Using rounding and comma separation for large numbers with text.

Source: Presenting Numbers, Tables, and Charts, Sally Bigwood and Melissa Spore


Design Principles for presenting numbers Please direct your attention to the table below. The numbers are from the SA

Pinkbook that shows annual figures on road statistics.

Source: Road Crashes in South Australia 2009 In Groups please discuss how the presentation of this table could be improved.


Principles of design in tables 1. The font (type and orientation used)

2. Number formats including the use of decimal points

3. The use of gridlines and fill

4. Spacing.

Fonts Use fine fonts that are more easily legible rather than broad fonts that crowd up the

space we are using.

Be consistent in the use of fonts within tables. I prefer to use Sans-serif fonts like

Arial, Arial Narrow or Verdana in tables as they use up less space.

Wherever possible use a horizontal orientation of the data.

Number formats For large numbers, comma separate the figures.

Use rounding to provide clarity and to conserve space.

Only use decimal points where absolutely necessary and then minimise their use.

Right justify numbers so they are aligned. This also creates natural space between

columns

“The level of precision should not exceed the level needed to serve your communication objectives and the needs of your readers.” Stephen Few

Correcting fonts and numbers alone means the table now looks as follows.

Source: Road Crashes in South Australia 2009

YearFatal

crashes FatalitiesCasualty crashes Casualties All crashes

Vehicles on Register

('000)

Licence Holders

('000)Population

('000)

Vehicle kilometres travelled (million)

1987 230 256 8,619 11,721 42,240 834.9 865.4 1,394.21988 206 223 7,881 10,541 37,373 846.2 880.0 1,408.0 12,7951989 201 222 7,815 10,405 40,067 862.6 900.7 1,424.61990 186 225 7,606 10,260 39,844 883.5 923.3 1,439.11991 166 184 6,506 8,804 35,961 895.7 944.0 1,446.3 12,6381992 141 164 6,258 8,059 35,756 904.5 943.7 1,456.51993 191 218 6,467 8,287 916.0 947.1 1,460.71994 145 163 6,410 8,169 38,830 931.1 964.0 1,466.11995 164 182 6,448 8,341 39,300 945.4 974.8 1,469.4 13,1951996 162 181 6,509 8,676 38,939 959.2 978.5 1,474.31997 124 149 6,426 8,371 38,867 969.3 994.7 1,481.41998 152 168 6,926 9,074 39,586 994.8 995.3 1,489.5 13,9741999 132 153 7,418 9,833 41,742 1,009.9 1,011.5 1,497.8 13,0812000 151 166 7,717 10,154 40,603 1,011.1 1,025.3 1,505.0 13,1532001 136 153 7,734 10,256 40,788 1,022.7 1,045.1 1,511.7 15,0852002 138 154 7,591 10,083 40,130 1,044.6 1,046.9 1,518.7 14,8552003 135 156 7,096 9,227 30,375 1,034.3 1,052.0 1,527.4 14,9632004 128 139 6,720 8,765 21,952 1,049.2 1,072.4 1,532.7 15,2412005 124 147 6,190 8,019 20,820 1,064.9 1,093.6 1,542.0 14,5332006 104 117 6,187 7,947 20,273 1,085.0 1,042.3 1,568.2 15,5352007 108 125 6,467 8,429 21,289 1,106.5 1,073.1 1,584.2 14,2122008 87 99 6,697 8,490 21,468 1,171.2 1,093.5 1,601.8 14,2122009 104 119 6,229 7,849 21,327 1,201.1 1,134.7 1,624.6 14,212

Data Trends, South Australia 1987-2009


Gridlines and Fill Gridlines and fill are defined as non-data ink. A key principle in presenting numbers

is to minimise non-data ink because it can distract the reader from the data you are

aiming to present.

Start by eliminating all fill and then trying to use the least number of gridlines and

even then, make them grey rather than black.

More gridlines or very light fill may be necessary where there are a number of

columns and rows and are used to help the reader distinguish these rows and columns.

The table below eliminates all shading and eliminated vertical lines. Vertical lines are

not necessary as the white space between columns is a natural separator.

Source: Road Crashes in South Australia 2009 Note: n/a - complete data not available for that year

However, even horizontal lines can be either eliminated or toned down.


Spacing Keep comparisons close – numbers in a column are closer than numbers in a row. Use

columns first and rows second.

No lines are required at the beginning or end of the table and rather than using black

colour for lines, grey can be used putting less emphasis on the lines and more on the

data.

