Verbose = False

Sometimes more information is great, often it is not, but being able to choose how much information you receive is best. Have you ever opened a presentation and discovered 100 slides, each with 10 bullet points? How about a report that starts with a five page Executive Summary and after the first page you still have no idea what the document is about? Now imagine you've been asked to provide feedback on these wind bags!

I've touched on this point in prior posts, but truly, few people grasp the beauty and power of communicating a synopsis. A single tight message that an audience can use to develop at a first-pass, cursory opinion. The importance of this struck me this morning as I tried to read through a handful of proposals. I failed. If opening PDFs with 100+ page count didn't drain me from the outset, then skimming the first few pages of project management/sales drivel did. Way too broad, and so few details that formulating a coherent opinion felt impossible.

In fairness these vague, lumbering pitches were a result of the fishing expedition which created them, however if even one of the authors had been succinct in their writing they would have garnered my vote immediately. Now as it stands it's a toss-up.

Before this post becomes ironic I will close with a nod to the coding community who seem to always find ways to do more, with less. Many R and Python packages come with an option/parameter called 'verbose'. Choose 'True' and the program will spit out a lengthy error message (almost a teaching moment), or choose 'False' and enjoy the brevity.

Proposal_Author.Verbose = False.

Ah, much better!