ClearTips: Riveting reports

2. Spell Out Your Main and Supporting Messages

Few writers think of the messages they are trying to communicate in a report. That is why I also try to spell out the main message in 25 to 30 words and three or four supporting messages, each of them in 25 to 30 words. The idea is to build a hierarchy: main message ››› supporting messages ››› points (one to a paragraph) ››› details, examples, and comments. Most writers wallow in the details, occasionally making a point, rarely voicing a message.

One reason they wallow is that it's not easy to spell out messages. I once spent six hours with a high-powered team at the Federal Reserve Board trying to come up with the message structure for a five-year strategic plan. The team thought that four sentences in six hours was wildly unproductive, but they had much more: agreement by all of them for the first time on what the plan should cover.

In coming up with your messages, will you move from the general to the specific? Will you divide a problem into its parts or provide solutions to a problem? Will you describe a process? (For more on shaping your argument, see Chapter 3.) And as you temporize with supporting messages, decide how to arrange them. You should also check to be sure that one of your supporting messages isn't really your main message.

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