Source: Road Crashes in South Australia 2009 Note: n/a - complete data not available for that year

Principles of data graphics Regardless of whether information is presented in tables or in graphs, there are some

principles for the presentation of data.

"Five principles in the theory of data graphics produce substantial changes in

graphical design….:

Above all else show the data.

Maximise the data-ink ratio.

Erase non-data-ink.

Erase redundant data-ink.

Revise and edit."

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, pg. 105


Ratio & Multivariate Analysis For the road statistics, we could create some ratios to show the relationship between

the number of crashes, fatalities and injuries and the population data (vehicles, licence

holders and population). This would bring out the relationship between these figures.

When we refer to relationships, we should also think to produce this data in graphical

form. A table showing ratio analysis and a series of graphs are presented over the

page.

Note: n/a - complete data not available for that year

Year

Fatalities per 10,000 vehicles

Casualties per 10,000 vehicles

Crashes per 10,000 vehicles

Fatalities per 10,000

licence holders

Casualties per 10,000

licence holders

Crashes per 10,000

licence holders

Fatalities per 10,000

people

Casualties per 10,000

people

Crashes per 10,000

people1987 3.07 140.39 505.93 2.96 135.44 488.10 1.84 84.07 302.971988 2.64 124.57 441.66 2.53 119.78 424.69 1.58 74.87 265.431989 2.57 120.62 464.49 2.46 115.52 444.84 1.56 73.04 281.251990 2.55 116.13 450.98 2.44 111.12 431.54 1.56 71.29 276.871991 2.05 98.29 401.48 1.95 93.26 380.94 1.27 60.87 248.641992 1.81 89.10 395.31 1.74 85.40 378.89 1.13 55.33 245.491993 2.38 90.47 na 2.30 87.50 na 1.49 56.73 na1994 1.75 87.73 417.03 1.69 84.74 402.80 1.11 55.72 264.851995 1.93 88.23 415.70 1.87 85.57 403.16 1.24 56.76 267.461996 1.89 90.45 405.95 1.85 88.67 397.95 1.23 58.85 264.121997 1.54 86.36 400.98 1.50 84.16 390.74 1.01 56.51 262.371998 1.69 91.21 397.93 1.69 91.17 397.73 1.13 60.92 265.771999 1.52 97.37 413.33 1.51 97.21 412.67 1.02 65.65 278.692000 1.64 100.43 401.57 1.62 99.03 396.01 1.10 67.47 269.792001 1.50 100.28 398.83 1.46 98.13 390.28 1.01 67.84 269.822002 1.47 96.52 384.17 1.47 96.31 383.32 1.01 66.39 264.242003 1.51 89.21 293.68 1.48 87.71 288.74 1.02 60.41 198.872004 1.32 83.54 209.23 1.30 81.73 204.70 0.91 57.19 143.222005 1.38 75.30 195.51 1.34 73.33 190.38 0.95 52.00 135.022006 1.08 73.24 186.85 1.12 76.24 194.50 0.75 50.68 129.282007 1.13 76.18 192.40 1.16 78.55 198.39 0.79 53.21 134.382008 0.85 72.49 183.30 0.91 77.64 196.32 0.62 53.00 134.022009 0.99 65.35 177.56 1.05 69.17 187.95 0.73 48.31 131.28

Data Trends, South Australia 1987-2009 - Ratio analysis


Further analysis that can be done with this data is to look at the number of fatalities

and casualties per crash to assess the seriousness of crashes in South Australia.

This information is presented in a table and graph below.

These data show that the severity of crashes as measured by the number of fatalities

and casualties per crash is increasing, with notable increases since 2002.

Year

Fatalities per 1000 crashes

casualties per 1000 crashes

1987 6.06 277.491988 5.97 282.051989 5.54 259.691990 5.65 257.501991 5.12 244.821992 4.59 225.391993 na na1994 4.20 210.381995 4.63 212.241996 4.65 222.811997 3.83 215.381998 4.24 229.221999 3.67 235.572000 4.09 250.082001 3.75 251.452002 3.84 251.262003 5.14 303.772004 6.33 399.282005 7.06 385.162006 5.77 392.002007 5.87 395.932008 4.61 395.472009 5.58 368.03

Data Trends, South Australia

0.00#

1.00#

2.00#

3.00#

4.00#

5.00#

6.00#

7.00#

8.00#

0.00#

50.00#

100.00#

150.00#

200.00#

250.00#

300.00#

350.00#

400.00#

450.00#

1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Casual&es(&(Fatali&es(per(1000(crashes(

casual1es#per#1000#crashes# Fatali1es#per#1000#crashes#

Le:#hand#scale# Right#hand#scale#


Consider the following graph

Casualty crashes by day of week and time of day, South Australia 2009

Source: Road Crashes in South Australia 2009 In Groups please discuss how the presentation of this table could be improved.

200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800 850 900 950

1000 1050 1100

Mon

day

Tue

sday

Wed

nesday

Thu

rsda

y

Frida

y

Saturd

ay

Sund

ay

2300-2359 2200-2259 2100-2159 2000-2059 1900-1959 1800-1859 1700-1759 1600-1659 1500-1559 1400-1459 1300-1359 1200-1259 1100-1159 1000-1059 0900-0959 0800-0859 0700-0759 0600-0659 0500-0559 0400-0459 0300-0359 0200-0259 0100-0159 0000-0059


Principles of design in graphs Improvements could include:

• Maximise the data ink ratio and minimise non-data ink – as with tables, use

fine fonts not bold fonts, keep gridlines light, minimise use of ink filling non

data spaces.

• Integrity in scales – When you set the bottom on the x-axis scale to a value

greater than zero you will either lose data or exaggerate values in the graph.

Either compromises graphical integrity.

• Avoid 3D – Using three dimensions can distort the appearance of the data and

exaggerate value. It should be avoided.

• Avoid Moire effects - these come from using patterns as a means to

distinguish data. These effects serve to interact with the natural tremor in our

eyes to produce the distracting appearance of vibration and movement

• Colours – rather than using bright colours that distract the eye, use softer

pastel colours and if possible colours that relate the subject being displayed.

In maps this is done by showing water as a soft blue while land is shown as a

soft green for pasture and yellows or browns for desert.

Modifying these will result in the following chart:


Source: Road Crashes in South Australia 2009 However, this graph still suffers from having too many data categories. The graph is

trying to compare and stack 24 data categories across seven days of the week. A

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

2300-2359

2200-2259

2100-2159

2000-2059

1900-1959

1800-1859

1700-1759

1600-1659

1500-1559

1400-1459

1300-1359

1200-1259

1100-1159

1000-1059

0900-0959

0800-0859

0700-0759

0600-0659

0500-0559

0400-0459

0300-0359

0200-0259

0100-0159

0000-0059


critical question for this graph is what data relationships does it want to show? In this

case, data comparisons may be better made with a table than with a chart.

At this point, we get different perspectives from experts in graphs.

1. The KISS group (Keep it simple silly) will suggest that the graph above is

trying to represent two main points that can be presented in two very

straightforward graphs.

2. The second perspective will be from the KICK group (Keep it Complex

Knucklehead) who advocate that the data should unashamedly show as much

detail as possible but using a straightforward design rather than the clumsy

design we saw earlier.

An example of a graph that attempts to demonstrate as much data as possible without

having an overly complicated design is over the page.

0"

200"

400"

600"

800"

1,000"

1,200"

Monday"

Tuesday"

Wednesday"

Thursday"

Friday"

Saturday"

Sunday"

Casualty accidents by day of the week

0"

100"

200"

300"

400"

500"

600"

0000<0059"

0100<0159"

0200<0259"

0300<0359"

0400<0459"

0500<0559"

0600<0659"

0700<0759"

0800<0859"

0900<0959"

1000<1059"

1100<1159"

1200<1259"

1300<1359"

1400<1459"

1500<1559"

1600<1659"

1700<1759"

1800<1859"

1900<1959"

2000<2059"

2100<2159"

2200<2259"

2300<2359"

Casualty accidents by hour of the day



This graph attempts to show as much of the data as possible but with as simple a

design as possible. It attempts to:

• Show the main indicator being total accidents by time of day

• Show each day at each time of the day that enables comparison of each day

• Uses as fewer colours as possible, using shades of grey and shapes to

distinguish weekdays and showing weekends quite distinctly differently

• Uses two scales to enable unlike data levels to be presented – left hand x-axis

presents total by day of the week while the right hand x-axis shows accidents

by hour of the day.

"Graphical excellence is often found in simplicity of design and complexity of data."

Edward Tufte – The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

After all this, maybe a table is better. If we are seeking an exact answer about the

time of day and day of the week, a table will give us this detail better than a graph

will.

0"

60"

120"

180"

240"

300"

360"

420"

480"

540"

600"

0"

20"

40"

60"

80"

100"

120"

140"

160"

180"

200"

0000*0059"

0100*0159"

0200*0259"

0300*0359"

0400*0459"

0500*0559"

0600*0659"

0700*0759"

0800*0859"

0900*0959"

1000*1059"

1100*1159"

1200*1259"

1300*1359"

1400*1459"

1500*1559"

1600*1659"

1700*1759"

1800*1859"

1900*1959"

2000*2059"

2100*2159"

2200*2259"

2300*2359"

Total&num

ber&o

f&crashes&per&hou

r&

Num

ber&o

f&Crashes&per&hou

r&for&each&da

y&of&th

e&week&

Time&of&Day&

Total"

Sunday"

Monday"

Tuesday"

Wednesday"

Thursday"

Friday"

Saturday"


Reflection What has been my most important learning from this session?


References On thinking Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011), Daniel Kahneman

Influencer – The Power to Change Anything (2008), Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny

David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler

One Great Insight is Worth a Thousand Good Ideas (2005), Phil Dusenberry

Serious Creativity (1996), Edward De Bono

Successful Intelligence (1997), Robert J Sternberg

Changing Minds (2006), Howard Gardner

Made to Stick (2007), Chip and Dan Heath

Every Patient Tells a Story (2008), Lisa Sanders

Counselling with Choice Theory (2000), William Glasser, M.D.

Moment of Clarity (2014), Christian Madsbjerg, Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen

On writing Putting Stories to Work (2016), Shawn Callahan

Style Manual, Australian Government

The War of Art (2002), Stephen Pressfield

Do the Work (2011), Stephen Pressfield

Several short sentences about writing (2012), Verlyn Klinkenborg

Draft No 4 ( 2017) John McPhee

On Writing Well (2006) William Zinsser

Plain English, Good Practice Guide (2007), SA Government Reform Commission

On presenting numbers

Show Me the Numbers (2004), Stephen Few

Website: www.perceptualedge.com

Presenting Numbers, Tables, and Charts (2003), Sally Bigwood and Melissa Spore

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (2001), Edward Tufte

Visual Explanations (1997), Edward Tufte

Envisioning Information (1990), Edward Tufte

Beautiful Evidence (2006), Edward Tufte


Appendix 1: Understanding Your Audience It is my view that there are two key elements to understanding your audience in

preparing a report or briefing.

• Understand the outcomes sought by your reader

• Understand the ‘degrees of separation’ between you and your reader.

Outcomes sought The first element to understanding your audience is understanding their decision-

making and outcomes they are seeking to achieve. What are their goals? This aspect

of your report or briefing requires that you include explicit reference to the outcomes

relevant to the audience of the report.

This element of attending to your audience will be addressed by incorporating the

outcomes into the structure of our briefing. This will be addressed in the section on

PRAISE as a narrative structure.

Degrees of Separation The second element of understanding your audience is to understand how many

degrees of separation there are between you and them as it relates to the subject

matter or policy that you are writing about.

A degree of separation is the distance in knowledge between you as the author and the

intended audience of your report.

• One degree of separation occurs when you as the author are reporting to

someone in your team or in your field of expertise. You have shared

knowledge and expertise and appreciation of language specific to your field

(i.e. jargon).

• Two degrees of separation will occur when you are writing for an audience

that are outside your team but still within your organisation. An example of

this is when you're your writing for your boss’s boss or when you’re writing

for another team within your organisation (e.g. ICT communicating with

finance).

• A third degree of separation occurs when you write to someone outside your

organisation but within your broader industry. In the case of a government,

the third degree of separation can occur if a document must meet the

requirements of a central agency like Treasury and Finance or Premier and

Cabinet.

• A fourth degree of separation can occur when your intended audience is

outside your industry sector. In the case of government, the fourth of

separation may occur when the intended audience is a new minister or the

public who cannot be presumed to have a deep understanding or the

technicalities of your area or subject matter.

For each degree of separation, the readability of your report needs to be adjusted to

accommodate what is reasonable to expect for each of the different audiences.

Readability is the ease with which a reader can understand a written text. In natural language, the readability of text depends on its content (the complexity of its vocabulary and syntax) and its presentation (such as typographic aspects like font size, line height, and line length). Source: Wikipedia


The graphic below links the readability of our report with the degrees of separation.

We can receive readability statistics in Microsoft Word by selecting ‘show readability statistics” from the spelling and grammar options.

Websites like readabilityformulas.com will evaluate the readability of a piece of text

for you. The readability is assessed based on algorithms that assess things like word

length, syllable number and sentence length.

If you work in a policy area that requires a tertiary qualification to be part of your

team then one degree of separation from you means you can pitch that document at a

level that is reasonably interpreted by somebody with tertiary qualifications. For

example, if the audience for your report is your boss and if you and your boss are

higher degree qualified and you both understand terminology jargon and language

you can pitch the report at a tertiary or higher degree level.

For the second degree of separation, the readability of your briefing needs to be

adjusted to pitch it to upper high school level. This is not disrespectful to your reader.

Indeed, it is quite the opposite. It is respectful of the fact that your reader is not as

familiar with the subject as you are. Care also needs to be taken in the use of jargon.

Jargon can be used as a means of excluding people from your information. People

who read reports with lots of jargon will interpret the use of the jargon as a means by

which to exclude them.

A third degree of separation might see the briefing adjusted to lower high school

level. A fourth degree of separation would see the briefing adjusted to an upper

primary school or middle primary school readability.

Degree of separation

Document readability

Middle Primary Tertiary

One

Four

Three

Two

Lower secondary Upper secondary


Example from Readabilityformulas.com The last three paragraphs on the previous page were processed on the

readabilityformulas.com website. The results were:

Flesch Reading Ease score: 51.2 (text scale) Flesch Reading Ease scored your text: fairly difficult to read. [ f ] | [ a ] | [ r ] Gunning Fog: 14.1 (text scale) Gunning Fog scored your text: hard to read. [ f ] | [ a ] | [ r ] Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 11.3 Grade level: Eleventh Grade. [ f ] | [ a ] | [ r ] The Coleman-Liau Index: 9 Grade level: Ninth Grade [ f ] | [ a ] | [ r ] The SMOG Index: 10.2 Grade level: Tenth Grade [ f ] | [ a ] | [ r ] Automated Readability Index: 10.5 Grade level: 15-17 yrs. old (Tenth to Eleventh graders) [ f ] | [ a ] | [ r ] Linsear Write Formula : 13.5 Grade level: College.


Appendix 2: The relationship between succinctness and complexity A common request in workshops on writing reports or briefings is: “How long should my report be?”

It is also a common for managers and leaders to seek training for their staff on how to

write concisely.

Is important not to confuse conciseness with simplicity. I am very wary of the

demand for a short briefing for a complex subject matter. The request that gets made

is that you as the author ‘make the complex simple’. Please be careful here.

Distinguish inherent complexity from unnecessary complexity.

If a matter is inherently complex, it cannot be made simple. If a matter is

unnecessarily complex, then than complexity can be eliminated. The request to make

the complex simple can be applied to the latter but not to the former.

My response to the question of how long a report should be is: “The length of report is a function of the inherent complexity of the subject that it is dealing with and the quality of insight arising from research”.

Inherent complexities will include:

• Competing demands and interests

• Resource constraints

• Overlapping policies (e.g. State vs Commonwealth)

• High volume and large scale impacts (e.g. Health systems, transport systems,

education system).

There are often no easy answers in inherently complex cases.

A report on a subject that is inherently complex, as is the case of a lot of government

policy, necessarily requires some length to present evidence and to explain how to

manage the inherent complexities associated with the subject.

The graphic below presents my view of the relationship between the inherent

complexity of a subject and the length of an underlying report or business case.

Inherent complexity

Underlying report length

Short Long

Low

High

For long reports - to be concise: • Use an executive

summary • Insights and root causes

are key • Use appendices for detail

For short reports: • Stay on point • Avoid retelling

every element of the story


For a matter that is not inherently complex, succinctness can be achieved by capturing

the simple facts associated with the matter. Succinctness comes from staying on

point.

In cases where there is inherent complexity, conciseness can be arrived out through:

• The way an executive summary is constructed for a report

• A straightforward narrative structure

• If a matter has been well researched and good insights (e.g. root causes)

identified or revealed, succinctness can arise from revolving a briefing around

these insights.

• Using appendices to provide supporting evidence.

"….. excellence is often found in simplicity of design and complexity of data." Edward Tufte – The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

It is my preference, for an inherently complex subject matter, for there to be a short

briefing to complement a detailed report to ensure that the short briefing does not

belie the complexity of the matter. The production of a brief that is succinct may

suggest that there are easy answers which can be misleading in providing advice on

policy matters.

It will often be the case that politicians will seek to get a punchy message that they

need to communicate with their constituency. It is reasonable for a politician to want

to get to the heart or to the point of the matters that underlie the policy. Care needs to

be taken to make sure that the briefings and advice prepared do not oversimplify a

subject matter that is complex to meet this requirement. If the subject matter is

complex a concise executive summary can be produced but should be supported by a

detailed report showing a range of evidence and the difficulties associated with the

key policy matter.

There will be circumstances where a concise briefing is required and only a short time

is able to be devoted towards the briefing. In these cases, the complexity of the

subject may not be fully explored or investigated. In these circumstances, a briefing

can summarise facts and complexities known at the time. If detailed research is not

able to be undertaken because of time constraints and deeper insights not able to be

identified or revealed, a briefing should not put forward solutions that have not been

evidenced or explored. To do so would be misleading.

In circumstances where a report or briefing is required to be concise but the author is

time constrained, a good narrative structure will be necessary to ensure that the author

does not get long winded. It is also important that the author focuses on the outcomes

of the reader more so than they do on the process they have gone through in a taking

their work.

Narrative is the way the author or speaker chooses to structure events. We do not

have to retell the story in the same way the story unfolded. To do so would often bore

the reader with details not all relevant to the key elements of the final story that

unfolded. Therefore, a method (or narrative) to retelling the story of your subject is

necessary to achieve conciseness particularly when there is limited time available for

the preparation of brief.


Appendix 3: The Construction Process in Detail Developing the structure will be broken into 5 steps. Detail will be provided on each

of these steps. The five steps are:

1. Start above the line (Goals, decisions, documents and deadlines)

2. The RACE for insight (complete GRACE for the first time)

3. Mid Point review - Assess & test your report

4. Improve quality (depth and integration) - follow GRACE again

5. Enhance impact

1. Start above the line

When commencing the report, start above the line by identifying the decision,

establishing purpose and developing some initial timelines.

This is about developing as much clarity as you can around both strategic goals and

tactical goals. Strategic goals relate to why this initiative is important and what

changes could be expected to happen after approval. Tactical goals are those specific

to this process of developing the report. These can be thought of as documents and

deadlines.

Deadlines will include the decision date and any relevant lead-up dates and the date of

a mid point review (to be discussed further below).

Documents will include the report and any other related documents required by the

decision makers (e.g. budget bids, PowerPoint presentations, diagrams, plans).

A useful question to ask of the sponsor at this stage is:

Ideally, what happens after the report is approved?

Straightforward

Less

More

Time Decision date

Mid point review

Establish goals – strategic and tactical. Tactical – identify documents and deadlines


2. The RACE for insight - (complete GRACE for the first time)

Having established goals in the initial phase, we now RACE (completing GRACE for

the first time) to uncover insights.

The search for insight begins with research. Go as deeply into the subject within a set

time frame. Find out as much as you can as quickly as you can. Be careful to put a

time limit on this and beware of collecting too much information. Analysis needs to

occur quickly to make sense of the information collected.

Insight will demand that you allow time for reflection, time to stop and think.

Consider what are my initial conclusions and findings and what do I think is going on

here? Summarise what is going on, what the key factors are that explain the past and

that will factor into possible solutions or remedies that we can find.

At this point, quality insights will bring with them initial ideas, solutions and

strategies. Spend some time developing these and testing how they might be

implemented (are they practical)

If you get stuck in any area, move on as you can always come back to that area later.

A block in one area will usually suggest a deficiency in another

At the end of these first two steps, you will have a rough outline of your report with

some depth in your analysis and some outline of solutions. This is the process we

worked through in the first session. It is important that some energy is devoted to

each component of the structure in order to get an early sense of the complete report.

Straightforward

Less

More

Time

Goals

Decision date

Mid point review

Research

Analyse Create Strategy

Engineer action plans


3. Mid point review - Assess and test your report Having had a first go at the report, it is a good time to do an initial evaluation of how

the report stacks up. It is likely that as you construct the report in the first two steps,

you will have identified a number of strengths and weaknesses in the report. Usually,

when preparing a report, some areas are easier to prepare (where your report is strong)

and some prove more difficult (where your report is weak). In this phase, you are

essentially undertaking the first two components of a SWOT analysis (explained on

the next page) of your report.

A mid point presentation or review is designed to be a test of the insights we have

found to date. It will test the depth and quality of our plan or project. It will identify

where further research and analysis is required and will test the quality of the

strategies we have developed.

You can do a number of things to assess and test your report:

• Go over the report with someone else - present a preliminary version of your

findings to your sponsor, manager or to anyone who will give you feedback.

• Change scales – prepare a short presentation or the executive summary of the

report

• Do a SWOT analysis

Preliminary discussion with the sponsor/decision maker At this stage it can be helpful to check your findings with others. Another test of how

your report stacks up is to have a preliminary (mid-point) discussion with your project

sponsor or with the ultimate decision maker or gatekeeper to your initiative. This

helps get a sense of whether the different components hold together in the mind of

others.

Change scales – using different scales as a test One way to assess the quality of our report is to do an executive summary or

presentation. This is an initial test of substance and flow in our report.

The scale or size of a report or presentation isa test for the levels of importance of the

information contained within it. Changing scales is primarily an exercise of

elimination of low importance information. It will test the:

• Clarity of purpose

• depth of our analysis,

• quality of our reflective thinking

• relevance of our solution

• practicality of our next steps.


Activity – Where is your report at?

What’s the story of your report and what is the story in your report?

Present an overview of your report to someone.

What did you learn from this?

How can you improve your report?

The exercise of preparing a presentation or an executive summary forced the process

of preparing your report whether you were ready or not. I call this exercise –

changing scales. The exercise demanded that we produce a summarised version of

the report even though we may not have completed the detailed report yet. The

practice of changing scales serves as a test to the quality of the narrative or story that

is emerging from our report and how well our detailed work is supporting this

narrative or story.


4. Improve quality – depth and integration (by following GRACE a second time) The mid point review will usually reveal deficiencies in our report. My experience is

that it reveals examples of where further analysis is required to ensure the problems

have been properly understood or to ensure data is robust. It also reveals where

analysis is not strong enough to support strategies that have been put forward. The

mid-point review gives us a clearer view of how our strategies and execution plan

need further development and thought. Finally, there may be inconsistencies between

the analysis and strategy sections that demand improved integration across the report.

Following are possible areas of focus in this next phase of our construction process.

Depth of analysis Improving data and the quality of our analysis. Where more robust analysis or

modelling is required to ensure our insights are well founded and can be strongly

argued. This may mean improving the quality of modelling or producing scenario

and sensitivity analysis to better demonstrate evidence for the need to change.

Quality of solutions Reports are ultimately about changing the future. Therefore, the most important

elements of the report will be those that relate to the future - the strategy and the

execution. These are the parts that we are really trying to sell our audience.

To overcome the common fault of obsession with analysis, it important to give proper

weight to these future components of the report. As we are doing this, we will

identify where work is required in the previous phases of the report. When giving

greater attention to the future we can do the following:

• 'Play out the future' – this demands that you focus on what will happen when

your report is approved. What will we expect to see happen? Doing this will

Straightforward

Less

More

Time

Mid point review

Decision date Targeted research

Deeper analysis Better developed strategies

More detailed action plans

GRACE (second time)

Increased depth


immediately test whether the original ideas we have developed are feasible

and practical – can they be implemented?

• Checking our strategy and execution back to our purpose – is what we propose

consistent with our purpose? With reports for projects, it is usually more

difficult to change the original goals or objectives. If these cannot change, we

must ensure our solution delivers what our organisation needs. There will be

some circumstances in which the development of a solution may demand the

original goals change. Beware of these circumstances, because too much

changing of the goal posts will weaken the reason for the report in the first

place.

• Identify gaps in our analysis and reflection - Working on the future will

quickly uncover gaps in our analysis and in our reflection. This means we will

need to go back and either revisit our analysis to make some further findings,

or do some more analysis in order to make some further findings.

Integration - tighten links between the parts Once we are satisfied that we have a well-packaged solution and practical next steps,

we can now tighten up the entire report. This means ensuring that there is a

connection and consistency between each of the parts.

Connection between the parts The test of connections is whether or not our reader will find any surprises in the

report. The less surprises and the easier the report is to read, the more thought the

reader will put into it. Don't waste their thought on dealing with surprises.

Surprises occur when the reader encounters something in the report that appears to be

out of place or is there without reason. The way to eliminate surprises is to look at the

interactivity of the parts.

This interactivity often requires reframing earlier parts of the business to link them

with the parts of the report focussed on the future.

• Consider reordering the analysis part of the report in the same order that the

solution is presented. For example, the woes of a business may be identified

as poor organisation structure, inadequate reporting, poor induction and lack

of performance agreements. If solutions are developed for these and presented

in that order, the analysis section of the report can also be ordered this way so

the reader can make an easy link between the analysis, insight and strategy

components of the report. When issues are ordered the same way, the report

presents a simple and consistent logic.

• The insight section is the turning point and directly links the analysis and the

solution. If this link is not clear, the reader will wonder how the strategy is

related to the analysis they have just read.

• Be explicit in presenting the strategy so that it is directly linked with the

purpose.

• The execution should come as no surprise following the strategy that you have

presented.

A great report will be one where the reader will draw conclusions, create solutions

and think of what to do next as they go through the report. In these cases, the report


will make the issues seem simple but will include enough detail to overcome doubts

that the issues have been glossed over.

NOTES: 5. Prepare for impact Preparing a report for impact includes ensuring that the most basic of editing and

formatting is completed and that the language and terminology within the report is

accessible to the readers. This includes the table of contents, headers and footers,

proof reading for grammar, consistent formatting, good presentation of data,

pagination etc.

Preparing for impact will include presenting numbers, in the form of graphs, tables,

budgets etc. and some techniques to enhance the presentational quality of our work.

The ability to achieve simplicity using a core message will come from the quality of

our goals and the quality of insights that we achieve through the planning process.

We have addressed the issue of credibility by ensuring our plan and report are based

on research and analysis.

The other elements will require some effort to factor into our plan.

Reflection What has been my most important learning from this session?

What will I do differently from now on - how and when?

Appendix 4: The Quality and Correctness of Decision Making The quality of process is distinguished from the outcome or correctness.

Right Outcome

OK for straightforward decisions Could be relying too much on luck for complex decisions

Could be over-engineered for straightforward decisions Our goal for complex decisions


Poorly made (low

quality) decision Sometimes we get what we deserve

Can occur in environments of high uncertainty and can be subject to luck

Well made (high

quality) decision

Wrong outcome

The more complex the decision, the more important the quality of process Low complexity High complexity

The vertical aspect of the diagram is focused on right and wrong.

The horizontal aspect of the diagram is focused on the quality of our thinking that

goes into the process.

We will always strive for the right outcome, for correctness but for complex decisions

this may not be clear. Correctness can also vary depending on the subject and the

participants involved.

To help get good decisions made beware of an over-emphasis on correctness (right vs

wrong) at the expense of attention to the quality of the decision-making process.

However, we also need to ensure that we follow the process of well made decisions.

Believing that we are right in a complex situation is not a reason to shorten the

decision-making process.


Quality Correctness Quality is about how it is made, what components went into it, what process was followed in making it, what planning was involved, the workmanship that goes into it and how it can be used.

Correctness is a judgement about whether or not the decision was right or wrong. With decisions, as with many things in life, correctness is in the eye of the beholder. A decision that would be right in the eyes of one person will be wrong in the eyes of others.

The quality of a decision can be judged both before and after the decision.

Decisions only become wrong or right in hindsight. In fact, with every decision we make, at the time of making it we believe it is right or the most correct. You could conclude therefore that all decisions are right when they are made.

Quality can be controlled. The correctness of decisions is subjective. It is subject to the values and preferences of the people making the decision.

A commitment to correctness is not necessarily a commitment to quality.

An obsession with correctness is one of the main causes of procrastination. Stress

over correctness will often compromise quality by resulting in no decisions or in a

decision that ultimately becomes rushed.

Often focusing on quality will lead to the right result anyway.

Get quality decisions made; don't let correctness be a cause for procrastination.


Appendix 5: Common issues with documents/reports Based on experience as someone who has had to both produce reports or submissions

for clients, executive groups and Cabinet and someone who has received reports as a

member of an executive team and boards, I can make some observations about

reports.

Examples of problems encountered by experts in preparing reports

• I don’t know what the Executive team or leadership team wants

• My Boss/Client doesn't understand

• They want the big picture ahead of detail

• They want me to make a complex topic simple

• I am getting lost in the detail as I prepared the report

• I lose track of time and I don’t have enough time for proper analysis

Examples of problems experienced by recipients • What am I meant to conclude from all the information? - No judgement has

been exercised

• It is not clear what is expected of me as a decision maker

• I have no context and cannot establish the relevance or reason for the report

• It is too hard to understand, I just don’t get it

• Too much information – where are the important parts in all this?

• Does not contain enough analysis – the author appears to have jumped to

conclusions

• A problem is presented but the causes are not understood and no solutions are

provided

• The black box – how did they reach that conclusion or these

recommendations? They want me to take a leap of faith

• Report contains ideas but I am not sure how well they have been tested

• So where do we go from here? – report does not contain any direction or next

steps